SPORTS Chinese weightlifting champion suspended after positive doping test

SPORTS

Chinese weightlifting champion suspended after positive doping test

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13:42, December 23, 2022

Chinese weightlifting champion suspended after positive doping test

Lu Xiaojun reacts after winning the gold in 81kg weightlifting at the Tokyo Olympics in June 2021. (Photo: Xinhua)

China's three-time Olympic champion Lu Xiaojun has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned substance, the International Testing Agency (ITA) said on Thursday.

Lu said he was shocked by the result and denied using any type of banned substance in a statement released by China's Weighlifting Association today.

"I will cooperate with the investigation and prove my innocence," said Lu.

Lu returned the positive sample during an out-of-competition test on October 30, said the ITA, which oversees the bulk of the International Weightlifting Federation's (IWF) anti-doping program.

Lu, who became the oldest man to win Olympic gold in weightlifting when he claimed the 81kg title in Tokyo last year, tested positive for erythropoietin, a prohibited peptide hormone.

Lu won gold at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics in the 77kg category.

"I believe that the value of sport is fair play, and I am firmly against doping and other types of cheating, which is the bottom line I have always set for myself," Lu said in the statement.

"Doping is completely against my values and runs contradictory to how I have been educated," he added.

"I have undergone hundreds of tests during my 24-year career, and none of them returned positive. I love weightlifting deeply and have won all my awards honestly. I don't have the motive or reason to cheat during the last leg of my career," Lu said in the statement.

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