Lyu Xiaojun, Olympic champion weightlifter, banned for EPO

Lyu Xiaojun, a two-time Olympic winner weightlifter from China, tested beneficial for the banned blood booster EPO and has been provisionally suspended right until the resolution of his scenario.

Lyu, a 38-calendar year-old who took gold at the London and Tokyo Games and silver in Rio, tested good from an Oct. 30 sample, in accordance to the Global Testing Company. Lyu can request a backup B sample be examined.

The lifter stated in a assertion that he was “greatly shocked” by the good test, in accordance to Xinhua News Company.

“In my 24 decades of weightlifting vocation, I have competed in several important events and have been analyzed hundreds of moments, without any ADRV (Anti-Doping Rule Violations),” Lyu stated, according to Xinhua. “I have neither any motive nor any reason to use any prohibited material or prohibited system in the final section of my beloved weightlifting profession. I will cooperate with relevant organizations for investigation, to locate out the genuine result in of this difficulty, and to confirm my innocence.

“As a senior athlete, I have constantly strictly abided by the anti-doping guidelines and restrictions of the Intercontinental Weightlifting Federation, the Entire world Anti-Doping Agency and the China Anti-Doping Agency. I feel that the worth of athletics lies in truthful participate in and I resolutely oppose the use of any prohibited material or prohibited system and any other variety of cheating, which is also the bottom line I have usually set for myself. The use of a prohibited substance or prohibited approach is totally from my values and goes in opposition to the anti-doping instruction I have been given.”

Lyu took gold at seven of his 10 appearances in between the Olympics and world championships from 2009 by 2021 competing at possibly 77kg or 81kg. He is the world’s most embellished weightlifter across all categories in that time span.

In the outlier yrs, he attained silver at the 2010 Planet Championships, was foremost the 2015 Worlds immediately after the snatch before failing on all 3 clean up and jerk attempts and took silver at the 2016 Rio Online games powering Kazakhstan’s Nijat Rahimov, who this past March had his gold medal stripped for urine swapping. The IOC has not reallocated medals from the 2016 Olympic party, but could nonetheless do so.

In Tokyo, he became the oldest Olympic weightlifting champion in record, according to Olympedia.org. American Harrison Maurus took fourth in the event that Lyu received, just lacking turning out to be the to start with American man to earn an Olympic weightlifting medal since 1984.

Lyu did not contend at worlds previously this thirty day period, when countryman Li Dayin gained the 81kg title.

OlympicTalk is on Apple Information. Favorite us!