After 8 long years and 2 editions of the Olympics games, the International Olympic Committee has stripped Olympic gold medals from three Chinese weightlifters for involved in doping at 2008 Beijing edition.
In addition, China faces a one-year ban from international weightlifting as announced by the IOC on January 12.
The three weightlifters are; Cao Lei in the 75-kilogram class; Chen Xiexia at 48kg; and Liu Chunhonog at 69kg.
Apart from weightlifting, IOC has also taken a Beijing Bronze back in women’s shot put from Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus. Ostapchuk, previously, had also lost her gold medal and Olympic title from the 2012 London Games in a separate doping case.
These 4 players are among the eight disqualified players who have been listed out by the IOC in the latest round of an extensive program to re-analyse samples stored since the Beijing and London Olympics. As stated by the IOC officials, all the three weightlifters have been found positive for GHRP-2, which stimulates the production of growth hormone.
Currently, lifters from Taiwan, Russia, and Kazakhstan could be upgraded to the gold medal, though it is unclear if they also tested positive for doping in the re-analysis.
The IOC recorded more than 100 positive tests across numerous sports from the Beijing and London retesting program, and more cases are expected.
