The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) today provisionally suspended four weightlifters after they returned adverse analytical findings (AAFs). Moldovan Ghenadie Dudoglo tested positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, Silviya Angelova of Azerbaijan, who took bronze in the 2012 European Championships, returned an AAF for metabolites of dehydrochlormethyltestosterone and nandrolone. Both substances are anabolic steroids, prohibited under Section S1.1 of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Prohibited List.

Umurbek Bazarbayev of Turkmenistan, who competed at the London 2012 Olympics, returned an AAF for mesterolone, another anabolic agent and male sex hormone used for androgen deficiency, often in fertility treatment. Mansour Abdulrahim M Al Saleem, a Saudi Arabian lifter who recently competed at the IWF World Championships in Houston, Texas, returned an AAF for ibutamoren, an oral growth hormone prohibited under Section S2 of the Prohibited List.

A total of nine weightlifters have been provisionally suspended by the IWF in the past month, as our table illustrates. The IWF banned Bulgaria from the Rio 2016 Olympics last month, as reported by the Sports Integrity Initiative. Last week, Bulgaria filed an appeal against its ban with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).