Light-Heavyweight (≤69 kilograms), Women

This class was unusual as the favorite was not a Chinese lifter, even with one entered. The favorite’s role fell to Russia’s Oksana Slivenko, the world record holder and World Champion in 2006-07. However, Slivenko would win only the silver medal, as the entire field was crushed by China’s defending champion, Liu Chunhong, who had been runner-up to Slivenko at the 2007 Worlds, and World Champion in 2004-05. Liu lifted 128.0 kg in the snatch for a 13 kg lead, and her clean & jerk of 158.0 kg was 18 kg more than Slivenko lifted, giving Liu the gold medal as she set world records for both lifts and the total. Her victory margin of 31 kg was the largest ever in women’s Olympic weightlifting, until three days later, when Korea’s Jang Mi-Ran won the women’s super-heavy class by 49 kg.

That was how the event and the results seemed to have ended. In 2015, however, the IOC began re-testing samples from the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, using newer, more advanced testing techniques, in an effort to find those who had used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), but in whom it could not be detected at the time of those Olympics. This was one of the many events affected. Of note, every women’s weightlifting event from the 2008 Beijing Olympics was affected by positive re-tests for PEDs.

In November 2016 bronze medalist Nataliya Davydova (UKR) was disqualified after a positive re-test for turinabol (dehydrochloromethyltestosterone). In January 2017 the gold medalist Liu Chunhong (CHN) was disqualified for the presence of sibutramine and GHRP-2. Sibutramine is used for weight loss while GHRP-2 is a variant of growth hormone releasing peptide. Liu appealed the decision which was denied by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in August 2017. In December 2017 it was announced that Russian Oksana Slivenko would be upgraded to the gold medal, while the silver medal was re-assigned to Colombian Leydi Solis, and the bronze medal to Abir Abdulrahman of Egypt.