*LONDON:* Russia, whose doping records have risked weightlifting’s place onthe Olympic schedule have been limited to just two athletes for the 2020Tokyo Games by the sport’s governing body.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) is effectively allowingRussia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Belarus only two places each atTokyo 2020 – as the new rules state that any nation with 20 or more dopingviolations from 2008 to 2020 will have just one man and one woman at theGames.
Countries with 10-19 doping violations over that same period will belimited to two men and two women in Tokyo. At least nine more countries,including Bulgaria, Iran and India, who have won five weightlifting goldsat the Commonwealth Games, fall into that category.
There could be further sanctions, including being banned from the Olympics,or more nations penalised if there are further doping violations before theOlympic qualifying period ends in April 2020, the IWF said.
The crackdown will benefit countries with less than 10 violations from2008-2020 as they can send up to eight qualifiers each, split equallybetween men and women. The new policy has been approved by theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) and been welcomed by many nations.
“This is a monumental step forward for weightlifting and for athletesaround the world,” USA Weightlifting chief executive Phil Andrews said.“This new qualification system is a huge step for clean sport.”
Christian Baumgartner, president of Germany’s national federation and anoutspoken critic of the “doping culture” prevalent in many countries, alsoapproved the changes.
“The old system was abused by some federations but there is a newperspective with these new conditions, which provide a real chance for alevel playing field,” he said. The doping problem led to weightliftingbeing put on probation by the IOC, which wants constant updates – with thenext one due in June.
Olympic quota cut: When the IOC retested samples from the 2008 Beijing and2012 London Olympics, 49 weightlifters came up positive.
Forty two of them were from nations that were formerly part of the SovietUnion. Weightlifting’s quota has been cut from 260 places in Rio in 2016 to196. There will also be one fewer medal event in Tokyo. The sport’s placeon the Olympic schedule beyond 2020 depends on its ability to improve itsdoping record.
The IWF decided to count all positives since 2008 as it would punish thosemost responsible for the current predicament. “Naturally not everybody ishappy but everybody understands that the sport is in a difficult situationwhere hard decisions are necessary for our future,” the IWF’s directorgeneral Attila Adamfi said.
Collectively Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Armenia have hadmore than 130 doping violations since 2008, with several cases stilloutstanding according to the IWF’s website. All five are among the ninenations serving a one-year suspension until October for multiple retestpositives.
Of the four others Ukraine, Moldova and Turkey are in the 10-19 bracketwhile China is currently safe on seven. Other nations with 10 or morepositives are Iran – the best-performing country at last year’s IWF WorldChampionships – Bulgaria, Albania, Romania, Uzbekistan and India.
Thailand, with one case outstanding, is likely to join those on 10 or moreviolations. If a nation tots up three positives during the 18-monthqualifying period for Tokyo, it faces disqualification from the Games – afate that befell Russia and Bulgaria at Rio 2016.
Among other changes, the IWF has made Olympic qualifying an individualrather than a team-based system, which will lead to more testing ofprospective Olympic lifters. All those who want to be in Tokyo will have tocompete six times during the 18-month qualifying period, making itimpossible for athletes to stay away for long periods, which has happenedin the past.
Apart from his two gold-medal performances at Beijing 2008 and London 2012,Kazakhstan’s Ilya Ilyin competed only three times in six years between 2006and 2012. He was disqualified from both Olympics after failing theretrospective retests.