Glasgow Commonwealth Games hit first drugs controversy

Drugs and dramatic absences have hit women’s weightlifting as the Commonwealth Games faces its first major controversy.

On the same day 16-year-old Nigerian gold medallist Chika Amalaha was provisionally suspended after testing positive for banned substances, a Cameroonian lifter failed to turn up for her event and an Australian collapsed at the weigh-in and did not compete.

Amalaha returned a positive test for the diuretic amiloride and masking agent hydrochlorothiazide after winning the 53-kilogram weight class last Friday, Games officials said. If her back-up B sample returns a positive result, she will be stripped of her medal.

"It sends a strong message to anybody in any sport that if you go down the path of doping, any substance to enhance performance, they will be caught," Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive Mike Hooper said. The federation, however, had no details on the whereabouts of Cameroon’s Helene Miyeng who failed to arrive at the weigh-in.Two Cameroonian wrestlers went missing before the Games, but one was later found in London.

Australian Jenna Myers, who served a two-year doping ban in 2006, was taken to hospital after collapsing with dehydration. The Australian Commonwealth Games Association said Myers suffered dehydration after trying to lose weight for the 75kg division in the sauna.