Ian Wilson of Team USA weightlifting has just been handed down a 3-year ban from United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) due to the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Wilson of Berkeley, California, has been competing for the United States for over a decade and was caught using the following banned substances:
- 16β-hydroxystanozolol, 3′-hydroxystanozolol, and 4β-hydroxystanozolol: Metabolites of stanozolol
- 2α-methyl-5α-androstan-3α-ol-17-one: Metabolite of drostanolone
WHO IS IAN WILSON?
Now 28 years old, Ian Wilson began his career in weightlifting at the age of 12 in his hometown of Berkeley, California. At the young age of 15, Wilson became the youngest American to snatch 300lbs. Then at 16, he once again set a record as the youngest American to clean and jerk 400lbs. The following year he became the first American to win a medal at World Youth Championship with a Silver.
As a senior in high school, Wilson won the Arnold Sports Festival in 2012. In 2013 Wilson set a new record by becoming the youngest American to clean and jerk 200kg (440lbs), then he set the Senior American snatch record at 173kg (380.6lbs) the next year. 2017 marked his last IWF (International Weightlifting Federation) World Championship in Anaheim, California, where he finished in 15th place.
Then after a 4-year break, he competed at the 2021 IWF World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where he placed 5th in the 109 kg class. Below are his performances at the 2021 IWF World Championship:
- Clean & Jerk: 210 kg (462.9lbs)
- Snatch: 175 kg (385.8lbs)
IAN WILSON WEIGHTLIFTING BAN
Wilson's rankings and results from his most recent competition are null and void after USADA collected his samples, where he tested positive for the banned substances stanozolol and drostanolone.
Wilson’s ban started on January 5th, 2022, which resulted from sample tests taken on December 2nd, 2021. The original punishment for this violation was a 4-year sentence, but his Anti-Doping Rule Violation sentence was reduced one year since he admitted to the offense. You can read about the ruling here on the USADA website.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Wilson manned up and accepted the consequences of his actions that won’t see him in any competitions on behalf of Team USA until 2025. Unfortunately, sports like weightlifting have seen many occurrences of athletes using substances to get a leg up on their peers; we can only hope that Wilson can bounce back from this tough lesson.
Kiel DiGiovanni
Author