Lots of activity in the doping sector, not only new positives, but also a promise of more pressure against sports with positives at the Asian Games:
∙ Asian Games: Olympic Council of Asia chief Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah (KUW) told reporters “We would like to see which sport in the past three Games had the highest number (of doping cases). When we know this sport we will put it under pressure. It will not be one of our sports anymore, or it will have less medals.”
When the IOC re-analyzed the samples from the 2008 and 2012 Games, the sports with the highest number of violations were led by weightlifting, then athletics and wrestling.
∙ Athletics: American sprinter and long jumper Jarrion Lawson – fourth in the Rio Olympic long jump – was notified of a positive doping test from 2 June by the Athletics Integrity Unit. It announced last week that “AIU confirms a provisional suspension against USA sprinter and jumper Jarrion Lawson for the presence of epitrenbolone, a violation of Article 2.1 of the IAAF Anti-Doping Rules”
Lawson released a statement noting that “Having now researched Trenbolone, we have discovered that it is a USDA approved steroid, legally used in the United States in the production of beef.
“Lab results have shown that there were extremely trace amounts of the metabolite in my sample. We are confident that we will prove that the metabolite entered my system through contamination. I am a 100 percent clean athlete and a big supporter of a clean sport. I am completely confident that a fair decision will be made in this case and I will be cleared of any wrongdoing.”
∙ Canoe-Kayak: Former Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist in the K-1/500 m, Inna Osypenko-Radomska, 36, was suspended for four years by the International Canoe Federation for refusing to participate in a drug test in May.
She won the 2008 K-1/500 m gold, silvers in the K-1/200 m and K-1/500 m in London and a bronze back in 2004 in the K-4/500 m for Ukraine. Competing for Azerbaijan, she won a bronze in the K-1/200 m in Rio in 2016.
The ICF’s General Secretary, Simon Toulson (GBR) said in a statement that “A four year ban sends a clear message to all our athletes that they are expected to play by the rules. If an athlete believes by refusing or evading a drug test they will escape a ban, they need to think again. We will ensure they face the full force of the law.”
∙ Wrestling: Victoria Francis, the top-ranked American at 75 kg, accepted a one-year suspension for doping for a banned anabolic agent, which came from a dietary supplement that did not list it as an ingredient.
Francis was the 2017 U.S. World Team Trials champ at 75 kg and runner-up at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in that class.
