Reanalysis of samples from the 2016 Rio Olympic Games resulted in the provisional suspension of two weightlifters from the Men’s 77KG division: Mohamed Ehab of Egypt and Alexandru Spac of Moldova, who finished third and fifth, respectively.

On July 17, 2024, the International Testing Agency (ITA) said they were provisionally suspended. Ehab tested positive for the methandienone metabolite (Dianabol), and Spac tested positive for the Dehydrochloromethyltestosterone metabolite (Turinabol).

Who is Mohamed Ehab?

When Ehab finished third behind Nijat Rahimov and Lu Xiaojun in Rio, Ehab became the first Egyptian weightlifter to win an Olympic medal since 1948. 

Ehab was never out of the first two in 13 straight competitions between 2014 and 2019, winning gold at the 2017 World Championships and multiple African titles. He did not compete again after failing to make a total at the 2021 World Championships and did not officially announce his retirement until 2023.

Ehab, 34, confirmed to BarBend that he was pursuing a career in coaching. He is one of the most popular weightlifters in the Arab world, and even after retirement, he has a six-figure following on social media.

Ehab’s sample in Rio was removed from competition four days before he lifted. Although he competed throughout a period when Egypt was involved in multiple doping infringements and suspensions, Ehab never served an international doping ban.

Who is Alexandru Spac?

Spac, coincidentally born on the same day as Ehab — November 21, 1989 — was twice a European Championships medallist and twice banned for doping. Spac lost one of those medals to a doping disqualification in 2017 and has not competed since then.

Spac was banned for two years in 2013 and eight years in 2017. Both times, he tested positive for steroids.

Doping Violations Eight Years Later?

Throughout this century, samples collected at or just before the Olympic Games have been stored for reanalysis in the future, as advances in science can help catch doping violations.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been successful in the retesting process. After reanalysis, the number of disqualifications from Beijing 2008 and London 2012 is one reason why weightlifting at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games (Aug. 7-11) features the lowest athlete quota (120) since women were added to the program in 2000.

According to an academic paper published in Sports Medicine in 2021, 25 weightlifters were disqualified from Beijing and 31 from London many years later.

Retesting of stored samples from Rio in all sports began in December 2023. Ehab and Spac are the first Rio weightlifters to test positive in reanalysis.

“The samples were first analyzed during the Olympic Games in Rio 2016 and were reported as negative, with the detection methods applied by the WADA-accredited laboratory available at the time,” the ITA said in a statement on July 17, 2024.

Updates to 2016 Rio Results and Medals?

Kazakhstan’s Rio 2016 gold medallist Rahimov has already been disqualified for sample swapping that was later discovered—first place currently remains vacant on the official IOC results page.

The possible promotion of China’s silver medallist, Lu Xiaojun, is delayed while Lu contests a doping violation. After testing positive for EPO, the 2012 and 2020 Olympic champion was provisionally suspended in December 2022.

If Ehab’s doping violation is confirmed, he will be disqualified. Chatuphum Chinnawaong from Thailand finished fourth, Spac fifth, and Andres Caicedo of Colombia sixth. If three of the top six are disqualified — Rahimov, Ehab, and Spac – Caidedo could gain a medal. However, the IOC’s reallocation process can take years. 

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Disclaimer: Brian Oliver is an independent correspondent for BarBend. The views and opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect his own. Oliver is not directly affiliated with any of BarBend’s existing media partnerships.

Featured image: @ehab_olympics on Instagram

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