‘World’s strongest man’ loses bid to have his doping ban overturned

Alexei Lovchev earned the title of world’s strongest man by lifting an unprecedented weight in the super heavyweight division at the world championships last year.

Now, the Russian athlete finds himself erased from the record books and banished from competition.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland announced Friday that it has upheld a decision by weightlifting officials to suspend Lovchev for four years after he tested positive for ipamorelin, a growth-hormone-releasing peptide.

The 27-year-old has been stripped of his gold medal and “his results at the 2015 IWF World Championships were canceled,” the court stated.

At the November competition in Houston, Lovchev lifted 582 pounds in the clean and jerk followed by 465 pounds in the snatch for a record total of 1,047 pounds.

The International Wrestling Federation subsequently banned him in May. He was seeking to have the punishment annulled before the upcoming Summer Olympics.

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