Only 4 of 16 Russian weightlifters were tested out of competition — Deutsche Welle

Sixteen athletes from Russia, an aggressor state, are competing at the World Weightlifting Championships in Ningbo, China. According to Deutsche Welle, the International Testing Agency (ITA) tested only four of them out of competition during the first nine months of 2026.

The outlet cites ITA’s quarterly anti-doping reports. Among the 12 weightlifters whom the agency did not test out of competition during this period was two-time European champion Anastasia Romanova. She had previously served a two-year suspension for violating anti-doping rules.

By comparison, all 13 members of the North Korean team underwent at least one ITA test during the same period. North Korea, like Russia, has a history of doping violations in weightlifting.

Testing before the championship

The ITA, which is responsible for the anti-doping program in weightlifting, told DW that it tested all 16 Russian athletes before they took part in the championships. According to the outlet, these tests took place in Ningbo, where the tournament is being held.

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Rob Koehler, head of the athlete movement Global Athlete, called the absence of out-of-competition testing unacceptable. He stressed that out-of-competition checks are the foundation of the anti-doping system. In strength sports, performance-enhancing substances have the greatest impact on training, while some substances, including anabolic steroids, may be harder to detect during competitions.

Oversight of RUSADA

ITA spokesperson Marta Nawrocka said that Russian athletes are among the ten nationalities most frequently tested in weightlifting this year. She also said that Russia’s history of doping violations is taken into account when assessing risks and setting testing priorities. At the same time, only two Russian weightlifters are in the highest-priority testing group.

Weightlifting was one of the sports most associated with the Russian state-sponsored doping scheme that became known after the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency, RUSADA, has remained suspended for most of the past decade, and its Moscow laboratory cannot analyze blood and urine samples.

The World Anti-Doping Agency said it continues to monitor RUSADA but has no access to Russia to verify the conditions of the suspension because of the current geopolitical situation. WADA also noted that RUSADA collected thousands of samples this year, including hundreds from weightlifters.