Nijat Rahimov has been banned for a doping offense.
The Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport has banned weightlifter Nijat Rahimov for eight years for his involvement in a doping offense. The Swiss-based international athletic body issued a statement on Tuesday to make the announcement.
The press released states that a decision was reached after an injunction was filed by the International Weightlifting Federation back in April 2021. Rahimov’s suspension retroactively began on Jan. 18, 2021. It will be a full eight years that Rahimov cannot compete. Also, the former weightlifting champion will have to purge all results between March 15, 2016 and Jan. 18, 2021. This includes all medals and prizes.
“The Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS ADD) has issued the following decision in relation to the Kazakhstan weightlifter Nijat Rahimov:
- TherequestforarbitrationfiledbytheInternationalWeightliftingFederationon29April2021against Nijat Rahimov is upheld.
- NihatRahimovisfoundtohavecommittedtheAnti-DopingRuleViolationofUseofaProhibited Method pursuant to Article 2.2 of the IWF Anti-Doping Rules.
- Nihat Rahimov is sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of eight (8) years.”
Nijat Rahimov built a reputation as one of the staples in weightlifting over the last decade plus. He competed in nine events from 2015-2019 and was able to total some victories. He won gold at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships and the is where it all began. During the 2016 Olympia Games in Rio, Rahimov defeated Lu Xiaojun to win gold.
Rahimov entered the competition weighing 0.64 kilograms less than Xiaojun so he was given the gold medal. This rule was removed shortly after and the award would be given to the athlete who reached the given weight total first.
Due to Rahimov’s suspension, the gold medal will be forfeited and given to Xiaojun. This would mark the third time the Chinese weightlifter earned an Olympic gold medal. When he is awarded the medal, it would mark three consecutive Olympia Games that Xiaojun won the award. This was the matchup that was going to be highlighted moving forward but that has been taken off the table.
The initial charges of Violation of Use of a Prohibited Method were originally brought up against Nijat Rahimov by the International Testing Agency. This happened in Jan. 2021 and it was challenged by Rahimov. This was before the CAS found Rahimov to be guilty of urine sample substitutions.
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