Russian Olympian triathlete Igor Polyanskiy banned for three years following EPO positive
Russian Olympian triathlete Igor Polyanskiy is banned for three years following EPO positive test. The 31-year-old Polyanskiy took part in the men’s individual race at the Tokyo Olympics, where he finished 43rd, and was part of the mixed relay team that came 14th.
The pharmacy is closed for Igor Polyanskiy as World Triathlon have announced that the Russian Triathlete has been sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of three years following an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) for the presence of EPO in a sample collected out-of-competition on 21 July 2021.
The athlete admitted the Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) in the 20 days after receiving notice of the charge and therefore he benefits from a reduction of one year in the presumptive four-years period of ineligibility.
In accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code (the Code) and the Anti-Doping Regulations (ADR), the period of ineligibility for Polyanskiy started on 10 August 2021, the date the athlete was provisionally suspended and, therefore, will be free to resume competition from 10 August 2024.
Although highly unlikely, with the Paris Olympics 2024 scheduled for July 26 to August 11 this means that should the Olympic Triathlon events be programmed for the last two days of the Games, Polyanskiy would be eligible to compete.
The use of EPO is most famed by the disgraced American cyclist Lance Armstrong who was stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles and banned from sport for life.
In Polyanskiy’s case, in addition to his three years ban, his results and points earned since 21 July 2021 are to be disqualified with all resulting consequences including the forfeiture of any titles, awards, medals, points and prize and appearance money.
Whilst tragic to see someone lose their sporting reputation for the sake of ego-orientated motivation towards success, it is, nonetheless, more tragic to see a win-at-all-cost culture creeping into Triathlon. When an athlete decides to cheat with dangerous performance enhancing drugs, he does so at the expense of attempting to overtake a fair, honest competition and all those who compete in it.
Therefore, it is good to see World Triathlon’s mandate is to initiate drug cheat cases through the process and see them to their conclusion in order to create a level playing field for the spirit of the sport and for the benefit of every clean athlete at every level.
