Weightlifting withdraws 11 Olympic quotas

Today, the IWF Executive Board started its two days meeting in Tbilisi, GEO with the first day entirely dedicated to Anti-Doping. During this meeting the Executive Board decided to withdraw quotas from eight countries:

• Two (2) quotas were withdrawn from Azerbaijan (1 Man - 1 Woman) due to the multiple positive cases in the qualification period
• One (1) quota was withdrawn from Belarus (1 Man) due to the multiple positive cases in the qualification period
• Two (2) quotas were withdrawn from Kazakhstan (1 Man - 1 Woman) due to the multiple positive cases in the qualification period
• Two (2) quotas were withdrawn from Moldova (2 Men) due to the multiple positive cases in the qualification period
• Two (2) quotas were withdrawn from Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (1 Man - 1 Woman) due to the multiple positive cases in the qualification period
• Two (2) quotas were withdrawn from Russia (1 Man - 1 Woman) due to the multiple positive cases in the qualification period
• One (1) quota was withdrawn from Romania (1 Man) due to the multiple positive cases in the qualification period (19.11.2015)
• One (1) quota was withdrawn from Uzbekistan (1Woman) due to the multiple positive cases in the qualification period (19.11.2015)

Countries investigated

The IWF is setting up an Independent Investigation Commission to investigate into countries with multiple Anti-Doping Rule violations (3 or more per year) including those that have produced 3 or more Adverse Analytical Findings or Presumptive Adverse Analytical Findings in the reanalysis procedures of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. The IWF Executive Board is modifying its Anti-Doping Policy to enable it to apply extra sanctions beyond the existing articles, including suspension of Federations which produce the most significant number of Anti-Doping Rule Violations in an Olympic period.

Three countries subject to suspension for one year

The IWF will take appropriate measures to make sure that the athletes potentially implicated in the reanalysis process of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games – once disqualified by the IOC – shall not participate in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The IWF Executive Board has decided that National Federations confirmed to have produced 3 or more Anti-Doping Rule Violations in the combined re-analysis process of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games shall be suspended for 1 year. Countries thus subject to suspension are: KAZ, RUS, BLR. The IWF Executive Board unanimously voted the withdrawal of 11 quotas to the additional 2 that were already withdrawn from Romania and Uzbekistan.

Want Chair of EWF to reconsider appointment

Additionally, the IWF Executive Board expressed disappointment in a position statement over the appointment of Mr. Sergey Syrtsov, President of the Russian Weightlifting Federation as Chair of the EWF Anti-Doping Commission. Given the current environment, the IWF Executive Board strongly suggests that Mr. Syrtsov and the European Weightlifting Federation reconsiders the appointment to this particular position. The IWF Executive Board is determined to continue with the application of its strict system of sanctions and elaborating further sport specific rules in order to protect the clean athletes and the integrity of the sport of weightlifting.