Mr Florin Ionut Croitoru is a Romanian Athlete competing in the Weightlifting event at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
In 2018, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to perform further analyses on certain samples collected during the 2012 Olympic Games. These additional analyses were performed with analytical methods which were not available in 2012.
In February 2019 the International Testing Agency (ITA), on behalf of the IOC, reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Athlete after his 2012 A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substances Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (Turinabol), Metenolone and Stanozolol. After notification the Athlete waived his right to be heard for the IOC Disciplinary Commission nor did he file a statement in his defence.
The Disciplinary Commission finds that the test results established the presence of the prohibited substances in the Athlete’s samples and accordingly that the Athlete committed an anti-doping rule violation.
The Commission holds that the finding of these substances is clearly consistent with intentional and actually carefully managed doping practices.
Based on the then known windows of detection, a well-informed Athlete could indeed be counting that the concerned substances would not be detected on the occasion of the doping controls performed during the Olympic Games. The absence of any explanation on the part of the Athlete further reinforces the inference that he was intentionally doping.
Therefore the IOC Disciplinary Commission decides on 8 May 2019 that the Athlete, Florin Ionut Croitoru:
1.) is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London in 2012 (presence and/or use, of Prohibited Substances or their Metabolites or Markers in the Athlete’s bodily specimen), and
2.) is disqualified from the events in which he participated upon the occasion of the 2012 Olympic Games, namely, the Men’s 56kg Weightlifting event.
3.) The IWF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned event accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
4.) The National Olympic Committee of Romania shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
5.) The decision enters into force immediately.
