Chinese weightlifters fail doping tests; stripped off medals
What's the story
Three Chinese weightlifters were stripped off their 2008 Beijing Olympic medals after they were tested positive for doping under International Olympic Committee's re-testing programme. Cao Lei, Chen Xiexia and Liu Chunhong had won gold medals in different weight categories at Beijing. They all will have to return their medals. IOC has stripped off the medals from another five athletes from different sports.
Details
IOC re-analyses samples of 2008 and 2012 Olympics
After allegations by a German documentary 'Geheimsache Doping' of widespread doping, the International Olympics Association (IOC) started re-analyzing the blood samples of all the athletes who participated at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. More than 100 athletes have been tested positive for the use of banned substances and have faced life bans from their respective sports.
Information
IOC re-testing using new methods
The IOC keeps the samples from past games for a decade to conduct re-tests using newer methods not available at that time. They are reanalyzing 1,243 samples from the Beijing and London Games. Sports like wrestling, athletics, cycling and swimming have been affected with doping.
Banned
China banned from international weightlifting competitions by IWF
China was banned from all international weightlifting competitions for one year after three of its athletes were found guilty of doping at the 2008 Olympics. The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) last year said that countries with three or more failed drug tests in the re-tests of Beijing and London will be banned from all the international competitions for one year.
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Other nations facing ban from the IWF
After the IWF sanctioned the rule last year, China has become the fifth nation to face a ban from the sport body. Earlier, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Russia and Belarus have been banned by IWF after their lifters were found guilty of doping.