Russia’s Olympic weightlifting squad was clean of doping at the Olympics despite rumors to the contrary, the head of the Russian Weightlifting Federation said Thursday.
The Russian squad suffered three late injury withdrawals, which helped to spark the rumors of doping.
“We’ve had no problem with doping,” federation president Sergei Syrtsov said. “I hope we won’t have one either. It’s rumors and more rumors.”
A rigorous testing regime is in place, he said.
“We can’t have any problems with doping because the controls are very serious,” he said, adding that every medicine an athlete might take was thoroughly checked to ensure it contained no banned substances.
Russia’s only doping case at the Olympics was track cyclist Victoria Baranova, who confessed to taking synthetic testosterone.
In weightlifting, Albania’s Hysen Pulaku was expelled from the Olympics after testing positive for steroids, while two Turkish lifters were reportedly caught before the Games.
