As doping allegations continue to mount against Russia, three of its athletes are set to pick up Olympic gold medals after Kazakh weightlifters failed doping retests from the 2012 London games.
That’s right. Russia, the country accused of running a state-sponsored doping program, could add to its medal total.
Kazakhstan’s gold medalists in the men’s 94kg and women’s 63kg and 75kg divisions were among 10 weightlifters whose blood and urine samples from London tested positive for banned substances.
So, as it stands, Aleksandr Ivanov, Svetlana Tsarukayeva and Natalya Zabolotnaya, who finished second in those classes, will claim retroactive gold, provided they pass mandatory retests.