Romania bans two weightlifters for doping

Bucharest: Romania's Olympic Committee (COR) has banned for life weightlifters Traian Ciharean and Adrian Mateias, who tested positive for banned substances, a senior COR official said on Friday.

"It's a very delicate situation for Romania's Olympic team," COR secretary-general Dan Popper told Reuters by phone from Australia, shortly after the opening of the Sydney Games.

Popper said that both men had been withdrawn from the Olympic team and would be flown back to Romania on Monday.

Popper said Ciharean was withdrawn from the team after a second sample taken in Sydney tested positive for anabolic steroid methandienone.

He said that Mateias, who was to have competed in the 105 kg category, had also tested positive during a special check in Sydney earlier this week, but he could not immediately say for which banned substance.

Ciharean, who won bronze in the 52 kg weight class at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, was to have competed in the 52 kg category there.



(c) Reuters Limited.