Olympics
SEVEN OLYMPIC WINNERS STRIPPED OF GOLD MEDALS
BY LIAM MORGAN
A further seven Russian weightlifters, including two who were stripped of Olympic medals for doping, have been provisionally suspended based on evidence in the McLaren Report and data retrieved from the Moscow Laboratory.
The announcement from the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) brings the number of weightlifters from the country to have been charged this week after the governing body received evidentiary packages from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to 12.
Among the latest to be sanctioned by the IWF are Dmitry Lapikov, who claimed the bronze medal in the under-105 kilograms category at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing before he was retrospectively disqualified by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Lapikov had earlier been stripped of the 105kg title he won at the 2011 European Championships for doping.
Three-time world women’s 75kg champion Nadezda Evstyukhina, stripped of her Beijing 2008 after retesting of her samples found the presence of banned blood booster Erythropoietin and anabolic steroid turinabol, has also been provisionally suspended.
Lapikov and Evstyukhina are joined on the list by 2017 European under-94 kilograms champion Adam Maligov, European medallists Maksim Sheiko and Yuliya Konovalova, 2013 Summer Universiade bronze medallist Magomed Abuev and Chingiz Mogushkov.
All seven have been provisionally banned pending further investigation.
In a statement announcing the first five athletes to be sanctioned earlier this week, the IWF claimed it had imposed the decisions “in view of the severity of the asserted anti-doping rule violations and compelling nature of the evidence”.
Two-time world champion and London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Ruslan Albegov, 2013 world champion Tima Turieva, David Bedzhanyan and Oleg Chen – who have both won two European titles and three World Championships medals – and Egor Klimonov are the others to have been provisionally suspended.
Chen and Albegov had their provisionally suspensions, imposed on suspicion of doping in November 2017, lifted in February of last year.
The IWF is the second Olympic International Federation to sanction athletes based on evidence obtained from the Moscow Laboratory by WADA.
The first was the International Biathlon Union.
WADA announced last month it had identified 300 athletes with the most suspicious data recovered from the facility in the Russian capital and had sent evidentiary packages on 43 competitors to the relevant world governing bodies.
It is up to International Federations (IFs) to pursue anti-doping rule violations against those found to have been involved.
WADA has pledged to assist IFs to help sanction or exonerate athletes but has also warned it will not hesitate to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if they choose not to act.
The global anti-doping watchdog said earlier this week that the IWF provisionally banning athletes based on the evidence packages provided by its intelligence and investigations department was “an excellent development for clean sport” and “shows justice being brought to those that may have cheated their sport”.
“The agency awaits more such announcements from federations that have commenced results management on the basis of evidentiary packages provided by WADA,” WADA added in a statement.
It is possible more cases could arise from weightlifting as the IWF and the International Testing Agency is conducting a joint investigation into the information handed over to the worldwide body by WADA.
-insidethegames
Roy Jones Jr has been handed the Olympic gold medal he was controversially denied in 1988 in an extraordinary act of sportsmanship by the South Korean fighter who beat him.
Hall of Fame boxer Jones shared a video on Wednesday from two years ago that showed Park Si-hun visiting the American’s ranch in Pensacola, Florida to present him with the light middleweight gold medal.
“I had the gold medal, but I want to give it back to you. It belongs to you,” Park said in the video through his son, who translated.
Jones, who was overcome with emotion by the gesture, covered his face with his hand before saying: “Wow, that is crazy.”
Their match at the Seoul Olympics remains one of boxing’s most contentious moments as Jones appeared to dominate the fight but lost to Park by a 3-2 decision that drew instant criticism and sparked enduring controversy.
Despite losing the gold medal match, Jones was selected as the Val Barker Trophy winner as the best boxer of the 1988 Olympics.
Jones went on to become a four-division world champion and is regarded as one of the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighters of all time.
“In 1988, I was robbed of the gold medal in what became one of the biggest controversies in boxing history,” Jones wrote in his Instagram post.
“By the grace of God, a couple of years ago, the man who won that medal made the trip from South Korea to my home to return it to me, feeling it was rightfully mine.
“I hope you enjoy this moment as much as I did.”
-Reuters
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U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday creating a White House Olympics task force to handle security and other issues related to the 2028 Summer Olympic Games, an administration official told Reuters.
The task force, made up of members from Trump’s cabinet and government agencies, will coordinate federal, state and local government work on transportation, the official said.
It also will “streamline visa processing and credentialing for foreign athletes, coaches, officials, and media,” the official said in an email.
The United States will host the Olympics in Los Angeles in three years. Trump, a Republican who lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, has expressed pleasure that his second term will coincide with the Olympics and the World Cup.
“During his first term, President Trump was instrumental in securing America’s bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The president considers it a great honor to oversee this global sporting spectacle in his second term,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Monday.
Last month organizers of the Los Angeles games released the first look at the Olympic competition schedule . The city had also hosted the Olympics in 1932 and 1984.
“The creation of this task force marks an important step forward in our planning efforts and reflects our shared commitment to delivering not just the biggest, but the greatest Games the world has ever seen in the summer of 2028,” Casey Wasserman, the chair and president of LA28, said in a statement.
–Reuters
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By DAVID LEE
Home is many places for swimmer Adaku Nwandu, who was born in China, lives in Singapore and wears the Nigeria flag on her swimsuit.
And it is at her current home in Singapore that the 17-year-old is making her debut at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH).
In the second heat of the 100m freestyle at the WCH Arena, the teenager, who has a Nigerian father and Chinese mother, led at the turn before finishing third in 1min 0.89sec – she eventually placed 59th out of 82 athletes overall.
After her race, Adaku shared with The Straits Times that she was born and raised in Shanghai, and started swimming when she was eight. Interestingly, it was ice cream that kept her in the sport.
Adaku, who still has the 50m freestyle heats on Aug 2, said: “At a school competition, I didn’t do so well and I asked my dad if we could make a deal. He said if I do better, he would buy me ice cream once every week, and that’s a promise we have kept with each other. And that’s what brought me here.”
In 2023, the family moved to Singapore due to her mother’s work posting. With her fluent Mandarin and love for Asian and spicy food, it did not take long for her to pick up Singlish and enjoy local delights like chicken rice and chilli crab.
She said: “We came here mainly because of my mother’s work, and also because the swimming scene back where I lived in China was a little bit toxic, so she also thought Singapore would be a new experience and better for my swimming.”
By then, she had already committed to representing Nigeria after its aquatics association contacted her after the National Sports Festival in Asaba, where the then 16-year-old was part of the national record-breaking women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team.
But Singapore is where she has been honing her swimming skills, as she has set her 50m and 100m freestyle long- and short-course Nigeria national records at meets here.
Noting her improvements, Singapore swimming coach and performance director Gary Tan said: “Adaku has been participating in our system for a while, and we hope it helps her develop as a swimmer and achieve what she wants while training in Singapore with her school (German European School Singapore).”
For someone who is inspired by Olympic champions David Popovici, Caeleb Dressel and Adam Peaty for “their dedication and the way they are able to take breaks for themselves to improve and get back to the water”, qualifying for Paris 2024 on ranking points was a dream come true.
Her Olympic debut was also unforgettable as her swimsuit ripped 20 minutes before her 50m freestyle heat, but she managed to finish second in her heat and 33rd out of 78th overall in 26.62 seconds, just 0.03 of a second off her personal best.
Back in Singapore, Adaku, who is in the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme at her school, realised that she needed more of such resilience to reach her goals.
The swimmer, who also plays for the school’s volleyball team, said: “I had a lot of improvement the first year I came to Singapore. But this past year has been especially hard for me with family problems and also school. The workload in my first year of IB made it hard to balance training and school.
“Especially in the next year, I want to focus more on swimming and try to get some new personal bests because this year I just plateaued. I’m looking forward to training harder and preparing for my next competition and hopefully qualify for the next Olympics.”
-Strait Times, Singapore
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