Weightlifting's crisis deepens

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Athens - Another weightlifter has failed a dope test at the Olympics bringing the number of known cases to ten.

Sam Coffa, vice-president of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) said on Wednesday that the athlete was prevented from competing after the positive test was confirmed.

The IWF have not named the weightlifter involved in the latest of a string of drug cases to rock the sport. He was caught by the IWF's pre-competition screening process.

Seven athletes failed tests carried out by the IWF while three weightlifters were snared in the International Olympic Committee's trap. The most high-profile case involved local hero Leonidas Sampanis who was stripped of his bronze medal after he tested positive for high testosterone levels.

The IWF, fearful for their Olympic future, are highly sensitive about the high number of drug cases and have made few official announcements.

Only five of the seven athletes who failed pre-competition tests were officially named by the IWF while Russian team officials confirmed that woman lifter Albina Khomich had tested positive.

IWF director Aniko Nemeth-Mora said that the organisation was not obliged to reveal details of the failed pre-competition tests until the cases had been fully investigated.

The IWF's announcement last Wednesday that five weightlifters had tested positive in a pre-Games blitz came several days after one of the offenders had been prevented from competing in his event. At least one other athlete was already back home when the IWF came out with their official statement.

"I am not being told anything about the drug cases," said IWF spokesperson Jeno Boskovics.

Coffa did confirm that all weightlifters unmasked as drug cheats in Athens would be banned from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"This is our rule - anyone who has tested positive will be suspended from competition for two years and also banned from taking part in the next Olympics," he said.

Coffa added that their federations would also be investigated for complicity and faced sanctions.