China Faces One-Year Weightlifting Ban After Three Olympians Fail Doping Tests

(Beijing) — China faces a possible ban from international weightlifting competitions after three of its athletes were stripped of the gold medals they won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics after their urine samples from the time tested positive for doping.

The athletes disqualified were Cao Lei, 33, who took gold in the women's 75 kg weightlifting; Chen Xiexia, 34, who won the women’s 48 kg; and Liu Chunhong, 31, who was successful in the women's 69 kg, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Thursday.

They were caught under a retesting program that uses new techniques to uncover cheating that went undetected at the time.

China now might be kept out of world competitions for a year, according to the latest anti-doping policies. The International Weightlifting Federation said last year that countries that had three or more athletes fail anti-doping trials for the Beijing and London Games will likely face a 12-month match ban.

The IOC has retested more than 100 samples from the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Games in an effort to combat doping that has affected various sports, including weightlifting, cycling and swimming.

Retests of doping samples from the two Olympics have so far identified 101 doping offenders, with Russia having the most offenders, according to Reuters.

Contact reporter Pan Che (chepan@caixin.com)