IOC sanctions one athlete for failing anti-doping tests at London 2012

July 23, 2019

The protection of clean athletes and the fight against doping are top priorities for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as outlined in Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement. The IOC is currently conducting additional analyses on the samples collected from the Olympic Games London 2012. This programme, which uses the latest scientific analysis methods, is aimed at testing samples for all substances prohibited in 2012.

The IOC has delegated the selection of samples to be reanalysed and the results management to the International Testing Agency (ITA) and the ITA thus brought forward these cases.

The notification sent by the ITA to the athletes concerned when initiating proceedings gives them the choice to have their case heard before the CAS or before an IOC Disciplinary Commission. This choice is given as the Anti-Doping Rules (ADR) for the Olympic Games London 2012 still apply for cases that arise from the current reanalyses.

As part of this process, the IOC today announced that one athlete has been disqualified from the Olympic Games London 2012. The details follow.

Artur Taymazov, 40, of Uzbekistan, competing in the men’s freestyle 120kg wrestling event (qualifications and finals), in which he ranked 1st and was awarded the gold medal, has been disqualified from the Olympic Games London 2012. Re-analysis of Taymazov’s samples from London 2012 resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substance Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (oral turinabol).

The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for this case of Mr Denis Oswald (Chairman), Mrs Gunilla Lindberg and Mr Juan Antonio Samaranch, decided the following:

I. The Athlete, Artur Taymazov:

i) is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London in 2012 (presence of Prohibited Substances or their Metabolites or Markers in the Athlete’s bodily specimen),

ii) is disqualified from the events in which he participated upon the occasion of the 2012 Olympic Games, namely, the men’s freestyle 120kg wrestling event, and

iii) has the medal, diploma, and pin obtained in the men’s freestyle 120kg wrestling event withdrawn and is ordered to return them.

II. UWW is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned event accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.

III. The National Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan shall ensure full implementation of this decision.

IV. The decision enters into force immediately.

The full decision is available here.

The reanalysis programme for the samples from the Olympic Games London 2012 will continue in 2019 before the statute of limitations is reached by 2020*.

You can find at the following links the list of anti-doping rule violations during or after the Olympic Games and the detailed results of the IOC reanalysis programme from 2004 to today.

This is part of the IOC’s efforts to protect clean athletes and the integrity of the competition. The IOC has been storing samples from the Olympic Games since Athens 2004, and has reanalysed them systematically. The fight against doping is a top priority for the IOC, which has established a zero-tolerance policy to combat cheating and to make anyone responsible for using or providing doping products accountable.

* Please note that, for legal reasons, the IOC will not give detailed information on possible cases. This would follow in due course.

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