Olympic Sprinter Banned From Tokyo 2020 Denies Doping, Blames U.S. Meat
A Swiss sprinter who blamed failing an anti-doping test on meat he ate in the U.S. will not compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reinstated his ban on Wednesday.
Jamaica-born Alex Wilson, who was scheduled to race in the 100m and 200m, was suspended in April by the Swiss anti-doping agency after testing positive to trenbolone—a banned steroid—in an out-of-competition test back in March.
Wilson maintained he was clean and attributed the positive test to contaminated meat he ate in a Jamaican restaurant in the U.S. and successfully appealed the ban, which was lifted earlier this month by Swiss Olympic—the umbrella organization that covers Swiss sports and the Swiss Olympic Committee.
World Athletics, however, appealed the decision to CAS, which reinstated the ban.
"The Panel concluded that the provisional suspension imposed on the athlete on April 28 2021 should not have been lifted by the Disciplinary Chamber of Swiss Olympic," CAS said in a statement.
"It follows that the decision of the disciplinary chamber of Swiss Olympic dated July 2 2021 is set aside and the provisional suspension shall be reinstated with immediate effect.
"The present CAS decision does not prejudge in any way the decision which will be rendered by Swiss Olympic later on, once the disciplinary proceedings will have been completed."
In an official response following the ruling by CAS, Swiss Olympic said it regretted the incident.
"Swiss Olympic very much regrets this case and would be very disappointed if the offense was confirmed," the statement read.
"Swiss Olympic is convinced that the fight against doping must be conducted with all consistency."
The bronze medalist in the 200m at the European Championships in 2018, Wilson broke the European record in the 100m with a time of 9.84 earlier this month at a meeting in Marietta, Georgia.
While the record was not ratified it marked a significant improvement from Wilson's previous six performances over the distance this year, where he had never clocked a time below 10.38.
Wilson isn't the only athlete due to compete in Tokyo to have been suspended over alleged anti-doping violations.
On July 14, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) announced two swimmers due to represent the Russia Olympic Committee at the 2020 Olympics had been provisionally suspended.
Aleksandr Kudashev and Veronika Andrusenko, a two-time Olympian and the bronze and silver medalist in the 4x100m medley at the 2013 and 2017 world championship respectively.
The suspension stems from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigation into the so-called "Moscow Data"—a series of detailed laboratory results covering tests carried out by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) between January 2012 and August 2015.
RUSADA was first declared non-compliant in 2015 when it emerged it had played a pivotal role in a full-scale state-sponsored doping program that spanned across "the vast majority" of summer and winter Olympic sports.
The agency was eventually reinstated in September 2018 provided it handed over the "Moscow Data," but in January 2019 WADA investigators found crucial evidence had been tampered with and destroyed.
