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The Eraser: Drug-Related Disqualifications in Men's Weightlifting at Summer Olympics

The following review presents a complete chronology of the drug related disqualifications at the Summer Olympics weightlifting tournaments with a brief historical description of the usage of drugs in sports and introduction to the drug testing procedures at the Olympics.

Early Drug Usage and Testing at the Olympics
Olympic Weightlifting and Drug Testing
The Eraser: History of Disqualifications at the Men's Olympic Weightlifting Tournaments

Early Drug Usage and Testing at the Olympics

Usage of drugs by Olympic athletes is old news. Long before the invention of WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) and long before testing on drugs became a part of Olympic competitions, there were numerous records showing that Olympians used performance enhancers at the Olympics. Ancient Greek athletes used hallucinogenic mushrooms for mental preparation to the competitions and sesame seeds to increase endurance.

In the late 1800s, European and American competitors experimented with caffeine, alcohol, nitroglycerine, strychnine and opium to improve their performance in the sport contests.

It is known that Thomas Hicks, the winner of the 1904 Olympic marathon, reached his results with the help of multiple doses of strychnine and brandy administered during the race. American Coach of the 1920 sprint team treated his athletes with a mixture of sherry and raw egg. The world of sports was in shock to find out that cyclist Knut Jensen from Denmark died during the 1960 Olympic road race due to usage of amphetamines and nicotinyl tartrate.

Doping Testing at the Olympics

In 1967, Medical Commission of the International Olympic Committee began the process of banning doping usage in Olympic sports disciplines. The first round of drug testing was conducted at the 1968 Olympic Games. The testing was done based on the IOC list of banned substances which included amphetamines and heroin and a chromosome check on female athletes whether they were biologically women.

First full-scale drug testing took place at the 1972 Olympics. Both campuses of the drug war in sports were ready for the battle. The IOC disqualified 7 athletes for usage of banned substances at the 1972 Olympics. Team doctors and administrators in their turn did their home work on usage of masking agents and how to avoid being caught on positive tests.

The war on drugs in sports began and it goes on today.

Olympic Weightlifting and Drug Testing

Like other Olympic disciplines, weightlifting was a subject of doping testing strating with the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. The first tests in 1968 were conducted for the presence of amphetamines.

Besides the IOC testing, the International Weightlifting Federation arranged its own testing of athletes. At the 1970 World Championship in Columbus, OH, USA, the IWF administered first tests with the positive results leading to disqualification of several high profile athletes that earned medals in the first four weight classes.

The list of athletes whose medals and results were erased in 1970 included such lifters as:

52KG: Sandor Holczreiter (Hungary, Gold), Walter Szoltysek (Poland, Silver), Vladimir Smetanin (USSR, Bronze);
56KG: Imre Foldi (Hungary, Silver), Henryk Trebicki (Poland, Bronze);
60KG: Miecyslaw Nowak (Poland, Gold), Jan Wojnowski (Poland, Silver), Yoshiyuki Miyake (Japan, Bronze);
67.5KG: Janos Bagocs (Hungary, Bronze)

During the first series of testing at the Olympics and World championships, steroids were not on the IOC list of banned substances. The first testing for these substances was conducted at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

The Eraser: History of Disqualifications at the Men's Olympic Weightlifting Tournaments

The following table represents a complete history of erased medals and results shown at the men's Olympic tournaments due to the usage of performance enhancing substances since. To sort the data in a desired order, please click on the the column headers.

Table 1. **Drug-Related Disqualifications in Weightlifting at Summer Olympics**
	Yr.	Athlete/Result	Nat.	Class	Rank	Substance
1	1972	MOHAMAD ARJOMAND NASEHI Iran 0+0=0	irn	Flyweight (52 kg)	99	ephedrine
2	1972	WALTER LEGEL Austria 0+0=0	aut	Lightweight (67.5 kg)	99	ephedrine
3	1976	ARNE NORBACK Sweden 0+0=0	swe	Featherweight (60 kg)	99	ephedrine
4	1976	ZBIGNIEW KACZMAREK Poland 135+172.5=307.5	pol	Lightweight (67.5 kg)	1	anabolic steroids
5	1976	DRAGOMIR CIOROSLAN Romania 142.5+177.5=320	rom	Middleweight (75 kg)	4	fencanfamine
6	1976	BLAGOY BLAGOEV Bulgaria 162.5+200=362.5	bul	Light Heavyweight (82.5 kg)	2	anabolic steroids
7	1976	PHILIP GRIPPALDI United States 150+205=355	usa	Middle Heavyweight (90 kg)	4	anabolic steroids
8	1976	MARK CAMERON United States 162.5+212.5=375.5	usa	Heavyweight (110 kg)	4	anabolic steroids
9	1976	VALENTIN KHRISTOV Bulgaria 175+225=400	bul	Heavyweight (110 kg)	1	anabolic steroids
10	1976	PETR PAVLASEK Czechoslovakia 172.5+215=387.5	cze	Super Heavyweight (110 Plus kg)	6	anabolic steroids
11	1984	MAHMOOD TARHA Lebanon 102.5+127.5=230	leb	Flyweight (52 kg)	4	nandrolone
12	1984	AHMED TARBI Algeria 0+0=0	alg	Bantamweight (56 kg)	99	nandrolone
13	1984	GORAN PETTERSON Sweden 165+195=360	swe	Sub Heavyweight (100 kg)	6	nandrolone
14	1984	SERAFIN GRAMMATIKOPOULOS Greece 0+0=0	gre	Super Heavyweight (110 Plus kg)	99	nandrolone
15	1984	STEFAN LAGGNER Austria 170+215=385	aut	Super Heavyweight (110 Plus kg)	4	nandrolone
16	1988	MITKO GRABLEV Bulgaria 0+0=297.5	bul	Bantamweight (56 kg)	1	furosemide
17	1988	ANGEL GENCHEV Bulgaria 160+202.5=362.5	bul	Lightweight (67.5 kg)	1	furosemide
18	1988	MARIACO FERNANDO Spain 127.5+160=287.5	spa	Lightweight (67.5 kg)	11	pemoline
19	1988	KALMAN CZENGENI Hungary 155+195=350	hun	Middleweight (75 kg)	4	stanozolol
20	1988	ANDOR SZANYI Hungary 0+0=407.5	hun	Sub Heavyweight (100 kg)	2	stanozolol
21	2000	IVAN IVANOV Bulgaria 130+162.5=292.5	bul	Bantamweight (56 kg)	2	furosemide
22	2000	SEVDALIN MINCHEV Bulgaria 140+177.5=317.5	bul	Featherweight (62 kg)	3	furosemide
23	2000	STIAN GRIMSETH Norway 0+0=0	nor	Super Heavyweight (105 Plus kg)	99	nandrolone
24	2000	ASHOT DANIELYAN Armenia 207.5+257.5=465	arm	Super Heavyweight (105 Plus kg)	3	stanozolol
25	2004	VIKTOR CHISLEAN Moldova 0+0=0	mld	Bantamweight (56 kg)	99	anabolic steroids
26	2004	ZOLTAN KECSKES Hungary 0+0=0	hun	Featherweight (62 kg)	99	anabolic steroids
27	2004	LEONIDAS SABANIS Greece 145+167.5=312.5	gre	Featherweight (62 kg)	3	testosterone
28	2004	OLEG PEREPECHENOV Russia 170+195=365	rus	Middleweight (77 kg)	3	clenbuterol (positive after retest in 2012)
29	2004	FERENC GYURKOVIC Hungary 195+225=420	hun	Heavyweight (105 kg)	2	oxandrolone
30	2004	ZOLTAN KOVACS Hungary 0+0=0	hun	Heavyweight (105 kg)	99	refused to submit sample
31	2008	IGOR RAZORYONOV Ukraine 187+223=410	ukr	Heavyweight (105 kg)	6	nandrolone
32	2012	HUSEN PULAKU Albania 0+0=0	alb	Middleweight (77 kg)	99	stanozolol