The triple Olympic champion and five-time world champion from China, Lu Xiaojun, stated that using illegal substances goes against his core principles.
Follow Us
Lu Xiaojun declared that he has never cheated in his 24-year weightlifting career and that he will establish his innocence after being provisionally suspended for doping. The triple Olympic champion and five-time world champion from China, perhaps the biggest name in weightlifting in the twenty-first century, stated that using illegal substances goes against his core principles. On October 30, 2022, he tested positive for Erythropoietin (EPO) in an out of competition test. According to the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), he is the first Chinese international weightlifter to have tested positive since 2015 and the first Chinese weightlifter to be suspended since 2010.
The statement from the ITA (as per the release by insidethegames.biz) said, “EPO is prohibited under the 2022 WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) Prohibited List as peptide hormone (S2). EPO is a non-specified substance; a provisional suspension is mandatory following an adverse analytical finding for such a substance under the IWF Anti-Doping Rules. The athlete has been informed of the case and has been provisionally suspended until the resolution of the matter.”
Lu was the overwhelming favorite to win the Summer Olympics in 2012. With a total weight of 379 kg, he won the gold medal in the 77 kg event at the London Olympics 2012. His total of 379 kg for the 77 kg division and his snatch of 175 kg both set world and Olympic records. After Kazakhstan’s Nijat Rahimov was disqualified in March for sample swapping, he was elevated from second to first at Rio 2016. Last year, in the Tokyo Olympics, the 37-year-old Lu won gold in the 77 kg division, making him the oldest gold medalist in the history of weightlifting at the stage of the Olympics.
Read more: Summer Olympics: Which are the confirmed/likely countries to host the future editions?
“I was greatly shocked. I believe that the value of sports lies in fair play and I resolutely oppose the use of any prohibited substance or prohibited method and any other kind of cheating, which is completely against my values, and goes against the anti-doping education I have received. In my 24 years of weightlifting I have been tested hundreds of times, without any ADRV (anti-doping rule violation). Since my return from retirement in August 2022, I have received a total of eight doping control tests in just four months. I love weightlifting very much, and I have won all results clean. I have neither any motive nor any reason to use any prohibited substance or prohibited method in the final phase of my beloved weightlifting career. I will cooperate with related organizations for investigation, to find out the real cause of this issue, and to prove my innocence, ” Lu told Insidethegames.
