LedgerIndependent: As doping allegations continue to mount against Russia, three of its athletes are set to pick up Olympic gold medals after Kazakh weightlifters failed doping retests from the 2012 London Games.
That’s right. Russia, the country accused of running a state-sponsored doping program, could add to its medal total.
Kazakhstan’s gold medalists in the men’s 94kg and women’s 63kg and 75kg divisions were among 10 weightlifters whose blood and urine samples from London tested positive for banned substances.
So, as it stands, Aleksandr Ivanov, Svetlana Tsarukayeva and Natalya Zabolotnaya, who finished second in those classes, will claim retroactive gold, provided they pass mandatory retests.
Meanwhile, Russia is facing more damning allegations as it tries to end an international ban on its track and field program before Rio.
I used to go to the local armory to watch “championship wrestling” with Dick the Bruiser, Pretty Boy Bobby Heenan, and the rest of the gang. It was at least as real as what the olympics has become and a lot more entertaining. At least there, you KNEW it was all for show, and the “good guys” and “bad guys” would switch next time they returned on the circuit so you had new heroes to root for.
I don’t know why anyone is surprised. The Olympic Committee is just about on par with World Soccer as far as corruption goes. Nobody wants the Russians banned from Rio except maybe the undoped athletes and Putin is a loose cannon the whole world is afraid of. These people could compete with syringes still stuck in their arms and nobody would say boo. There’s a lot of talk about their Track and Field team being banned but it will never happen.
They are re-testing 4 years later? Give it up.
I don’t give a toss about the olympics