Bulgarian youth champion banned for life over doping

Bulgarian weightlifter Dayana Dimitrova, who last month won European women’s title in the 48kg category - has been banned for life after a second doping offence since April 2017, the Balkan country’s federation announced on Friday. Dimitrova had served a six-month ban after a positive doping test just before the youth world championships in Thailand in April 2017.

According to the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation, she had used a banned diuretic while training privately. Her coach argues she had used the drug to lose weight before the European championship in Poland.

"We will react pointedly to any attempts for amateur activity of personal trainers and therefore we will continue to insist on centralized training in national teams as a way of strictly controlling the medical rehabilitation of competitors and of taking responsibility," the federation said in a statement.

Tainted sport

The heavy ban comes as Bulgaria struggles to restore its reputation in a sport that has been heavily tainted by doping.

The International Olympic Committee is currently contemplating to remove weightlifting from the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, this in case that the sport fails to improve its record.

Recently, the International Weightlifting Federation has adopted a tougher anti-doping policy under which repeat-offender nations can be banned from the Olympics.