The Court of Arbitration for Sport has rejected the appeal of the Moldovan athlete, Marin Robu, regarding the results of the weightlifting event at the Paris Olympic Games. The appeal was filed after the athlete contested the jury’s decision to validate a lift by the Italian weightlifter Antonino Pizzolato, which influenced the final standings, reports IPN.
According to the CAS decision, the dispute concerned the validation of the Italian athlete’s third attempt at the throw, which was initially considered unsuccessful by the referees, but was later accepted by the jury following a video review. As a result of this decision, Antonino Pizzolato accumulated a total of 384 kilograms and won the bronze medal, surpassing Marin Robu, who finished the competition with 383 kilograms.
According to the National Olympic Committee and the Moldovan athlete, the jury’s intervention would have been unjustified, therefore the cancellation of its decision and the recalculation of the ranking was requested. However, CAS found that the jury acted in accordance with the regulations of the International Weightlifting Federation, which allow the revision of referees’ decisions through video technology and their modification by majority vote.
Therefore, the final ranking of the event remained unchanged, and the Italian weightlifter keeps his bronze medal. “The Weightlifting Federation of the Republic of Moldova will not comment further on the CAS decision, which we are obliged to respect. In any case, for all of us in Moldova and many abroad, Marin Robu remains the rightful holder of that medal,” is stated in a press release from the Federation.
