Lidia Valentin, a weightlifter from Spain, recently became the first female weightlifter to receive a medal at three different Olympic Games. At the 2012 London Olympics, she placed fourth in the women’s 75 kilogram lifting category, behind Svetlana Podobedova, Natalia Zabolotnaya and Iryna Kulesha. After investigation by the International Olympic Committee recently, it was discovered that the three women who placed ahead of her had all tested positive for doping with the use of anabolic agents.

This discovery then led to those women being stripped of their medals, and, in turn, Valentin received the gold. At the Beijing 2008 Games and the Rio 2016 games she placed silver and bronze, respectively. This gold medal from the London 2012 Games now completes her trio of medals.

Doping dates back to the ancient Olympic games, even though back then it was not considered to be cheating. It is an ongoing problem in the Olympics, and in sports in general, with athletes constantly being caught and stripped of medals.

kiramarch97