Uzbek freestyle wrestler Artur Taymazov stripped of London 2012 gold medal

Image Credits: Reuters

Uzbek freestyle wrestler Artur Taymazov has been stripped of his London 2012 Olympic gold medal after re-analysis of stored samples, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Tuesday.

Taymazov, whose gold in the 2008 Olympics was taken away in 2017 after a re-testing of samples from the Beijing Games was conducted, is the 60th athlete to be disqualified from the London Olympics after the event.

Only nine athletes were caught by anti-doping tests during those Games.

The IOC said Taymazov, who won the men’s freestyle 120kg gold at three successive Games, had been disqualified from the results after a positive test for the prohibited substance Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (oral turinabol).

The Russian-born Uzbek was ordered to return the medal won during the London Olympics. He had also won gold at Athens in 2004 and a 130kg silver in Sydney in 2000. His London gold had made him the most successful freestyle competitor in Olympic history. 

The 120kg silver medallist from London 2012, Georgian Davit Modzmanashvili, was stripped of that medal in January this year after a re-analysis also tested positive for oral turinabol.
Reanalysis of samples from 2012 will continue this year before the statute of limitations is reached by 2020.