Weightlifter who finished ninth to get medal as six fail dope test

LONDON: A weightlifter who finished ninth in the London 2012 Olympics and was sent home from this year’s Rio Games for doping is set to get a medal because a rival,

LONDON: A weightlifter who finished ninth in the London 2012 Olympics and was sent home from this year’s Rio Games for doping is set to get a medal because a rival, who is already serving an eight-year ban has tested positive retrospectively.

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Tomasz Zielinski of Poland finished 22kg behind the top three in London in the 94kg category but because six of the eight lifters ahead of him have been caught out in re-tests he moves up to the bronze medal position.

Zielinski and his brother Adrian, the 2012 champion at 85kg, were sent back to Poland in disgrace before competing in Rio when results of pre-Games tests were announced.

With the top four in the 94kg in London all having been caught in the re-tests, gold will go to the lifter who finished fifth, Iran’s Saeid Mohammadpourkarkaragh.

Those in sixth and seventh places have also tested positive, so when the legal process is completed silver will go to eighth-placed Kim Min-Jae of South Korea and bronze to Zielinski, provided there are no more adverse findings.