MOSCOW: Russian Olympic weightlifter Ruslan Albegov has been suspended for having potentially violated anti-doping rules, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) said on Monday. The IWF said Albegov, who won bronze at the 2012 London Games in the men’s +105 kg event, was provisionally suspended for “use or attempted use by an athlete of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method”, without providing further detail. Russia is one of nine countries currently on a one-year ban from international weightlifting competitions over doping at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Other banned nations include China, Turkey and Ukraine. The IWF last year barred Russia’s weightlifting team from the Rio Olympics over repeated doping offences. Russia’s participation in next year’s winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, is now in limbo over investigations by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the alleged tampering of Russian athletes’ samples by laboratory and security officials at the 2014 Sochi Games. Six Russian cross-country skiers were banned for life from the Olympics this month as part of an IOC investigation. The IOC has said that it would decide at its executive board meeting next month on the participation of Russian competitors at Pyeongchang. Published in Daily Times, November 14th 2017.