Doping Ban for South Africa race walker Lebogang Shange in Tokyo Olympics 2020

The South African athletic contingent suffered a setback ahead of the start of the Tokyo Olympics as one of the athletes will not be travelling for the games due to doping trouble. Lebogang Shange who was set to take part in the men’s 20-kilometre race on August 5 will no longer be travelling to Japan to be part of the event. The opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics gets underway on Friday, July 23. 

South Africa racewalker Lebogang Shange to miss Tokyo Olympics

In 2019 Shange tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid trenbolone, a drug used to promote muscle growth in cattle, and was given a four-year suspension. The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled on the case in Tokyo.  The 30-year-old who is a national record holder of over 20km appealed against it, allowing him a window in June this year to compete and secure qualification for Tokyo. However, the ban was upheld by CAS, with the time served from December 2019 until June 21 included, meaning he can return to action before the 2024 Paris Olympics.

This will not be the first instance of a doping ban in the Tokyo Olympics. A couple of days back Australian equestrian rider Jamie Kermond has been suspended before the Tokyo Olympic Games for returning a positive drug test for cocaine. The drug test was conducted before the team arrived in Tokyo.  With athletes already being troubled by COVID-19 pandemic, the doping ban in Tokyo Olympics is only adding more trouble to the global event which is being conducted under an emergency in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Olympics doping incidents from past

Recently The Romanian Weightlifting Federation was issued a one-year ban from competition over five doping cases. Those included disqualifications for all four of Romania's weightlifters from the 2012 Olympics after various banned substances were found in later retesting of their samples.  Russia cut two rowers from its Tokyo squad after revealing they both tested positive for the banned substance Meldonium in June. The result meant that country had no team in the men's quadruple sculls competition. Swimming governing body FINA on Wednesday had provisionally suspended swimmers Alexander Kudashev and Veronika Andrusenko because of evidence from WADA's investigation of the Moscow lab data.

(Inputs from AP)