Mountain biker disqualified from London Olympics after testing positive for EPO
Two-time Olympian has been sanctioned two years after retroactively testing positive
As the sporting world turns its attention to the Rio Olympics, a shadow of past games still lingers. Slovenian mountain biker Blaža Klemenčič is now the 45th athlete to be disqualified from the London 2012 Olympic summer games after being handed a two-year ban by the International Cycling Union. The suspension comes after a reanalysis of a sample submitted in March 2012 revealed traces of erythropoietin (EPO).
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Provisionally sanctioned in September 2015, Klemenčič’s suspension has now been confirmed by the UCI’s anti-doping tribunal.
“The matter resulted from the reanalysis of a sample provided by Blaža Klemenčič in the scope of an out-of-competition control on 27 March 2012, which revealed the presence of recombinant erythropoietin,” UCI said in a statement. “The anti-doping tribunal found the rider guilty of an anti-doping rule violation and imposed a two-year period of ineligibility on the rider. Moreover, the results obtained by the rider from 27 March 2012 to 31 December 2012 are disqualified, whilst all other results shall stand.”
Klemenčič did not medal at the games but has earned many strong results throughout here career. Last year, she was third in the 2015 European championships in the cross country discipline and 15th at the 2015 world championships in Andorra. She claimed silver at the 2014 European championships and competed at both the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics.
The international Olympic committee (IOC) has been carrying out retests of samples from the Beijing and London games. It is being reported that 31 athletes will be subject to bans ahead of the Rio Olympics with the names of those implicated soon to be announced.
