5 athletes were suspended for doping. The number 1 star of the US team was absent

Sha’Carri Richardson will be making her Olympic debut with Paris 2024. However, she could’ve done so back in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics, if not for a doping test that came back positive. The American sprinter tested positive for banned THC Metabolites; she later revealed that she had taken cannabis to overcome a personal tragedy, which made her miss the Paris Olympics.

Here are some other athletes, who have been suspended in the recent past for doping

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Mehdi Frere was suspended a short while before the start of his home Olympics for failing to provide information, or ‘whereabouts’, to allow out-of-competition doping checks.

Frere was to represent France in the marathon at the Paris Olympics. However, he was the subject of a disciplinary tribunal after missing 3 whereabouts checks in 2024.

The 27-year-old was handed a provisional suspension of two years, due to which he missed out on the European Championships in Rome, and, unless a tribunal overturns the ban, will miss the Paris Olympics as well.

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Shelby Houlihan is a middle-distance runner who represented the USA at the Rio Olympics in the women’s 5000 m. She is also a world record holder in the rarely conducted women’s 4×1500 m relay.

However in 2021, around the same time as Sha’Carri Richardson, Houlihan was banned for 4 years after she tested positive for nandrolone, a banned substance. The Court of Arbitration of Sport later upheld the ban following an appeal.

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At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Garrett Scantling took part in the men’s decathlon, representing the USA. Scantling managed a 4th place finish, missing the Olympic podium by just 39 points.

In 2022, Garrett Scantling was handed a three-year suspension for a ”whereabouts failure” and a “tampering violation”, according to the USADA. Due to this ban, he will be missing out on participating in the Paris Olympics. He had held the world’s top decathlon score for 2022 at that time.

“Unfortunately, there’s no leniency for being forgetful, you have to accept responsibility and move on,” Scantling had said via a social media post after the ban was announced.

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Unlike Sha’Carri Richardson, Rhonex Kipruto of Kenya was not banned for drug use that could be ascribed to personal circumstances.

Kipruto is a well-known long-distance runner, who runs 10000m races in both the track and the road format. He also held the world record for the 10km road racing event and had finished 8th in the men’s 10000m at the Tokyo Games.

However, a couple of months ago, Kipruto was found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs and was banned for six years. He was also stripped of his world record in 10 km road racing.

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In 2021, Sha’Carri Richardson had been waiting for the Tokyo Games, where she would be participating in the women’s 100m. However, following mandatory drug tests, she tested positive for banned THC metabolites.

It turned out that though Richardson had consumed cannabis, which is a banned substance, she had done so following her mother’s death. She accepted the one-month suspension and had to unfortunately skip the Tokyo Olympics due to this ban.

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