Ilya Ilyin, who still calls himself an Olympic champion despite the fact that he forfeited two gold medals, was strongly supported in his campaign to become President of the Kazakhstan Weightlifting Federation (WFRK).

The IWF’s senior leaders were known to be perplexed by the prospect of Ilyin leading his National Federation, with voting rights at Congress and a formal presence at IWF competitions and events.

In the lead-up to today’s vote in Astana, Ilyin had set out his plans to lead the WFRK and had met senior officials from Kazakhstan’s sports authorities as well as the deputy Prime Minister.

"I know the whole ins and outs of this sport - let's choose an Olympic champion," he said.

But after further talks with the Sports Minister and others, Ilyin withdrew as a candidate for President today and will instead become a vice-president.

That appeared to leave the way clear for the only other candidate, Gadzhi Gadzhiev, but he also withdrew and the outgoing President Zhanat Tusupbekov has returned to lead the WFRK.

Tusupbekov, a former IWF Board member, had earlier said he would not stand for a third term because he had already led the WFRK since 2013 and it was time for somebody else to take over.

He was elected unanimously by the 27 national and regional coaches and officials with voting rights.

Gadzhiev, who has a martial arts background, said the main goal was "to unite the staff of the federation" with little more than a year to go to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Nobody can hold an elected role at the IWF if they have had a doping violation within the past 25 years, but rules are different at national level and the IWF is unable to interfere in National Federation elections.

Ilyin was disqualified from Beijing 2008 and London 2012 when stored samples were retested in 2016 and came up positive for stanozolol.

But for an administrative oversight in the way he was informed of the doping violations Ilyin would still be suspended now, but instead of an eight-year ban for two offences he was suspended for only two years.

Ilyin, who would train without competing for periods of more than a year, finished first in all of his first 10 competitions in international weightlifting between 2005 and 2016.

He tried to make a comeback to qualify for Tokyo 2020 but was unable to get within 60 kilograms of his previous best totals.

In his election campaigning, Ilyin said: "Vote for an Olympic champion!"

He has stated before that he still regards those Olympic gold medals as rightfully his, implying that all his main rivals were also doping.

The Pole who finished ninth in the 94kg category at London 2012 ended up with a bronze medal because so many others were disqualified for doping - nine of 21.

When asked earlier this week if his doping record would prevent him running for office, Ilyin told local media that his lawyers had confirmed his eligibility.

He acknowledged the existence of the 25-year rule in the global governing body but said: "I have every right to run for the post of head of the national weightlifting federation."

In recent months the IWF has repeatedly told its member federations that they must play their part in helping weightlifting to undergo a "culture change" as it tries to regain favour with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The IOC removed weightlifting from the Olympic Games programme for Los Angeles 2028 and will decide in the next few months whether the IWF has made enough reforms to earn a reprieve.

Ilyin told his 500,000 social media followers that the result was still a victory for him saying: "All I can say is, we won!

"My plans and tasks have been fulfilled!

"I was not directly the President of the weightlifting federation, but yesterday we sat together with the Minister of Culture and Sports, the vice-minister and thought about how to do it right for weightlifting and the federation.

"We all unanimously decided that Zhanat Rashiduly Tusupbekov should be the head of the federation… 

"This is the person who unites weightlifting… We all respect him."

Ilyin said that his campaigning priorities - improved training conditions and new facilities in the regions, a target of two Olympic golds at Los Angeles 2028, and a strong fight against doping with psychotherapic support for athletes - would be met under Tusupbekov’s leadership.

"I am 34 years old, 26 years of them I have been in Olympic weightlifting," he said in an interview this week.

"Coaches, youth, the national team of Kazakhstan, the weightlifting sports community - they all very much respect me and value me both as an athlete and as Ilya in general.

"It's time to invest and do more. 

"It’s not just funding that is important to us now, it’s important for us to hire psychologists, talk with the guys, with the team, discuss what is happening to them inside, it’s essential for them to conduct a masterclass."

Doping has continued to be a problem for Kazakhstan since Ilyin was ordered to return his gold medals.

Nijat Rahimov, disqualified after winning at Rio 2016, is contesting his ban for sample-swapping at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and the Tokyo medallist Igor Son was banned for eight years last month after a second doping violation.

Ilyin said the problem should be "addressed systematically".

"We all recognise that there is such a problem, and we are constantly working on it with the Kazakhstan National Anti-Doping Centre and identifying certain tools," he said.

He was concerned for athletes who suffer mental health problems when they are banned and lose their funding.

"Some funding is needed so that the athletes have a psychotherapist," he said, adding that "even the Ministry of Internal Affairs is engaged in this".

One Kazakhstan lifter, Albert Linder, took his own life after being dropped from the team for Rio 2016.

In an interview for the sports.kz website this week, Tusupbekov said there had been an overhaul of the anti-doping programme in Kazakhstan weightlifting, that results in international competitions had been good and that weightlifting was growing in popularity among youngsters.

Kazakhstan finished top of the medals table at last year’s IWF World Youth Championships and could do so again at this year’s event which starts in Albania on March 25.

Tusupbekov also said, tellingly: "A special emphasis should be placed on maintaining the partnership with the IWF".

That would have been difficult with Ilyin as President.