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4 Olympic weightlifting champions fail doping retests

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Four Olympic weightlifting gold medalists from Kazakhstan are facing sanctions after retesting of their doping samples from the 2012 Games.

The International Weightlifting Federation on Wednesday says the four gold medalists are among 10 athletes from five ex-Soviet countries whose samples tested positive for banned substances in retesting conducted by the International Olympic Committee.

The four Kazakhs included men's 94-kilogram champion Ilya Ilyin, and women's gold medalists Zulfiya Chinshanlo (53 kilogram class), Maiya Maneza (63 kilogram) and Svetlana Podobedova (75 kilogram).

If all four are disqualified, Kazakhstan would drop from 12th to 23rd in the medal standings from London 2012.