ATHENS, April 4: Greek weightlifting coach Christos Iakovou was suspended on Friday after 11 team athletes tested positive to a banned substance in a surprise check-up by the World Anti-Doping Agency, Greek media said.

The federation said it would test the B samples before setting up a special committee to investigate the issue affecting the majority of the team.

“In surprise out-of-competition tests run by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) on the orders of the International Weightlifting Federation, the A samples of 11 (out of 14) athletes turned out positive,” it said in a statement.

The federation said national coach Christos Iacovou, credited with a big weightlifting medals haul at recent Olympics, had handed in his resignation and had been suspended pending the investigation.

Officials at the federation and the Greek Olympic Committee, in charge of compiling the country’s Olympic team, could not be immediately reached for a comment.

Since the 1992 Barcelona Games, Greece has won 12 Olympic medals, including five golds, in weightlifting. Before Barcelona the country had not won a weightlifting medal since the 1904 Games.

Iacovou, a former weightlifter himself, has been in charge of the national team since the Barcelona Games.

Former athletes and journalists long claimed Greece’s sudden success in the sport was suspicious but the claims were brushed aside by Iacovou and the Greek sports bodies, especially ahead of the Athens 2004 Games where the sport was supposed to bring home a lot of medals.

Only after Greece’s Leonidas Sampanis tested postive during the Athens Olympics, losing the bronze medal he had won in the 63kg category, did the questions become more vocal.

Greece ended up with only one medal, a bronze, from weightlifting at the Athens Olympics.

Weightlifting has been the sport worst affected by doping and almost lost its status as an Olympic sport after five doping cases at the 1988 Games.

Greece can send a total of eight athletes to the Beijing Games, five male and three female competitors, according to the IWF.—Agencies