The Colombian Weightlifting Federation has failed in its bid to overturn three anti-doping decisions that look set to rule it out of the Tokyo Olympics in July.
The cases concerned Ana Segura, Yenny Sinisterra and Juan Felipe Arboleda. They all tested positive for Boldenone in January 2020 and were charged with use of prohibited substances. The Colombian Weightlifting Federation appealed the cases to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on the basis that the athletes had eaten contaminated meat rather than deliberately taken the prohibited substance. This theory was rejected by the CAS, meaning their provisional suspensions stand.
There is just one more step before all Colombian weightlifters are made ineligible for the Olympic Games in July. The IWF’s Independent Panel needs to decide to impose a national suspension as it is allowed to do under the qualification rules. Given that suspensions have already been imposed on other nations during the qualification process for multiple anti-doping violations, it would be surprising if this did not happen.