7 more Russian weightlifters charged with doping offenses

FILE – Russian Dmitry Lapikov lifts weights during men’s +105kg weightlifting finals at the 90th Men’s and 24th Women’s European Senior Weightlifting Championships in Kazan on April 17, 2011. Lapikov won gold medal. AFP PHOTO / DMITRY KOSTYUKOV (Photo by DMITRY KOSTYUKOV / AFP)

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Seven more top Russian weightlifters have been charged with doping offenses, taking the total charged this week to 12.

The International Weightlifting Federation says the seven, including five world and European championship medalists, face allegations stemming from World Anti-Doping Agency investigations into widespread drug use and cover-ups in Russia over the last decade.

Two of them, Dmitry Lapikov and Nadezhda Evstyukina, were previously stripped of medals they won at the 2008 Olympics after samples they gave tested positive.

WADA has been analyzing a vast archive of data obtained in January from the anti-doping laboratory in Moscow, where cases were routinely covered up for years. WADA has started handing over its results to sports federations, causing a wave of new charges.