London
11 °C
Manchester
Glasgow
Dublin
Belfast
10 °C
Washington
-2 °C
Denver
Atlanta
Dallas
Houston Texas
22 °C
New Orleans
El Paso
6 °C
Phoenix
15 °C
Los Angeles
15 °C
1 °C
22 °C
-18 °C
-4 °C
27 °C
4 °C
Canada Olympic swimming champion Oleksiak banned two years / Photo: © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
NYSE - LSE
Canada Olympic swimming champion Oleksiak banned two years
Canadian swimmer Penny Oleksiak, the country's most decorated female Olympian, has accepted a two-year suspension over her failure to report her whereabouts three times within a year, swimming officials said Tuesday.
Repeated failures by an athlete to update information about where they are amounts to a doping violation, as it obstructs drug testing.
The Aquatics Integrity Unit said in a statement that Oleksiak's period of ineligibility runs from July 15, 2025 to July 14, 2027.
The International Testing Agency said Oleksiak did not contest the proposed punishment, meaning "the case was resolved through an acceptance of consequences."
Swimming Canada said in a statement that it "respects" the ITA's decision.
"We will miss Penny on the national team and hope to see her back in the pool when she is eligible," the organization said.
Oleksiak, 25, has won seven Olympic medals, including a gold at Rio 2016 in the women's 100m freestyle.
She won a total of four medals in Rio and another three in the Tokyo Games, which were pushed to 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Oleksiak did not medal in Paris a year ago and has been eclipsed in Canadian swimming prominence by Summer McIntosh, who won three golds and a silver at the 2024 Games.
K. Petersen--BTZ
