SEYCHELLOIS weightlifter Charles Siméon, who tested positive for metenolone – an anabolic steroid – after competing in the African Weightlifting Championship in Nairobi, Kenya, last May, has been stripped of all the medals he won at the competition.

Siméon, a triple gold medals – snatch (100kg), clean and jerk (135kg) and total (235kg) – in the junior category of the 69-kg division and winner of two silver medals (clean and jerk as well as total) and a bronze (snatch) in the senior category, returned all six medals to Mr Hugh Adam, managing director of the National Sports Council (NSC), Tuesday at the request of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).

Speaking to Sports Nation, Mr Adam said that what happened to Siméon, the first Seychellois sportsman or woman to fail a drugs test, was a lesson for all young athletes who should be on their guard against outside influences.

"We regret what happened to Siméon but he must face the consequences. Being a young weightlifter, he deserves a second chance and we don't want him to abandon his sport. We will also be using his example to show Seychellois sportsmen and women why they should refrain from using banned substances," said Mr Adam, who added that people selling steroids to athletes should stop the trade.

The NSC managing director also noted that a Madrid laboratory will be doing another test on Siméon's 'B' sample Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Seychelles Weightlifting Association (SWA) has been fined $1,000 and will pay $200 for the first test on the 'A' sample and another $400 for the second test on the 'B' sample.

Reached by telephone Tuesday afternoon, SWA chairperson Robert Rose said that his association was looking for foreign exchange to send to IWF and added that Siméon's positive test was a disgrace for the whole country.

Said Rose: "It is sad for us all after having worked hard to bring Seychellois weightlifting to a new height. Now every time we will be competing overseas, everyone will be starring at us. We were also counting on Siméon, who has said that he is innocent and is still training, to win three gold medals in next year's Indian Ocean Islands Games in Mauritius."

Siméon, who will serve a two-year ban, learned of his positive test while in South Africa on a training camp along with fellow lifters Janet Thélermont, Steven Baccus and Frank Accouche who were preparing for the XVII Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, from July 25 to August 4.

His name was immediately taken off the Seychelles weightlifting team for the quadrennial Games.

It is to be noted that an Egyptian lifter, Abdul Al Wahab Mahmoud, who also won three gold medals in the junior 85-kg category, also tested positive.