Hommam Al Nassim 
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has suspended Tunisian weightlifter Ghofrane Belkheir after a banned substance was discovered in the results of a test conducted during the African Athletics Championships in Alexandria in February.
Tunisian weightlifter Ghofrane Belkheir and the Tunisian Weightlifting Federation are waiting until April to appeal her suspension to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The news caused a stir in Tunisia, especially with Belkheir, the winner of the 55kg world championship, heading to the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, where Belkheir faces a six-month suspension.
The federation’s spokesman, Sami Bousarsarsar, expressed his support for Belkheir, stressing that the federation will work to protect it from additional sanctions with the hope that Tunisia will achieve a new Olympic achievement in Paris 2024 after winning 15 medals previously, including 5 golds.
Born in Gabes in 2001, Belkheir is considered a promising athlete, having won gold at the World Championships in Tashkent in December 2021, and won the gold medal for the first time at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina in 2018.
Last November, Belkheir was crowned the best Arab weightlifting athlete at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award 2023.
Despite missing the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games due to injury, she returned to win gold at the World Championships in Uzbekistan.
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