In a public disclosure released on January 13th, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) reports that Russian weightlifter Khadzhimurat Akkaev tested positive from a test taken prior to competition at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Akkaev’s retest came back positive for Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (categorized under S1.1 Anabolic agents).
Akkaev is the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the 94kg weight class. He originally repeated that performance with silver in the 94kg weight class at the 2008 Beijing Olympics; however, in late 2016 it was reported that his retest from that Olympic Games had returned a positive finding for banned substances, and his medal and result were rescinded.
Though Akkaev was a favorite for a medal in the 105kg weight class heading into London — especially after impressive wins at both the 2011 World and 2011 European Championships — we withdrew prior to 2012 Olympic competition due to what was reported to be a back injury.
Following the new doping result, Akkaev has been provisionally suspended from international competition. However, it seems the 31 year old retired from competing some time between the 2012 Olympic Games and 2016.
A video of part of his performance — along with that of countryman Dmitry Klokov — from the 2011 World Championships is embedded below:
Featured image: Adam Storey on YouTube
