Ukrainian world champion caught doping. Ukraine may not be allowed to compete in weightlifting at the 2024 Olympics

Ukraine has committed its third doping violation in weightlifting since the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and may be deprived of quotas for Paris 2024. Alina Marushchak, the 2021 World and European champion in the 81kg weight category, tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide, insidethegames.biz reports.

For reference, hydrochlorothiazide is a diuretic used for weight loss and to remove excess fluid from the body, allowing you to hide traces of other banned substances.

Marushchak became the third representative of Ukrainian weightlifting to be caught for doping since October last year. Earlier, Ruslan Kozhakin and Bohdan Taranenko tested positive for trimetazidine, a hormone and metabolic modulator.

All three cases are still under review. The athletes still have a chance to prove their innocence after the B sample is opened, although this scenario is extremely unlikely. If the Ukrainians receive a full disqualification (4 years), Ukraine will miss the Olympic Games in weightlifting.

According to the International Weightlifting Federation's (IWF) Paris Qualification Rules, if three or more anti-doping rule violations are committed by an "athlete or other person associated with a Member Federation" between July 23, 2021 and July 25, 2024, an independent commission may withdraw some or all of the six quota places - three for men and three for women.

According to the IWF and ITA databases, Ukraine has committed five doping violations since 2012.

Our country already had its quota reduced at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics because of its past doping offender, three-time European champion Dmytro Chumak. The 32-year-old native of Skadovsk in 2021, together with his coach Mykhailo Matsokha, evaded a doping test and allegedly tried to bribe a doping officer.

After Russia's full-scale invasion began, Ukraine's men's weightlifting team trained in Romania, which helped our team with funding. The European Weightlifting Federation also allocated about €24,000 to our country.

The women's team stayed in Ukraine. At the European Championships in Yerevan in 2023, the Yellow and Blues had two winners: Kamila Konotop in the 59 kg weight category and Iryna Deha (81 kg).

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