WARSAW, Poland - Polish weightlifter Szymon Kolecki, a silver medalist at the Sydney Olympics, will miss the Athens Games after testing positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone.
Kolecki tested positive June 26 and was suspended pending the results of testing on a “B” sample, which were released Monday and confirmed the earlier result.
“Kolecki has to forget about the Olympics,” Marek Golab, an official with the Polish Union of Weightlifters, told The Associated Press. He described the absence of Kolecki as “a great loss.”
Three other Polish lifters who had planned to compete in Athens have already been disqualified from the Aug. 13-29 games after testing positive for banned substances.
Kolecki won the silver medal in Sydney in the men’s middle heavyweight (94-kilogram) class, finishing behind Kakhi Kakiasvilis of Greece.