Weightlifters to lose titles

Three Olympic champion weightlifters from China and eight other medallists stand to be stripped of their titles after failing retests of their doping samples from the 2008 Olympics. Chinese gold medallists Cao Lei, Liu Chunhong and Chen Xiexia tested positive for a growth hormone stimulator, while Liu also tested positive for the stimulant sibutramine. The other weightlifters tested positive for various anabolic steroids. They are current world record holder Andrei Rybakou of Belarus, Anastasia Novikova of Belarus, Kazakhstan’s Maria Grabovetskaya and Irina Nekrasova, Russia’s Khadzhimurat Akkaev and Dmitry Lapikov, and Ukraine’s Natalya Davydova and Olha Korobka.