Nine Kazakh weightlifters were caught using SARM compounds. Athletes from Albania, Seychelles and Turkmenistan have also trained in the same substance.
Five athletes of Kazakhstan’s national weightlifting team have been caught using banned substances at the Asian Championships, reports the Olympic news website Inside the Games. The gold medalist of the games is also among the athletes who crashed Adiletuly in Nurgiwho led the ranking of the Olympic qualifiers.
Due to the number of violations, Kazakhstan’s national weightlifting team has been excluded from the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
SARM (selective androgen receptor modulators) supplements, which model anabolic steroids, were found in the doping samples of Kazakh athletes. SARM compounds have been banned in competitive sports since 2008.
All in all, there are nine Kazakh weightlifters who have been caught by SARM, because in April, four young members of the national team gave positive doping samples.
Two of the athletes who crashed were supposed to participate in the weightlifting world championships held in Saudi Arabia in September.
Weightlifters from Albania, Seychelles and Turkmenistan have also come from SARM.
Doping carts are not a new thing in Kazakhstan
According to the Olympic qualification rules, countries with three or more doping violations are excluded from the Games. The period examining the doping violations of the Paris Olympic qualifiers began in July 2021 and will last until July next year. This means that Kazakhstan’s weightlifting team is excluded from the 2024 Olympics. In addition to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan has also been shelved from Paris.
The Kazakhstan Weightlifting Federation has requested an analysis of the B samples. If the B samples differ from the originals, the solution to the doping case will drag on for months. However, after the incident came to light, the federation fired the head coaches of the national team and the secretary general of the federation.
Major doping scandals are not new in Kazakh sports. A weightlifter who won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics Igor Son was sentenced earlier this year to a no less than eight-year ban as a result of testing organized outside of the Games. In addition, the country has lost, among other things, four gold medals won at the London Olympics due to the doping scandals that came afterwards.