IOC sanctions Turkish weightlifter for failing anti-doping test at Beijing 2008

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced that Sibel Özkan, 28, of Turkey has been disqualified from the Games of the XXIX Olympiad Beijing 2008 and ordered to return the silver medal from the 48kg weightlifting event. Reanalysis of Özkan’s samples from Beijing 2008 resulted in the presence of the metabolites of the prohibited substance stanozolol.

The protection of the clean athletes and the fight against doping is a top priority for the IOC, as outlined in Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement. To provide a level playing field for all clean athletes at the Olympic Games Rio 2016, the IOC has already put special measures in place, including targeted pre-tests and the re-analysis of stored samples from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 and London 2012 following an intelligence-gathering process that started in August 2015.

The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for this case of Denis Oswald (Chairman), Gunilla Lindberg and Juan Antonio Samaranch, decided the following:

• The Athlete, Sibel ÖZKAN:

• is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad Beijing 2008 (presence and/or use, of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen),

• is disqualified from the events in which she participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, namely, the 48kg weightlifting event, and

• has the medal, the medallist pin and the diploma obtained in the 48kg weightlifting event (Final) withdrawn and is ordered to return same.

• The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned events accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.

• The Turkish Olympic Committee shall ensure full implementation of this decision.

• The Turkish Olympic Committee shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the medal, the medallist pin and the diploma awarded in connection with the 48kg weightlifting event (Final) to the athlete.

• This decision enters into force immediately.

The additional analyses on samples collected during the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 and London 2012 were notably performed with improved analytical methods in order to detect prohibited substances that could not be identified by the analysis performed at the time of these editions of the Olympic Games.

The full decision is available here.

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