BRAZILIAN former Olympic pole vault champion Thiago Braz has been banned for 16 months after he was found to have violated anti-doping regulations, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said in a statement on Tuesday.
The 30-year-old, who won an Olympic gold at the Rio Olympics in 2016, setting the Olympic record at 6.03 meters, and took bronze in Tokyo in 2021, will miss this year’s Olympic Games in Paris.
Mr. Braz has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
He was deemed to have breached the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules (ADR 2.1) relating to “Presence of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an Athlete’s Sample.”
The ban comes after he tested positive last July for the banned substance ostarine glucuronide, which the athlete said he consumed through sports supplements. Ostarine is used to enhance muscle growth and athletic performance.
Mr. Braz was provisionally suspended in July after a positive result following a test at the Bauhaus Galen Diamond League meeting in Stockholm on 2 July, and that suspension period is credited towards the ban.
The Brazilian is thus barred from competing until Nov. 27 this year. — Reuters
