Mirabai Chanu may have to shelve her gold medal plans as weightlifting likely to lose Olympic Status

Mirabai Chanu won the silver medal in the women's 49kg weightlifting on Day 1 of the Tokyo Olympics (Image source: Reuters)

There is a growing possibility of weightlifting being scrapped from the 2024 Paris Olympics over long-term doping problems and governance issues. This means 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu’s dream of winning India a gold medal in weightlifting may never be realised.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the end-of-Games meeting held on August 9 unanimously approved a proposal to grant the power to suspend any sport from the Olympics to the executive board without needing approval from the Session.

The Olympic charter was amended to allow the IOC executive board to remove a sport if its governing body refuses to adhere to the rules set by the board or if it “acts in a manner likely to tarnish the reputation of the Olympic movement”, reported Inside Sport.

The need for new rules was presented to the membership by IOC vice president John Coates, who is a close ally of IOC President Thomas Bach said: “In the recent past, the IOC has been confronted with situations raising serious concerns regarding the governance of certain international federations.”

These charter changes could spell doom for weightlifting – a sport that has been long associated with the Olympic Games and mired in controversies over doping charges. The International Weightlifting Federation has repeatedly been warned about the need to introduce immediate reforms to prevent doping and corruption scandals.