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A23
SPORTS Wednesday 27 March 2019
IOC WEIGHTLIFTING proved testing that un-
Continued from Page 18 covered widespread use
That's a shame, because of the steroids stanozolol
the sight of huffing, puffing and turinabol among lifters
lifters heaving monstrous from former Eastern Bloc
weights has long been one nations. Kazakhstan lifter
of the great Olympic spec- Ilya Ilin, who won gold in
tacles, with boisterous and the men's 94-kilogram cat-
admiring crowds. The sport egory in 2012 and at the
offered medal opportuni- 2008 Beijing Olympics, had
ties for countries, such as the dubious distinction of
Thailand, that aren't Olym- later being stripped of both
pic powerhouses. But when those medals after retest-
anti-doping tests later re- ing revealed him as a ste-
veal that much of the show roid user.
is a fraud, the question must Others medalists escaped
be asked: Is the IOC aiding that IOC net but were then
and abetting steroid abuse unmasked by testing else-
in weightlifting by keeping where. North Korea's Kim
it in the Olympics? Un Guk, for example, has In this Sunday Nov. 13, 2011 file photo, Olha Korobka from Ukraine competes in the Women's
Fresher, younger sports can kept his 2012 Olympic gold +75kg category at the World Weightlifting Championships, in Paris.
make solid arguments that from the men's feather- Associated Press
they set a better, cleaner weight competition but is
example and so are more banned until the end of this 2015. In what could now be Olympic podium moment 2008, will be limited to just
deserving of inclusion in the year following a positive a third strike for Iovu, and again by three steroid users one male and one female
games. Part of the appeal test in 2015. The 2012 gold for a third country, the Inter- four years later in London, lifter next year in Tokyo.
of skateboarding, climbing in the 85-kilogram class re- national Weightlifting Fed- the Spanish lifter finally had Thailand has banned itself
, surfing and karate, all mak- mains with Poland's Adrian eration announced in De- the gold medal from 2012 from 2020 Olympic weight-
ing their Olympic debuts Zielinski. But he then tested cember that the athlete, placed around her neck at lifting entirely.
at the 2020 Tokyo Games, positive in 2016 and, after now lifting for Romania, is a ceremony in Madrid this The Thai cases show the
and of breakdancing, be- the Court of Arbitration for again suspended while be- month. need for continued IOC
ing proposed for inclusion Sport recently rejected his ing investigated for anoth- The latest drug-test posi- pressure. It would do a dis-
in Paris in 2024, is that Olym- appeal , is now serving out er suspected anti-doping tives from weightlifting's service to weightlifting to
pic audiences should be his four-year suspension. violation. world championships will end its probation before lift-
able to enjoy them without On the women's side, the In short, those who paid be reviewed at a meeting ers have grasped that each
the nagging doubt that shocking case of Cristina for weightlifting tickets at this week of IOC execu- additional doping posi-
many medals may have Iovu, in particular, has recent Olympics might tives. They already have tive inches the sport closer
been won with doping and weakened the argument have a case for a refund. put weightlifting on proba- to farce. Get the Tokyo
could be stripped when lab that anti-doping suspen- Getting medals to rightful tion. The electro-shock of Olympics out of the way
results come back. sions have a deterrent ef- owners has taken years. no longer being guaran- first. Re-analyze weightlift-
Nearly half of the 45 fect. IOC retesting found Spain's Lidia Valentin Perez teed an Olympic place for ing's samples from the 2016
weightlifting medals from that Iovu used turinabol waited a decade for her 2024 helped jolt the sport Rio Games. Then, the IOC
the 2012 London Olym- when she won a bronze silver medal from the 2008 into action. Nine countries could evaluate whether
pics were tainted by dop- medal for Moldova in the Olympics, reallocated af- with the most positives from weightlifting is still doing
ing in one way or another. 53-kilogram class in 2012. ter IOC retesting unmasked the 2008 and 2012 Olympic more harm than good to
Some medalists were be- She also failed a test in 2013, three lifters who'd kept retests were suspended for the Olympic brand.
latedly caught when the having switched allegianc- her off the podium in the a year from 2017 . The worst If so, there's no lack of at-
IOC subjected samples it es to Azerbaijan, and was 75-kilogram competition doping offenders, countries tractive alternatives to take
had stored away to im- banned for two years until in Beijing. Robbed of her with 20 or more cases since its place.q

AP source: Mets, deGrom agree to $137.5 million, 5-year deal

By RONALD BLUM the 2020 season. ERA in five big league sea-
NEW YORK (AP) — NL Cy His new deal calls for a sons. Mets general man-
Young Award winner Ja- $10 million signing bonus, ager Brodie Van Wagenen
cob deGrom and the New half to be paid in January represented the two-time
York Mets have agreed to 2020 and the rest in Janu- All-Star as co-head of CAA
a $137.5 million, five-year ary 2021. He gets a $7 mil- Baseball before the team
contract, a person familiar lion salary this season, $23 hired him last year.
with the negotiations told million in 2020, $33.5 million New York reached the
The Associated Press. The each in 2021 and 2022 and deal with deGrom follow-
deal guarantees an ad- $30.5 million in 2023. The ing an agreement be-
ditional $120.5 million over Mets have a $32.5 million tween Chris Sale and Bos-
four seasons. option for 2024. ton announced Saturday
The person spoke on con- DeGrom has the right to that adds $145 million from
dition of anonymity Tues- opt out of the deal after 2020-24 and raised the to-
day because the agree- the 2022 season and be- tal for the left-hander to
ment was subject to a suc- come a free agent. He also In this March 12, 2019, file photo, New York Mets pitcher Jacob $160 million over six years.
cessful physical. gets the ability to block be- deGrom (48) pitches during the first inning of a spring training Sale, who turns 30 this
baseball game against the Miami Marlins, in Jupiter, Fla.
New York and deGrom had ing traded. Associated Press weekend, has been an All-
agreed in January to a $17 A right-hander who turns Star the last seven years
million, one-year deal, and 31 in June, deGrom had a finished 77-85. He allowed the season, but the Mets and would have been eli-
he was on track to be eli- 1.70 ERA last year yet went three runs or fewer in 29 were 11-18 in those games. gible for free agency after
gible for free agency after 10-9 on a Mets' team that consecutive starts to close DeGrom is 55-41 with a 2.67 this season.q