Sports
15:08, 29-Dec-2018
Weightlifter Cristina Iovu facing lifetime ban after third violation
Updated
14:13, 01-Jan-2019
["china"]
Share
Copied
00:49
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has announced eight new doping cases, bringing the total for the past week to 13. The most prominent name on the list is Cristina Iovu, who has competed for three different countries, but now faces a lifetime ban after her third doping violation.
One of the main ways the International Olympic Committee is looking to improve weightlifting at the upcoming Games is by cleaning up its tarnished image, and repeat offenders like Iovu are not helping.
The 26-year-old is best known for winning bronze for her homeland Moldova at the 2012 London Olympics. She then switched her nationality to Azerbaijan, but was among 18 athletes who tested positive at a training camp the following year, and was removed from the team.
In 2016, Iovu's re-tests from Beijing 2008 and London 2012 came back as positive, and she was stripped of her women's 53kg weightlifting Olympic bronze medal. Now, after moving to Romania, she has been caught again, making this her third doping violations under three different national flags, which might lead to a permanent IWF ban.