USADA announced today that US Weightlifting athlete Joseph Roberto, of Helena, Alabama, has received a four-year sanction for an anti-doping rule violation. Roberto, 41, tested positive for the presence of Growth Hormone Releasing Peptide-2 (“GHRP-2”), as the result of an in-competition sample collected on June 7, 2015 at the Masters Weightlifting Championships in Monrovia, California. Growth Hormone Releasing Peptide-2 is prohibited under the USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing, the United States Olympic Committee (“USOC”) National Anti-Doping Policies (“USOC NADP”) and the International Weightlifting Federation (“IWF”) Anti‐Doping Policy, all of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code and the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List.

Roberto’s four-year sanction began on July 10, 2015, the date he was provisionally suspended. As a result of the sanction, Roberto is disqualified from all competitive results obtained on and subsequent to June 7, 2015, the date of his sample collection, including forfeiture of any medals, points, and prizes.

• This media release was originally published on the US Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) internet site on 30 December 2015. To access the original, please click here.