In an interview with ISNA, as translated by IFP, Behdad Salimi pointed to Ilyin’s positive doping test and said, “I believe the IOC’s policy to enquire about an athlete’s 4- to 8-year-old case is not an appropriate one and tarnishes his reputation. Ilya Ilyin is a paragon of weightlifting world.”
“After all, the IOC is the boss, and we’ll abide by its decisions, but I wish IOC authorities would show a more appropriate behaviour towards athletes. At least, they should not have released the results of the doping retest in order to avoid tainting the image of an athlete in the eyes of his own country’s people,” Iran’s Olympic gold medallist went on to say that
“Thank God, Iranians’ names were not among the released results. Iranian lifters are the most pious athletes on earth,” Salimi added.
“Unlike some countries that make investment on doping science and supplements, we invest on the power of our elbows to set new world records,” he noted.
