WADA welcomes International Testing Agency decision to sanction doctor for doping violations related to weightlifting

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) welcomes the decision by the International Testing Agency (ITA) to sanction Dr. Dorin Balmus for a range of Anti-Doping Rule Violations related to tampering with the anti-doping process in the sport of weightlifting.

In a television documentary, aired by German broadcaster ARD in January 2020, Dr. Balmus was recorded admitting that he had used surrogates, or “doppelgängers”, during sample collections of a number of Moldovan Weightlifting Federation athletes. This substitution of urine samples was confirmed by further ITA enquiry, prompted by an investigation known as ‘Operation Arrow’ that had been initiated by WADA’s independent Intelligence and Investigations (I&I) Department in October 2019. ‘Operation Arrow’ is part of a wider WADA I&I investigation into weightlifting that began in August 2017.

WADA I&I has been instrumental in bringing forward more cases involving the use of “doppelgängers” in weightlifting for further investigation and prosecution by the ITA. 

WADA congratulates the ITA for its successful conclusion of this case and commends the work of the ARD journalists.