Octogenarian weightlifter accepts doping ban

Robert Strange, an 83-year-old from California who resumed weightlifting after a heart valve procedure and won gold at the 2019 Masters World Championships, has accepted a one-year doping ban.

The US Anti-Doping Agency said Friday that Strange tested positive for the hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) at the worlds last August -- where he won the competition in his age and weight category.

While DHEA is prohibited under the world anti-doping code as an anabolic agent, USADA noted that Strange had taken an over-the-counter supplement at the direction of a doctor and therefore gave him a reduced, one-year ban.

Strange was featured in an article in The San Diego Union-Tribune in April of 2019, almost a year after he took part in a clinical trial for a minimally-invasive heart valve-replacement procedure that allowed him to continue in the sport he first took up at the age of 58.