Every morning Jeane Lassen wakes up, it seems there’s news from the International Weightlifting Federation.

This year the IOC has been retesting urine samples from the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics. The samples are frozen for 10 years so that when new testing methods become available, the samples can be reanalyzed.

On Aug. 31, Russian weightlifter Nadezhda Evstiukhina’s third place 75 kg finish was annulled from the 2008 Olympic results. after she tested positive for anabolic agents.

It was the same event that Lassen competed in and finished eighth. Evstiukhina’s sample was tested in the first of four expected waves of reanalysis ordered by the IOC.

In the second wave two more positives from Lassen’s event were detected: Lei Cao of China won gold, while Iryna Kulesha of Belarus was fourth.

“In line with the relevant rules and regulations, the IWF imposed mandatory provisional suspensions upon the (a)thletes, who remain provisionally suspended in view of potential anti-doping rule violations until their cases are closed,” a public disclosure statement by the IWF said.

“It’s been pretty heartbreaking for my sport,” said Lassen. “It’s really rough times for weightlifting.”

Eight years after the Beijing Olympics, a third of the women Lassen have competed against have tested positive in the retests. Two have been disqualified. Lassen currently sits seventh, but she could move up to fifth if Cao and Kulesha are both disqualified.

That would leave her in fifth place, behind Kazakhstan, Spain, Mexico and Colombia and five kilograms away from the podium, with two waves of testing still to go.

The what-ifs are starting to creep into Lassen’s head, haunting the results.

“Had I made one more lift, I would have made bronze,” she said earlier this week.

Canadian athletes follow strict protocols for drug testing, including filling out a wherabouts form that details their location for three months at a time.

Testers can knock on your door at any time to ask for a sample. The earliest Lassen, who retired from the sport in 2012, had to pee for them was 5:30 a.m.

She’s unsure if these standards are being met in other countries.

It can feel heavy and discouraging at times knowing the system wasn’t fair or level, she said. “At the end of the day, the reason I did my sport is because I loved it and I was passionate about it.

“It’s easy to get caught up in the what if, what if.”

Following her injury five days after qualifying for the London Games, Lassen went to the 2012 Games as a coach for her friend, Christine Girard, whom she’d been training with in B.C. leading up to the Games.

Girard won bronze at those Olympics and following the retests, she now stands to become the Olympic champion.

“It’s hard not to feel ripped off for your friend,” said Lassen, noting that if Girard’s medal is upgraded to gold, she won’t get to see her flag raised or hear the Canadian anthem played at the Olympic ceremony. “It’s bittersweet times for sure.”

By Marissa Tiel, Star Sports Editor