Quick Facts
Biography
Cristina Iovu (born November 8, 1992) is a Moldovan–born Azerbaijani-Romanian weightlifter competing in the –53 kg division.
Career
Iovu won gold at the 2012 European Weightlifting Championships. At the 2012 London Olympics, Iovu originally won the bronze medal in the 53 kg event.
Iovu was disqualified from the 2013 World Weightlifting Championships after testing positive in competition for Oxandrolone and was sanctioned by the International Weightlifting Federation from 19 June 2013 to 19 June 2015. The Azerbaijani team was forced to pay $500,000 to the International Weightlifting Federation as multiple tests were positive for prohibited substances from the world anti-doping agency list.
In the 2016 European Championships Iovu represented the third country in her career - Romania.
On July 27, 2016 the International Weightlifting Federation announced that Iovu failed her re-tested 2012 Olympics sample. She tested positive for Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (S1.1 Anabolic agents). In November 2016, she was stripped of her 2012 Olympic medal. She is facing another suspension, and did not take part in the 2016 Rio Olympics.