ATHENS - The 11 members of the Greek national weightlifting team who tested positive for a banned substance in March have been suspended for two years by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).
An IWF statement also confirmed that Greece would be allowed to send four weightlifters to the Olympics in Beijing in August.
The statement was released on Tuesday although the decisions were made on Friday at an executive board meeting ahead of the World Junior Championships in Colombia.
"Greece had obtained Olympic quota for five men and three women," said the statement on the IWF's Web site (www.iwf.net).
"The Hellenic Olympic Committee, the Hellenic Weightlifting Federation and the IWF agreed that Greece would enter only three male and one female weightlifters to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games."
Eleven of the team's 14 weightlifters tested positive for the steroid methyltrienolone in out-of competition tests in March, causing coach Christos Iakovou to resign.
Last month, a Greek prosecutor brought misdemeanour charges against the 11 athletes, Iakovou and 13 other people connected to the team.
