Enlarge image
Tamás Aján, 2014 at a press conference as part of the World Weightlifting Championships (archive image)
Photo:
Igor Kovalenko / dpa
The ex-president of the World Weightlifting Federation (IMF), Tamás Aján, has been banned for life by the International Sports Court for serious violations of anti-doping regulations.
This was announced by the Lausanne-based Cas on Thursday.
The 83-year-old Hungarian was Secretary General of the IMF from 1976 and President of the world association from 2000 until his resignation in 2020.
Former IMF Vice President Nicu Vlad from Romania was also banned for life as a sports official for complicity in a doping violation.
According to the Cas judgment, Aján was charged with manipulation over a period of many years up to 2012, including fraudulent acts to falsify results or to prevent a normal doping process in several weightlifters.
"The allegations against the former IMF officials have been proven to the satisfaction of the CA's sole arbitrator," the statement said.
"Given the seriousness of the anti-doping violations and the length of time in which they were committed, the Cas found a lifetime ban to be an appropriate sanction."
The weightlifting scandal was triggered in January 2020 by an ARD documentary.
The then appointed special investigator Richard McLaren had largely confirmed the allegations against the long-term President Aján in his investigation report.
Aján is said to have set up a system of doping cover-up and corruption.
He himself denied the allegations.
According to a statement by the International Testing Agency (Ita), which, among other things, carries out doping controls for the IOC at the Olympic Games, the Cas judgment is “clear evidence that its independent, fact-based and impartial approach to combating doping is clear and implementable results in favor of a clean sport«.
Ita had brought the case to the Cas.
Also because of the recurring negative headlines about doping, the traditional sport of weightlifting faces an uncertain future.
An Olympic exit has also been discussed for a long time.
It was recently unclear whether weightlifting will still be part of the Olympic program in Los Angeles in 2028.
ara/dpa
