Positive note for weightlifting

The Olympics’ top medical guru has praised weightlifting’s attempts to stamp out the drug cheats.

Of the nine positive tests at the Athens Games so far, seven have been weightlifters and another – Greek hero and 62kg bronze medal winner Leonidas Sampanis – is almost certain to be thrown out in the next 48 hours after his A sample revealed evidence of a banned substance.

The growing number of positive tests have led to more calls for weightlifting to be dumped from the Olympics even though the sport has more stringent drugs tests than any other sport in the Games.

It’s not a new problem for the sport, which was put on a yellow card by the International Olympic Committee four years ago following widespread positive tests that scarred the Sydney Games, concluding with the complete expulsion of the Bulgarian team amid accusations of systematic doping programmes.

Yet Patrick Schamasch, director of the IOC medical commission, has nothing but praise for the International Weightlifting Federation, who he feels are doing everything possible to expose the cheats.

“The average percentage of positive tests in weightlifting is roughly the same as that in every other sport,” said Schamasch.