Weightlifting

Despite vigorous testing and unprecedented controls, drugs continued to cast a shadow over the weightlifting thus sparking questions about the sport's place on the Olympic programme.

Staged in a grand theatre in the land of mythical strongmen Hercules and Atlas, the Athens Olympics were supposed to herald a rebirth for the sport of weightlifting.

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But buried under an avalanche of failed doping tests, the Games became a funeral procession of nabbed drug cheats, leaving shattered weightlifting chief Tamas Ajan saying he felt like he was digging his own grave with each announcement.

"It's true," said Ajan, president of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). "People have said, why are we doing these controls? You are digging your own grave."

After the Bulgarian team was stripped of three gold medals and sent home in disgrace following a spate of positive drug tests at the 2000 Games, Olympic officials flashed the IWF a yellow card warning them to clean up their sport.

Despite vigorous testing and unprecedented controls, drugs continued to cast a sleazy shadow over the weightlifting in Athens, once again sparking questions about the sport's place on the Olympic programme.

As the failed tests continued to mount, the International Olympic Committee offered the IWF a vote of confidence while a defiant Ajan threatened longer bans and tougher controls.

Yet as the competition closed with the announcement another positive test the sport's future remained a subject of debate.