Sydney Morning Herald
AOC uncovers tale of the disappearing weightlifter
By Roy Masters
July 14, 2004
Weighty matter: Sergo Chakhoyan sets a world record at the Goodwill Games.
Photo: Angela Wylie
The Australian Olympic Committee suspects Australia’s sole male weightlifter
nominated for the Athens Olympics, Sergo Chakhoyan, went into hiding for
three-and-a-half months before finally being tested for drugs on July 8 in
Armenia.
Acknowledging difficulties in obtaining details of Chakhoyan’s overseas
address, AOC president John Coates said: “Clearly, there were some issues
concerning the provision of his whereabouts information and we should wait
for the results of his tests.”
The AOC has deferred an announcement on Chakhoyan’s selection in the team
for Athens until his tests results are known.
The Australian Sports Drug Agency has told the AOC it has asked the Austrian
agency which tested Chakhoyan, 34, to expedite the analysis at a Vienna
laboratory, with the test results expected late this week.
Chakhoyan, who represented Armenia at the 1996 Atlanta Games, is rated No.1
in the 85-kilogram class and won gold in the snatch at last year’s world
championships in Vancouver, and bronze in the clean-and-jerk.
An Australian resident since 1997, he briefly stopped in Melbourne to
celebrate before heading to Armenia before Christmas.
The AOC investigated his situation following a directive from the World
Anti-Doping Agency that all potential athletes for Athens declare their
whereabouts and be tested from March 31.
When the Australian Weighlifting Federation told the AOC on June 23 that
Chakhoyan would be missing the national championships in Melbourne from June
26 for “personal and family reasons”, the search intensified.
The AOC wrote to AWF president Sam Coffa on June 24 requesting information
on Chakhoyan’s location and it took another two weeks to find him.
Coffa denies the AWF was unhelpful, saying: “There was no vital information
withheld, willingly or unwillingly. His whereabouts have been known to
everybody for months and they most certainly must have been on the ASDA
database, otherwise they couldn’t have found him.”
Chakhoyan tested positive at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane in September
2001 and completed his mandatory two-year suspension last year.
In Vancouver, he claimed his second world title, having won in the same
weight category while representing Armenia in 1994. He came fifth at the
Sydney Olympics representing Australia.
Coates reflected doubts over Chakhoyan in a letter to ASDA chief executive
John Mendoza on July 9, referring to “recent ASDA concerns regarding the
whereabouts information supplied in respect of weightlifter Sergo Chakhoyan,
who was eventually tested in Armenia overnight”.
The AOC said it had been notified that ASDA had “no doping matters in
progress concerning any potential members of the 2004 Australian Olympic
team”.
However, Customs has been asked to check its records on all Australian
athletes from 2000, 2002 and 2004 teams.