Organizers randomly choose 24 lifters for steroid testing
JAKARTA (JP): Organizers of the 20th junior world weightlifting championships have randomly picked 24 samples of urine from participating lifters and say there will no banned drug cases to tarnish the event.
"Our lifters know full well that their career will be over if they are found guilty for using performance enhancing substances," Gottfried Schodl, President of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), said during a press meeting yesterday.
The samples, along with other ones which are taken in the remaining competitions, will be tested in an IWF-sanctioned laboratory in Koln, Germany after the championships conclude.
Schodl claimed that IWF is the world's strictest sport organization in handling drug abuse cases due to the life ban it imposes on guilty lifters. Under IWF regulations, a national body that has uncovered three positive results within 12 months is also penalized with a year's suspension from competition.
The Austrian IWF president admitted that such misconduct had occurred in the junior event's 20-year history, but "very few". He failed, however, to reveal the exact number.
IWF also changed the weight divisions last year in an attempt to clean up the sport, as the world old records were regarded to be assisted by illegal drug use.
The last drug bans to be imposed by the sport body were those of members of the Russian and Polish teams after being tested drug positive prior to the world championships in Melbourne last November.
Indonesia
Schodl also offered Indonesia to host the 1997 world weightlifting championships, saying that the country had a bulk of experience in organizing events sanctioned by IWF. Indonesia played host to the 1988 women's world weightlifting meet and junior world powerlifting championships last month.
Yesterday's competitions saw Russia end its gold medal drought as Dmitri Gorshunov gobbled up two golds in the 76-kilogram division. The Russian juggernaut also equaled the meet record set by Victor Mitrou of Greece last year with a snatch of 152.5kgs in his third attempt.
Gorshunov, 20, could only heave 180kgs in the clean and jerk for the fourth place, but it was enough to give him another gold for his total lift of 332.5kgs. His mark, however, was 17.5kgs lighter than the world standard set by IWF. The international sport body set 23 new world marks for junior competition, following the changes of divisions.
Rumania proved its billing as the world's major weightlifting powerhouse, winning two golds, three silvers and a bronze for the second place overall behind runaway leader China which did not field its lifters yesterday.
Rumanian Ilie Ovidiu Fatu stole the clean and jerk gold medal with a lift of 182.5kgs, equal to that heaved by his Kazakhstan rival Gennadi Ermakov. Fatu deserved the top honor as he weighed 0.30kg lighter than his opponent.
Fatu's teammate Ilie Ravzan took the clean and jerk bronze with 180kgs but won two silvers after snatching 145kgs scoring a combined lift of 325kgs.
Florin Havram seized a gold in the 83kg contest dominated by Oliver Caruso of Germany with a snatch of 152.5kgs. Havram's 172.5kg lift in the clean and jerk earned him the second best total lift of 325kgs.
Germany broke the duck as Caruso won two golds in the division. He scored the best lift of 182.5kgs in clean and jerk and was awarded another gold for his 332.5kgs total lift.
Six gold medals are at stake in the 91kg and 99kg categories today. (amd)