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Why are these guys stripped years after? Don't they do the tests before the events? Who goes back and looks all these years later?
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Kazakhstan weightlifter Ilya Ilyin has been formally stripped of his two Olympic gold medals by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) revealed that Ilyin tested positive for the anabolic steroids stanozolol (Winstrol) and dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (Oral Turinal) in the retesting of samples collected at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics. Ilyin is apparently considering an appeal.
"I'm shaken today, obviously in shock," Ilyin told the Kazakh newspaper Tengri. "I'm thinking about an appeal."
Ilyin has been one of the most popular athletes in weightlifting due to his dominance in the sport, particularly in the 94-kilogram and 105-kilogram weight classes, over the past decade. In the 94-kilogram weight class, Ilyin’s world records in the clean and jerk (233 kg) and total (418 kg) set at the 2012 London Olympics have both been annulled due to the steroid positives. In the 105-kilogram weight class, Ilyin’s world records in the clean and jerk (246 kg) and total (437 kg) set at the 2016 President’s Cup in Grozny continue to stand.
Ilyin is also very popular on social media with over 402,000 followers on Instagram, 36,000 followers on Twitter and 16,000 likes on Facebook. Despite his popularity, Ilyin will certainly receive a lengthy ban once the IWF decides on an appropriate penalty for the unprecedented retroactive steroid positives covering multiple Olympic Games.
Ilyin is not the only weightlifter to suffer as a result of the retroactive Olympic retesting. The IOC found at least 98 positives after a reanalysis of over 1,000 stored samples from the Beijing and London Olympics. Approximately half of those positives were from the sport of weightlifting.
The Kazakhstan weightlifting program was particularly hard-hit. The reputation of the Kazakhstan weightlifting team has been left in tatters after the retesting. Kazahkstan lost all of its five gold medals in weightlifting due to steroid positives.
The Kazakhstan Olympic Committee (KOC) also confirmed that women’s weightlifters Irina Nekrasova and Maria Grabovetskaya were also stripped of silver and bronze medals, respectively, after retesting of their 2008 Beijing Olympic samples. Both athletes tested positive for anabolic steroids.
Grabovetskaya reportedly tested positive for three different steroids. But Grabovetskaya has refused to return her bronze medal because she doesn’t consider herself guilty of a doping offense.
Ilyin was the favorite to win the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics until the retroactive steroid positives were announced in June 2016. This ended his hopes of a gold medal at his third consecutive Olympic games.
Ilyan’s teammate Nijat Rahimov was a surprise gold medalist in the 77 kilogram weight class at the 2016 Rio Olympics. But his victory came under a cloud of controversy given the apparent steroid use by many of his teammates over the years. So far, Rahimov has passed all of his Olympic drug tests. Unfortunately, many people will remain skeptical until the IOC conducts retesting in the next 8-10 years.
In addition to the individual Kazahk weightlifters who tested positive for steroids, the entire Kazkh weightlifting team could be banned from future Olympics. There is also a good chance that the entire sport of weightlifting will be eliminated from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics given the obvious and rampant steroid use in weightlifting.
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Kazakhstan weightlifter Ilya Ilyin has been formally stripped of his two Olympic gold medals by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) revealed that Ilyin tested positive for the anabolic steroids stanozolol (Winstrol) and dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (Oral Turinal) in the retesting of samples collected at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics. Ilyin is apparently considering an appeal.
"I'm shaken today, obviously in shock," Ilyin told the Kazakh newspaper Tengri. "I'm thinking about an appeal."
Ilyin has been one of the most popular athletes in weightlifting due to his dominance in the sport, particularly in the 94-kilogram and 105-kilogram weight classes, over the past decade. In the 94-kilogram weight class, Ilyin’s world records in the clean and jerk (233 kg) and total (418 kg) set at the 2012 London Olympics have both been annulled due to the steroid positives. In the 105-kilogram weight class, Ilyin’s world records in the clean and jerk (246 kg) and total (437 kg) set at the 2016 President’s Cup in Grozny continue to stand.
Ilyin is also very popular on social media with over 402,000 followers on Instagram, 36,000 followers on Twitter and 16,000 likes on Facebook. Despite his popularity, Ilyin will certainly receive a lengthy ban once the IWF decides on an appropriate penalty for the unprecedented retroactive steroid positives covering multiple Olympic Games.
Ilyin is not the only weightlifter to suffer as a result of the retroactive Olympic retesting. The IOC found at least 98 positives after a reanalysis of over 1,000 stored samples from the Beijing and London Olympics. Approximately half of those positives were from the sport of weightlifting.
The Kazakhstan weightlifting program was particularly hard-hit. The reputation of the Kazakhstan weightlifting team has been left in tatters after the retesting. Kazahkstan lost all of its five gold medals in weightlifting due to steroid positives.
The Kazakhstan Olympic Committee (KOC) also confirmed that women’s weightlifters Irina Nekrasova and Maria Grabovetskaya were also stripped of silver and bronze medals, respectively, after retesting of their 2008 Beijing Olympic samples. Both athletes tested positive for anabolic steroids.
Grabovetskaya reportedly tested positive for three different steroids. But Grabovetskaya has refused to return her bronze medal because she doesn’t consider herself guilty of a doping offense.
Ilyin was the favorite to win the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics until the retroactive steroid positives were announced in June 2016. This ended his hopes of a gold medal at his third consecutive Olympic games.
Ilyan’s teammate Nijat Rahimov was a surprise gold medalist in the 77 kilogram weight class at the 2016 Rio Olympics. But his victory came under a cloud of controversy given the apparent steroid use by many of his teammates over the years. So far, Rahimov has passed all of his Olympic drug tests. Unfortunately, many people will remain skeptical until the IOC conducts retesting in the next 8-10 years.
In addition to the individual Kazahk weightlifters who tested positive for steroids, the entire Kazkh weightlifting team could be banned from future Olympics. There is also a good chance that the entire sport of weightlifting will be eliminated from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics given the obvious and rampant steroid use in weightlifting.
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