Former International Weightlifting Federation chiefs Tamas Ajan and Nicu Vlad were banned for life on Thursday for their role in a doping cover-up. Ajan, an 83-year-old Hungarian, was president of the body for 20 years before being forced to resign in April 2020. Romanian Vlad, 58, a former Olympic weightlifting champion, was a vice-president. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said it received requests for arbitration of anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) against Ajan and Vlad in December 2021 "in relation to their alleged involvement in tampering with the doping control process and complicity in anti-doping rule violations involving multiple weightlifting athletes over a period of many years since 2012".