Olympic swimming champion Ahmed Hafnaoui provisionally suspended for a whereabouts case
Ahmed Hafnaoui Olympic swimming gold medalist Ahmed Hafnaoui has voluntarily agreed to a provisional suspension in a case involving the provision of his location for…
Olympic swimming gold medalist Ahmed Hafnaoui has voluntarily agreed to a provisional suspension in a case involving the provision of his location for doping control purposes.
Hafnaoui, a 22-year-old Tunisian, has been charged with three location failures in 12 months by the International Monitoring Agency.
Locator failures are missed drug tests and/or failure to report. Failure to report could mean incorrectly filling out forms to tell drug testers where an athlete is, or not submitting quarterly forms at all.
Interim suspensions may be issued pending a hearing on the charges to determine a final sanction, if applicable. Suspensions for failure to locate can range from one to two years.
“Pending the resolution of this matter, Mr. Hafnaoui has voluntarily accepted a provisional suspension,” according to the Aquatic Integrity Unit. “As the matter is ongoing, there will be no further comments during the ongoing proceedings.”
Hafnaoui authored arguably the biggest swimming upset of the Tokyo Olympics, qualifying last for the eight-man 400m freestyle final and then winning the race.
He entered Tokyo ranked 17th in the world in the 400m freestyle in 2021 and lowered his personal best by 2.8 seconds between heats and the final.
At the 2023 World Championships, Hafnaoui won the 800m and 1,500m freestyles with the third-fastest time ever in each race, and took silver in the 400m freestyle.
He did not participate in the Paris Olympics after saying in May that he was suffering from an undisclosed injury. according to Agence France-Presse.
