Weightlifting Federation bans three countries from Olympics

The International Weightlifting Federation has banned Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan from the Olympics for anti-doping violations.

It adds further misery for Russia, who are already excluded from athletics after the IAAF’s ban.

Russia said they plan in appealing both verdicts to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The IWF announced it would hand bans to “national federations confirmed to have produced three or more anti-doping rule violations in the combined re-analysis process” of samples taken from Beijing 2008 and London 2012.

The IOC will have the chance to overrule the decisions – but they have previously said that only international federations can decide on an athlete’s technical eligibility for the Games, in regards to doping.

Russian Sport Minister Vitaly Mutko said the idea was like “a psychotic episode”.