Mariusz Jędra has been elected President of the Polish Weightlifting Federation ©IWF

Newly elected Polish Weightlifting Federation (PWF) Mariusz Jędra has vowed to "clean up" the sport in his homeland following the doping scandal that engulfed the team at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Jędra succeeds Szymon Kolecki, who resigned due to the spate of failed drugs tests from Polish weightlifters during the Games in Brazil.

The former PWF vice-chairman emerged victorious from a three-way battle for the Presidency as he received 53 votes in the second round.

The 1997 World Championships silver medallist had been locked in a tight contest with Zygmunt Smalcerz, who won Olympic gold in the 52kg category at the 1972 Games in Munich and is also  triple world champion, as they both claimed 35 votes in round one.

Zygmunt Wasiela, who served as the head of the PWF from 2006 to 2012, was eliminated after the first round with 16.

According to the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), Jędra promised to “make significant changes to PWF, especially to recreate a positive image of Polish weightlifting after some doping problems”.

Tomasz Zieliński was sent home from Rio 2016 after failing a test for banned anabolic steroid nandrolone at the National Championships in July ©Getty Images
Tomasz Zieliński was sent home from Rio 2016 after failing a test for banned anabolic steroid nandrolone at the National Championships in July ©Getty Images

Adrian Zieliński, Olympic gold medallist in the 85kg category at London 2012, and brother Tomasz were both sent home from the Games for doping offences.

The latter was sent home first on August 9 after failing a test for banned anabolic steroid nandrolone at the National Championships in July.

His brother then followed suit three days later after he tested positive for the same substance.

Tomasz is in line for Olympic bronze from London 2012 in the notorious men’s 94kg category as a result of numerous athletes being stripped of their medals for doping offences as part of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) reanalysis of samples.

Krzysztof Szramiak, an under 77kg lifter who competed at Beijing 2008 but was only on the reserve list for Rio 2016, has also tested positive for higher-than-normal levels of growth hormone.

Kolecki is a former lifter who, ironically, now stands to be upgraded from a silver to Olympic gold medal in the Beijing 2008 under 85kg competition due to a failed test by Kazakhstan's Ilya Ilyin which emerged during recent re-testing of old samples.

He quit his role as President of the PWF due to a backlash in the country, where weightlifting is among the most popular sports.

Kolecki congratulated Jędra for his election victory.