Olympics: Mirabai may clinch a gold if China’s Hou Zhihui fails dope test

Mirabai Chanu, the weight lifter from Manipur, who made India proud by winning the first silver for the country in the sport at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, stands a chance of winning the gold in the women’s 49 kg category as the winner, China’s Hou Zhihui, has been asked to stay back for a dope test.

Chanu may be awarded the gold medal if Zhihui fails the dope test.

“She has been asked to stay in Tokyo and the test will be done. The test is definitely happening,” ANI quoted a source as saying.

Zhihui who lifted a record weight of 210 kg was ahead of Chanu by 8 kg. Chanu had lifted 87 kg in a snatch and 115 kg in clean and jerk category. Indonesia’s Windy Cantika who lifted 194 kg had bagged the bronze medal.

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It is a common practice for Olympic medallists to undergo dope tests after their win. However, Zhihui’s case involves adverse analytical finding – a process which will determine if there is anything adverse in the first sample.

According to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), “adverse analytical findings should not be confused with adjudicated or sanctioned anti-doping rules violations.”

“First, these figures may contain findings that underwent the Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) approval process. In addition, some Adverse Analytical Findings may correspond to multiple measurements performed on the same athlete, such as in cases of longitudinal studies in testosterone (i.e., tracking the testosterone level of one athlete over a period of time),” WADA says.