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Cristina Iovu, 23, whose family are of Romanian heritage, was
born in Moldova and won bronze for them at the 2012 London
Games.
She then switched allegiance to Azerbaijan, a nation that
regularly gives passports to potential Olympic medalists from
other nations.
The decision backfired for Iovu when she tested positive at the
2013 world championships in Wroclaw, Poland. That year 18
Azerbaijan lifters were sanctioned for doping offences.
Iovu was banned for two years before returning to competition
last summer with Romania where she has held citizenship since
2012.
On the second day of competition on Monday, she did not make her
first clean and jerk lift until her nine rivals had finished in
the 53kg class but took the title ahead of Ukrainian Iulia
Paratova who now has two European golds and three silvers since
2011.
In third place was 17-year-old Latvian Rebeka Koha who won the
European 17-and-under and 20-and-under crowns last year.
TURKEY JOY
In the men's 62kg class, Turkey secured a second gold in two
days when Hursit Atak made up a 7kg deficit at halfway to win.
Atak, 24, a European bronze medalist five years ago, was fifth
after the snatch where he failed with his second and third
efforts. But in the clean and jerk that followed, he made three
good lifts.
After Sibel Ozkan's victory in the women's 48kg on Sunday,
Turkey went close to having two men on the podium.
Erol Bilgin, who made the best snatch of 133kg, finished fourth
overall.
The silver went to Feliks Khalibekov of Russia and the bronze to
Bulgarian Vladimir Urumov.
While most nations at the championship are chasing Olympic
qualification points, Bulgaria cannot feature at the Games in
August.
Eleven of their competitors tested positive at a training camp
in March 2015 and the International Weightlifting Federation has
barred them from the Rio de Janiero Games.
(Editing by Tony Jimenez)
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