The Weightlifting Federation of Ukraine runs the risk of completely losing quotas for participation in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The reason is another case of detection of traces of doping in the athletes of the team. The third in recent times that the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) may leave the country without a platform in Paris.
The International Weightlifting Federation's (IWF) Qualification Regulations state that if three or more anti-doping rule violations are committed within the same Olympic cycle (July 23, 2021 to July 25, 2024), an Independent Panel may withdraw all (or some) of the National Federation's quotas. The Ukrainian national team has six of them so far — three men's and three women's.
April European Championship in Yerevan may become fateful. According to the Inside the Games portal, doping was found in one of the team leaders, the 2021 world and European champion Alina Marushchak. The weightlifter was first admitted to the tournament, but in a sample dated March 10, the International Doping Testing Agency (ITA) found a prohibited drug, the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide. At the end of April, Maruschak was temporarily suspended from the competition.This event was the third for Ukrainian weightlifters in the current Olympic cycle. Ruslan Kazhokin and Bogdan Taranenko were caught earlier. Kazhokin took sixth place in the weight category up to 89 kg at the 2021 World Championships in Tashkent. Promising «heavyweight» Taranenko became the bronze medalist of the 2022 junior world championship in Heraklion in weight over 109 kg.Both athletes were suspended before the December world championship in Bogotá. In the analyzes dated October 27, the athletes found trimetazidine, a hormone and a metabolic modulator.
At the moment, the cases are under consideration. Each faces a four-year suspension. If this happens, the team will automatically lose all Olympic licenses.
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A heavy trainIt will be hard for the Ukrainian federation to count on indulgence. It is far from the first time that weightlifters of the country have been caught and disqualified. 75 kg. However, in August 2016, after re-checking the samples by the decision of the IOC, she was deprived of the silver award. At the same time, teammate Natalia Davydova, who became third in China in the weight category up to 69 kg, was disqualified and left without bronze.
History repeated itself at the 2012 Olympics in London. Alexei Torokhtiy won the competition in the weight category up to 105 kg. In December 2019, after re-checking samples, he lost the title. Julia Kalina became the third in the weight category up to 58 kg. In 2016, the IOC also canceled its achievement.
By the way, in July 2021, the President of Ukraine, after receiving information about positive doping tests, deprived Torokhtiya, Korobka of state scholarships and Davydov.The well-known Ukrainian coach Mikhail Matsyokha was also caught in the doping situation. He was disqualified for life for attempting to falsify and conceal the use of a prohibited drug by an athlete. In this case, we are talking about two-time winner of the world championships and three-time European champion in various weight categories Dmitry Chumak.
The athlete took first place at the European Championships in Moscow in April 2021, but was temporarily suspended in May. According to the ITA, Chumak tried to evade testing and wanted to bribe doping officers. Because of this, the athlete did not perform at the Tokyo Olympics. report on the possible suspension of Ukrainian athletes from Paris 2024.
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"We will not have any relief if the Ukrainians are not allowed to the Olympic Games, — said the head of the federation. We do not dance on the bones of rivals. All brothers and sisters until the moment they enter the platform, and then we become rivals.»
«We have one big family that loves to play sports, but there are third forces that today things interfere and push foreheads. We do not follow the lead of manipulators. The mission of sport is to reconcile people. If there is a tendency on the part of the Ukrainian authorities not to allow athletes to compete, this is not the will of the athletes themselves,» Agapitov stressed.
Earlier, the authorities repeatedly forbade Ukrainians to take part in the same competitions with representatives of the national teams of Russia and Belarus.