ZCZC
BSP-17
ATHLETICS-RUS-SPORT-DOPAGE
Lysenko suspended, out of Euro champs, after missed dope test
PARIS, Aug 3, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Russian high jumper Danil Lysenko will not
compete at the European championships after being provisionally suspended for
missing doping tests, athletics’ world ruling body the IAAF said Friday.
Lysenko, the world indoor champion, was one of 74 athletes vetted by an
anti-doping panel and allowed to compete under a neutral flag despite the
ongoing ban on Russian athletes in the wake of a major doping and corruption
scandal in 2015.
But the 21-year-old Lysenko was stripped of his status as an Authorised
Neutral Athlete (ANA) after failing to “provide whereabouts information as
required under the IAAF Anti-Doping Rules and Regulations and to make himself
available for out-of-competition testing by the AIU”, according to a
statement by the IAAF.
“Mr Lysenko is accordingly not eligible to compete at the 2018 European
Athletics Championships to be held in Berlin next week (7-12 August 2018).”
Speaking to the RusAF official site, Lysenko said: “I’m terribly upset,
but I can only blame myself for it, nobody else.
“I had a too perfunctory attitude to the ADAMS (whereabouts) system. It’s
just my carelessness.”
He added: “Of course it’s not the end of my career. I’ll keep on training
and will wait for a fair decision on my case.”
The IAAF in May stripped ANA status from five race-walkers, including
world 20km silver medallist Sergei Shirobokov, for having trained under
Viktor Chegin.
More than 20 athletes who trained under Chegin have been sanctioned for
doping-related offences between 2005 and 2015. The racewalking coach has been
banned for life from all sports-related activities.
The championships are held in Berlin on August 6-12.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1620HRS