Former Russian Weightlifting Trainer Says Team Risks Rio Olympics Ban

© Sputnik / Sergey Kuznecov / Go to the mediabankHead coach of Russian national men's team David Rigert at a news conference on the preparation of the Russian national weightlifting team for the 2012 Olympic Games
Head coach of Russian national men's team David Rigert at a news conference on the preparation of the Russian national weightlifting team for the 2012 Olympic Games - Sputnik International
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David Rigert, a former Russian weightlifting trainer said that he would not be surprised if the Russian athletic team was disqualified from the Rio Olympics altogether.

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MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The alleged use of performance enhancing substances by four weightlifters during international trials threaten the disqualification of the entire Russian team from the 2016 Summer Olympics, a former Russian weightlifting trainer said Friday.

"The situation is very critical, but there is something wrong, because the [athletes] departed all clean. They were tested and everything was fine," David Rigert said in a phone interview with R-Sport. "They will press and bite as hard as possible, including up to full disqualification."

The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) provisionally suspended world clean and jerk record holder Aleksei Lovchev on Thursday for allegedly testing positive to the use of a peptide that increases growth hormone levels called ipamorelin.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko gives a press conference on November 30, 2010 in Zurich before his country's 2018 World Cup bid to world football's ruling body FIFA - Sputnik International
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A total of 17 athletes, including three other Russian nationals, have been suspended by the IWF for suspected anti-doping rule violations.

Rigert, who was the head coach of the Soviet national weightlifting team in 1985-1987 and the Russian team in 2004-2012, said he would not be surprised if the team was disqualified from the Rio Olympics altogether.

"Every year there were showdowns in my tenure. There are special rules if a certain number of athletes are caught. It is possible that either the entire team may be disqualified, or the number of qualified quota places may be reduced," he explained.

Russia has secured the maximum number of six male and four female weightlifters for the 2016 Summer Olympics at the November IWF World Championships in the United States.

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