Ilyin to retire from sport
“We all must abide by the law. I cannot hold the Beijing gold medal. I must return it to Simon Koletsky who ranked the second there. I cannot say: “I am sorry, but I can’t give it to you.” Because he is my friend, and friendship is more valuable for me than the medal,” said he at the press conference in Astana.
“As for the medal from the London 2012 Olympics, I don’t know whom to give it. As far as I know, the best 9 sportsmen were ‘got caught cheating’, and the 10th athlete even didn’t pass the doping test,. I want all of them to be doping tested to know whom I should return the medal,” he noted and added that the door to the Olympic Games is closed for him for the coming 8 years.
He has already announced that he will leave the national team. Therefore he applied for the MBA programme to learn business administration foundations. "I have been stripped off my favorite job, my hobby. I need to close this page and open new one. To open the new door, I need new knowledge,” he said.
He added that he is not going to leave weightlifting.
“Probably I will gather a new weightlifting team and will share my knowledge and experience. I am also thinking to appeal the decision of the International Olympic Committee, but for this I will need to change my attorneys, since the national federation specialists could not protect us,” he said.
As reported, the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan received an official notification from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on sanctions against Kazakhstani weightlifter Ilya Ilyin who clinched gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics and failed anti-doping tests. "In accordance with the decision of the IOC disciplinary commission Ilya Ilyin who competed in men's 94kg weightlifting events was disqualified from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics. Reanalysis of his samples from both Olympic Games resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substances. His results were annulled and he will be stripped off his medals. The International Weightlifting Federation will make a decision on the duration of his qualification," the NOC said in a statement.