• The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has announced that three weightlifters have been provisionally suspended after returning adverse analytical findings (AAFs). The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) retests of a sample given at the London 2012 Olympics by Florin Croitoru returned an AAF for dehydrochloromethyltestosterone, metenolone and stanozolol. The IWF said that the IOC must determine if the Romanian has committed an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) before it can determine consequences beyond the Olympic Games. This is significant because Florin was awarded the Gold in the -62kg category at the 2013 European Championships, after all three medalists (Valentin Hristov, Igor Bour, Zulfugar Suleymanov) were suspended for doping. A ninth Thai weightlifter, Witsanu Chantri, was also provisionally suspended after returning an AAF for 5a-androstane-3a,17b-diol (5aAdiol) and 5b-androstane-3a,17b-diol (5bAdiol). The IWF also announced that Nadezhda Lomova, who won Silver in the 63kg category at the 2014 European Weightlifting Championships, has been provisionally suspended after returning an AAF for metenolone and metenolone metabolite 1-methylene-5α-androstane-3α-ol-17-one.

• Russian Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) athlete Alexander Volkov has clarified the reason for the cancellation of his UFC Fight Night 149 Heavyweight bout against Alistair Overeem, after MatchTV reported it was due to doping. ‘To my great regret, the fight will not take place due to health reasons not involving me’, he wrote in a post on Instagram (below).

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Всем привет! Хотел бы прояснить ситуацию с отменой моего поединка. К моему большому сожалению, мой поединок не состоится из-за проблем со здоровьем, не зависящих от меня лично. Очень много усилий было положено для подготовки к этому бою, и я очень хотел порадовать вас красивым поединком, но не все в наших руках. Я не опускаю руки, уверен, что в скором времени вы увидите меня в октагоне в лучшей форме. Спасибо всем за поддержку!

A post shared by Alexander Volkov (@volkov_alex) on Apr 3, 2019 at 2:55pm PDT

• Self-confessed rugby doper Anthony Martrette has been found dead in his apartment aged 41, reports L’Equipe. Martrette retired in 2012, and hit the headlines in 2016 when he confessed to having doped after an injury at the age of 25 until he was 33. “I used anabolic steroids, I took Deca-Durabolin”, he told FranceInfo. “In wanting to gain mass, I first lost speed, endurance. I had to rebalance. I took testosterone, Stanodrol for explosiveness and aggression. To keep the mass, I took Clenbuterol, an anti-catabolic. The injections of Masteron also allowed me to feel really good, stronger. Physically but also mentally since these products have an influence on the hormones and aggressiveness […] I am not trying to give lessons, just to tell things as they are. And I don’t think it’s very good that young people are involved.”