The Bulgarian weightlifting federation (BWF) has sanctioned youth weightlifter Dayana Dimitrova with a life ban, after she returned a second adverse analytical finding (AAF) for furosemide, a diuretic she had previously been banned for using during April 2017. Her coach, Bozhidar Bozhilov, has also been sanctioned with a life ban, as he had also served a four year ban for a previous offence. 

Dimitrova returned an AAF for the diuretic at the European Weightlifting Federation (EWF) Junior & U23 Weightlifting Championships, Poland, 20-27 October, where she won the 48kg Snatch and Clean Jerk. Dimitrova was previously sanctioned with a six month ban after returning an AAF for furosemide ahead of the 2017 Youth World Weightlifting Championships, which took place in Bangkok, Thailand, from 3-10 April. 

The BWF said that Dimitrova had not joined her colleagues in the national team training camp prior to the competition, and had joined the team on the plane to Poland. ‘We will continue to push for centralised training of national teams as a way of strictly controlling substances used by athletes and how to take responsibility for them’, read a statement. The BWF added that national weightlifting coach, Ivan Ivanov, has taken responsibility for breaching protocol.