DOPING BAN
Olympic champion slapped with 16-MONTH ban and will miss Paris 2024 games
Braz can still return to competition this year despite the ban but will miss the Olympic Games
OLYMPIC champion pole vaulter Thiago Braz will miss this summer's Paris Games after receiving a 16-MONTH ban for violating anti-doping regulations.
A statement from the Athletics Integrity Unit confirmed on Tuesday that he breached the World Anti-Doping rule relating to the "presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers in an athlete's sample".
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It comes after Braz tested positive for the banned substance ostarine glucuronide at a Diamond League meeting in Stockholm in July last year.
The Brazilian pole vaulter, who was provisionally suspended following the positive test, claims he consumed the drug through supplements.
Ostarine is used to enhance muscle growth and improve athletic performance.
Braz, 30, who has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, set the Olympic record of 6.03 metres when he won gold in Rio in 2016.
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He then followed that up by claiming a bronze medal in Tokyo four years later.
The 16-month ban includes the 10 months he was provisionally suspended, meaning he can return to competition on November 27.
But that is too late to make the Paris Games, which get underway on July 26.
The Athletics Integrity Unit were pushing for a four-year ban to be dished out and are considering an appeal of their own.
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Braz made the case that he did not knowingly take the substance and claims the supplements had been given to him by his sports nutritionist.
He also insists he had been assured the supplements did not contain banned substances.
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Earlier this month, Ophelie-Cyrielle Etienne suffered an embarrassing glitch during the Paris Olympic torch relay on Saturday.
The bronze medallist had attempted to ignite the cauldron with the flame in Manosque.
However, the cauldron failed to catch fire after two attempts from Etienne.
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