Breaking- Bronze medal of Egyptian Weightlifter in 2016 Rio Olympics upgraded to silver after Gold medalist being stripped off first place finish
Gold medalist Nidzhat Rakhimov has been stripped off his first place finish following guilty of doping by the International Testing Agency.
The new development now sees Egyptian weightlifter Mohamed Ehab awarded silver medal in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
The Egyptian International initially won bronze in Rio’s 77kg weightlifting competition behind China’s Xiaojun Lu who came second, and Kazakhstan’s Nidzhat Rakhimov who won the show.
However, the International Testing Agency’s investigations revealed that the Kazakhstan’s representative swapped his urine samples and was found guilty of doping.
As a result, Rakhimov was suspended for eight years and all the medals he won since 2016 are stripped from him, including his gold medal from Rio Olympics.
Accordingly, Ehab’s bronze medal was upgraded to silver and Xiaojun Lu’s silver medal was upgraded to gold.
It’s worth noting that Mohamed Ehab couldn’t compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as the International Weightlifting Federation banned Egypt from participation.
Mohamed Ehab didn’t participate 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Egypt’s weightlifting legend and Olympic medalist Mohamed Ehab announced that he officially won’t be participating in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The International Weightlifting Federation had decided to ban Egypt from participating in weightlifting competitions two years ago.
The decision came after it was proven that the Egyptian Weightlifting Federation (EWF) was doping its athletes during the Youth African games.
The EWF had appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but the decision was upheld. Ehab then filed an individual appeal, which was also denied, meaning that he will officially not be able to participate in the Olympics as he announced on his Facebook page.
“It’s over… After five years of hard work and struggle, I won’t be participating in the Olympics, not because I didn’t qualify or because of a problem with my tests.
“If the world is unjust, then God will bring us justice. And if it’s not today, then tomorrow his promise will be fulfilled, god willing. I hope god rewards me in my calamity and gives me something better than it,” he wrote.
Mohamed Ehab is considered as an Egyptian legend in weightlifting, especially after winning the bronze medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics, at the Men’s 77kg competition. In 2017, he won the gold medal in the World Championships and finished second on three other occasions.
