Bulgaria barred from 2016 Olympic weightlifting for doping


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

HOUSTON (AP) — Bulgaria cannot send a weightlifting team to the 2016 Olympics because of its steroids doping record.

The International Weightlifting Federation says its executive board ruled that "Bulgaria is not eligible to participate" in Rio de Janeiro in August.

In March, eight men and three women from the Bulgaria team tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol during training.

Bulgaria then withdrew its team from the European Championships, and the 11 athletes were suspended from the world championships which start Friday in Houston.

At the 2012 London Olympics, Bulgaria sent two weightlifters who both placed fifth.

The IWF says it also took one Olympic entry place from Romania because of "multiple positive cases" of doping.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Most recent Olympics stories

Related topics

OlympicsNational Sports
The Associated Press

    ARE YOU GAME?

    From first downs to buzzer beaters, get KSL.com’s top sports stories delivered to your inbox weekly.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast