Azerbaijani weightlifter stripped of his gold medal

The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Tuesday stripped Azerbaijani weightlifter Nijat Rahimov of the gold medal he won in the Rio 2016 Games and banned him from competing for eight years due to doping.

Report informs, citing Anadolu Agency, that the court upheld a request for arbitration filed by the International Weightlifting Federation on April 29, 2021.

In a statement published on its official website, the court declared that Rahimov was found guilty of "substituting his urine" four times, which is the "use of a prohibited method" under weightlifting anti-doping rules.

Rahimov won the 77-kilogram division in Rio, lifting a then-world record 214kg in the clean and jerk.

His ban commences from January 18, 2021, and he was disqualified from all his results, including any medals, points, and prizes from March 2016 to and including January 2021.

The experienced athlete left the national team of Azerbaijan in 2014 and accepted Kazakh citizenship. He became the world champion the following year and the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics winner in 2016.

It should be noted that Nijat Rahimov was disqualified for two years in 2013 when he was in the national team of Azerbaijan for finding steroids in his body.