Chinese weightlifter Lyu to be awarded Rio Olympic gold medal

BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) -- China's Lyu Xiaojun is expected to claim a third Olympic weightlifting gold medal after 2016 Rio Olympic title winner Nijat Rahimov of Kazakhstan was stripped of his result due to a doping violation.

This means that Lyu, who finished second in the competition, will be promoted to first place, adding to his gold medals from London 2012 and Tokyo 2020.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Tuesday announced that Rahimov, the men's 77kg winner at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, would be banned for eight years from January 18, 2021.

All Rahimov's competitive results between March 15, 2016 and January 18, 2021 are disqualified, including his men's 77kg gold medal at Rio 2016. CAS said Rahimov was found to have swapped his urine samples on four occasions.

The International Testing Agency had charged the weightlifter in 2021 with urine substitution, which "would have occurred over a period of time in 2016."