When Russia's weightlifting team was scratched from Rio, the level of competition in Rio dropped massively. And while the IWF's decision is debatable (especially considering some banned athletes have never tested positive), the fact remains that the IOC's ban of all Russian athletes who have ever served a sanction essentially gave away Tatiana Kashirina's Olympic Gold medal.

Kashirina has been dominant in the sport since her first international meet in 2009, winning six European Championships and four World Championships. On top of that, she's never placed below 2nd and that's only happened three times. So when Kashirina, the 2012 Silver medalist, was removed from Rio, the women's 75+ division opened up considerably.

The Russian team didn't let years of training go to waste and held their own meet the day the Olympics began. At that meet, Kashirina snatched 143kg and clean & jerked 180kg totaling 323kg, a full 16kg over the winning total by Olympic Champion Meng Suping (CHN).

After seeing the end result of the W75+ session, Kashirina took to Instagram to express her disappointment and frustration:

[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BJHgG6zDjus/" hide_caption="0"]

"This is the result of 75 at the Olympic Games and I can not help crying and very sad that we have no large totals. I can confidently say that we have lost 100% of gold in Rio which I was 3 years after London and did everything possible to to prove that we are the best. Thank you who are going through, and supports me. Sports should be out of politics."

While I understand the IOC's decision, I think their decision may have been a bit hasty and significantly affected the possible outcome of multiple competitions at Rio.