The doping scandal in the Chinese sports industry has been a hot topic of discussion, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) recently announced that it upholds the 4-year ban on Chinese Olympic weightlifting champion Lu Xiaojun, which will be lifted on October 29, 2026.
On May 22, 2025, in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport issued a notice maintaining the four-year ban on Chinese weightlifter Lu Xiaojun. The ban will start on October 30, 2022. All competition results of Lu Xiaojun during the period of provisional suspension will be canceled, including medals, points, and prize money.
Lu Xiaojun tested positive for doping in 2022, and the International Testing Agency (ITA) subsequently made a decision to temporarily suspend him.
The latest announcement from the arbitration tribunal indicated that the substance detected in Lu Xiaojun’s test was recombinant erythropoietin (rEPO), which is classified as a prohibited substance in the 2022 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List under the S2 category.
In May 2024, the International Weightlifting Federation submitted a request for arbitration to the arbitration tribunal, seeking to establish that Lu Xiaojun violated the International Weightlifting Federation Anti-Doping Rules and impose a 4-year ban on him starting from the date of the CAS decision.
After completing the evidence exchange process, a hearing was held via video conference on April 2, 2025. The sole arbitrator in charge of the case determined that Lu Xiaojun did not provide any evidence to support the possibility of “unintentional use of prohibited substances.”
In the end, the arbitration tribunal ruled for a 4-year ban on Lu Xiaojun, running from October 30, 2022, to end on October 29, 2026.
Public records show that 40-year-old Lu Xiaojun has won 3 Olympic weightlifting gold medals, in the 77kg category at the 2012 London Olympics, the 77kg category at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and the 81kg category at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.