The Olympic rings are seen on the Eiffel Tower in Paris ahead of the Paris Olympics. (FILE)
Iraq’s 28-year-old judo player Sajjad Sehen has tested positive for two anabolic steroids (metandienone and boldenone) in a sample taken on Tuesday. It was the first doping case at the Paris Olympics 2024 and was announced hours before the opening ceremony started.
The International Test Agency (ITA) which oversees the games-time anti-doping program said the judoka is suspended and a disciplinary case is prosecuted. “This means that the athlete is prevented from competing, training, coaching, or participating in any activity during the Olympic Games,” the agency said.
The athlete, who can request a test of a B sample, has been banned from any activity during the Paris Olympics. Should the second sample also test positive for the prohibited substances, he could face a ban of up to four years.
Sehen was due to compete in the men’s 81 kilogram class, starting Tuesday in the round of 32 against an opponent from Uzbekistan. The ITA’s anti-doping program at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 caught six athletes in the official games period, from 6,200 samples taken.
China doping row to raise tension at Paris pool
A doping row involving Chinese athletes may prove a tinderbox at the Olympic swimming meet where the United States face the biggest challenge to their reign in decades from Saturday.
Some of the world’s best in the sport have criticised anti-doping authorities and raised concerns about the competition’s integrity following revelations in April that 23 Chinese swimmers were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Games despite testing positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ).
The World Anti-Doping Agency accepted the findings of a Chinese investigation that the test results were due to contamination from a hotel kitchen the team were staying at.
With agency inputs
