Related case:
IOC 2016 IOC vs Iryna Kulesha (London Olympiad)
November 10, 2016
Ms. Iryna Kulesha is a Belarussian Athlete competing in the Women’s 75 kg weightlifting event at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The Athlete also competed at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
In 2016, the IOC decided to perform further analyses on certain samples collected during the 2008 Olympic Games. These additional analyses were performed with analytical methods which were not available in 2008.
In July 2016 the International Olympic Committee reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Athlete after her 2008 A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol).
After notification the Athlete submitted that she did not accept the test results. The Athlete filed a statement in her defence and waived her right to be heard for the IOC Disciplinary Commission.
The Athlete stated that she had always been very responsible in preparing for a competition and had never used a banned substance in her career. She contended that she had been subject to several out of competition doping tests during her career and that none of them had ever been reported positive. The Athlete supposed that she used the banned substances unintentionally by consuming food supplements purchased in Russia.
The Commission finds that the Athlete does not bring forth any element challenging the validity of the analytical results and concludes that the Athlete has committed an anti-doping rule violation consistent with intentional use of a prohibited substance specifically ingested to deliberately improve performance. The fact that the metabolite of a doping substance, which is a “classical” doping substance, was found, supports this consideration.
The IOC also observes that reanalysis of the Athlete's samples provided at the London 2012 Olympic Games tested positive for the prohibited substances dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol) and stanozolol.
Therefore the IOC Disciplinary Commission decides on 19 October 2016 that the Athlete, Iryna Kulesha:
1.) is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008 (presence and/or use, of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen),
2.) is disqualified from the Women’s 75 kg weightlifting event in which she participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008,
3.) has the diploma obtained in the Women’s 75 kg weightlifting event withdrawn and is ordered to return the same.
4.) The IWF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned event accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
5.) The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
6.) The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the diploma awarded in connection with the Women’s 75 kg weightlifting event to the Athlete.
7.) This decision enters into force immediately.
