Kazakh weightlifter Ilyin set to lose 2 Olympic gold medals for doping

Kazakh weightlifter Ilya Ilyin could lose both of his Olympic gold medals after being caught doping in retests from 2008 and 2012.

Kazakh weightlifter Ilya Ilyin could lose both of his Olympic gold medals after being caught doping in retests from 2008 and 2012.

Kazakhstan's Ilya Ilyin poses with his gold medal of the men's 94Kg weightlifting competition at the ExCel venue at the London 2012 Olympic Games. (Reuters Photo)

The International Weightlifting Federation said last week that Ilyin had failed a 2012 retest, along with three other Kazakh gold medalists, but now his Beijing 2008 gold is also at risk.

The IWF says Ilyin, who won the 94-kilogram division in 2008 and 2012, is one of seven lifters from six countries to test positive in the retesting of the 2008 samples.

Ilya Ilyin competes during the men's 94kg group A weightlifting event of the London 2012 Olympic Games at The Excel Centre in London. (AFP File Photo)

Other medalists implicated are Russian teammates Maria Shainova and Nadezhda Evstyukhina, who won silver and bronze, respectively, in 2008.

Ilyin has protested his innocence on Instagram, where he has 332,000 followers.