Just days after weightlifting wrapped up at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the first positive doping test has resulted in one lifter losing his bronze medal. The BBC is reporting that Kyrgyzstan’s Izzat Artykov — the 69kg bronze medalist and 2016 Asian Championships winner — tested positive for strychnine, which can be used as a performance enhancer and stimulant. Strychnine is a banned substance in tested sporting competition.
It’s the first instance of a Rio medalist being disqualified in any sport. Several lifters — including Polish brothers Tomasz and Adrian Zielinski — were removed from competition prior to lifting due to positive doping tests administered earlier this summer.
Artykov is 22 years old. His Asian Championships victory was his first medal in a major international competition. So far, it was Kyrgyzstan’s only medal of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Assuming medals are reallocated, Luis Mosquera of Colombia — who originally finished in 4th place in the weight class, one kilogram behind Artykov — would receive a bronze. It will be Mosquera’s first Olympic medal.
In a social media post from earlier this week, the Colombian lifter posted that he was already back home in Colombia.
Featured image: Махабат Шакирова on YouTube
