13 Jan 2017

Ostapchuk stripped of another Olympic medal

1:59 pm on 13 January 2017

Dame Valerie Adams' disgraced former shot put rival Nadzeya Ostapchuk has been stripped of another Olympic medal.

The Belarusian has been stripped of the bronze medal she won at the 2008 Beijing Games following re-tests of her samples.

Disgraced shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk

Disgraced shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk Photo: Photosport

Ostapchuk won gold in London 2012 but failed a doping test just days later with Adams upgraded to the gold medal.

Meanwhile, China faces a one-year ban from international weightlifting competitions after three of its athletes were stripped of their 2008 Olympic gold medals, following re-tests of samples from the Beijing Games.

The International Olympic Committee disqualified weightlifting gold medallists Cao Lei, Chen Xiexia, and Liu Chunhong from the Beijing Games after they tested positive for prohibited substances.

Along with Ostapchuk, the IOC also disqualified five more athletes from both the Beijing and London 2012 Olympics.

The International Weightlifting Federation said last year that countries with three or more failed drugs tests in the re-tests of Beijing and London would be banned for a year from all international competitions.

The IOC is keeping samples from past Games for up to a decade to conduct re-tests with newer methods and to try and root out any cheats.

Re-tests of doping samples from the Beijing and London Games have so far caught 101 doping offenders, with Russia having the most cases.

The sports with the most cases is weightlifting, with 38 positive re-tests, followed by athletics with 31.

- RNZ

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