Ms. Nastassia Novikava is a Belarussian Athlete competing in the Womens’s 53 kg weightlifting event at the Beijng 2008 Olympic Games.
In 2016, the IOC decided to perform further analyses on certain samples collected during the 2008 Olympic Games. These additional analyses were performed with analytical methods which were not available in 2008.
In July 2016 the International Olympic Committee reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Athlete after her 2008 A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substances dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol) and stanozolol.
After notification the Athlete submitted that she did not accept the test results. She filed a statement in her defence and did not attend the hearing of the IOC Disciplinary Commission.
The Athlete denied having used performance-enhacing substances and asserted that she had always been very responsible in preparing for a competition. She contended that she had been subject to several out of competition doping tests during her career and that none of them had ever been reported positive.
As an explanation for the presence of the Prohibited Substances, she raises the hypothesis that the substances may have been contained in supplements bought in Russia at that time.
The Commission finds that the Athlete does not bring forth any element challenging the validity of the analytical results and concludes that the Athlete has committed an anti-doping rule violation consistent with intentional use of prohibited substances specifically ingested to deliberately improve performance. The fact that the metabolites of two doping substance, which are “classical” doping substances were found, supports this consideration.
Therefore the IOC Disciplinary Commission decides on 19 October 2016 that the Athlete, Nastassia Novikava:
1.) is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008 (presence and/or use, of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen),
2.) is disqualified from the Women’s 53 kg weightlifting event in which she participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008,
3.) has the medal, the medallist pin and the diploma obtained in the Women’s 53 kg weightlifting event withdrawn and is ordered to return the same.
4.) The IWF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned event accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
5.) The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
6.) The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the medal, the medallist pin and the diploma awarded in connection with the Women’s 53 kg weightlifting event.
7.) This decision enters into force immediately.
