600-plus will compete for world title here
In the wake of a decision Thursday affecting two national teams because of doping violations, more than 600 athletes from 98 countries will begin competition Friday at the International Weightlifting Federation’s world championships at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
Federation officials opened the championships, the first to be held in the United States in four decades, with an executive board session Thursday that included the decision that Bulgaria will not be allowed to compete at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics
Eleven Bu lg arian weightlifters, including three European champions, tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid stanozolol prior to the European championships last March.
The executive committee also took one Olympic slot away from Romania because of “multiple” positive doping results.
Results from the world championships, which will be conducted in eight men’s weight classes and seven women’s classes across nine days through Nov. 28, will be used along with re- sults from the 2014 event to determine entry slots for the 2016 Olympics.
China has been the leading power in world weightlifting in recent years, winning a combined 11 medals, including five gold medals, to seven for North Korea and six each for Kazakhstan and Russia at the 2014 championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan. China also led all nations at the 2012 Olympics with seven total medals to six for Russia and four each for North Korea, Iran and Kazakhstan.
USA Weightlifting, which has not won an Olympic medal since 2000, is one of 11 countries represented by a full 15-member team. The U.S. team includes 2012 Olympians Kendrick Farris of Shreveport, La., who finished 10th in the men’s 85-kilograms (187.3 pounds) event in London, and Holley Mangold of Dayton, Ohio, who was 10th in the women’s superheavyweight division in 2012.
After sending three competitors to London, USA Weightlifting president Michael Massik said the federation hopes to qualify as many as six competitors for the Rio Games.