2023 100 Free Big Ten Champion Ruslan Gaziev Will NOT Compete For Ohio State At Big Tens

Ohio State 5th year Ruslan Gaziev will not compete for the Buckeyes this week as the team hosts the 2024 Big Ten Championships. Gaziev will not compete due to “a matter currently before the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport,” Ohio State University said in statement to SwimSwam.

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) most prominently, though not exclusively, deals with matters related to World Anti-Doping Code (WADC) compliance.

Gaziev competes internationally for Canada. He most recently represented Canada at the 2023 World Championships where he competed on the country’s relays. Gaziev competed in prelims for Canada at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the men’s 4×100 free where the finals relay went on to finish 4th.

Gaziev’s season best of a 49.32 from the US Open Championships in the LCM 100 free sits at #4 for Canadian’s so far this season. Notably, Markus Thormeyer  returned in February 2023 from a 12-month doping suspension. Thormeyer swam in finals of the men’s 4×100 free relay that finished 4th at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the same relay Gaziev swam in prelims on.

Thormeyer has not raced since his suspension ended.

The absence of Gaziev is a huge blow to the Buckeye men who finished 2nd at the 2023 Big Ten Championships. Gaziev was one of two Ohio State swimmers to win an individual Big Ten title a year ago as he won the 100 freestyle in a 41.38. The only other swimmer to win a Big Ten title last year was Charlie Clark who won the 1650 free.

In addition to his individual win, Gaziev anchored the team’s winning 200 medley relay. Gaziev anchored in a 18.56, the fastest of the field.

The Buckeye men finished about 300 points behind the Indiana men a year ago to earn a second place finish. Michigan finished third as a team, about 100 points behind the Buckeyes. Gaziev is currently Ohio State’s fastest 50 and 100 freestyler as well as the 2nd fastest 200 freestyler this season. He also holds the fastest 100 free time in the Big Ten Conference so far this season.

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postgrad swimmer
8 months ago

Gotta be a misunderstanding, Canadians are too nice to dope.

Outside Smoke
8 months ago

Quick someone call Hayden out of retirement. We need another 47 lead off.

Rafael
8 months ago

Depending on the ban date (If it is a ban) Canada will lost the 4×100 free Spot as 2023 results would be considered null and their 2024 time would not be enough to qualify and their spot would go to Poland

ScovaNotiaSwimmer
Reply to  Rafael
8 months ago

Yikes if true.
Why would the ban go all the way back into last summer if he wasn’t suspended last summer?

Rafael
Reply to  ScovaNotiaSwimmer
8 months ago

If it is missing whereabout we don´t know yet when the date was..we need this info, because the ban is based on the violation date, not the judgment

ScovaNotiaSwimmer
Reply to  Rafael
8 months ago

Thanks for the explanation!

Questioning
Reply to  Rafael
8 months ago

Third time was during Fukuoka

Mary Jane
8 months ago

Rumor is he’s been hanging out with Wyatt Davis…

ScovaNotiaSwimmer
8 months ago

I read in a comment somewhere on here a while ago that this is a whereabouts failure. Hopefully it is “just” that.

mcswammerstein
Reply to  ScovaNotiaSwimmer
8 months ago

Well it cant be doping, thats only russians and chinese right?

NoFastTwitch
Reply to  mcswammerstein
8 months ago

Exactly. God forbid anyone suspect a North American might use PEDs…

Swammer
Reply to  mcswammerstein
8 months ago

I can’t find any more Russian name than Ruslan Gaziev

Yeah, right
Reply to  Swammer
8 months ago

Don’t offend the guy! He’s a Dagestan, like Khabib

snailSpace
Reply to  Swammer
8 months ago

Off topic, but Canadian swimmers quite often have very Russian names: Kharun, Oleksiak, Dergousoff, Gaziev…

Former Mediocre
Reply to  snailSpace
6 months ago

Oleksiak: Ukranian
Dergousoff: Doukhobor Russian
Gaziev: Dagestan
Kharun: Cirque de Soleil

ScovaNotiaSwimmer
Reply to  mcswammerstein
8 months ago

I’ve certainly never expressed the opinion that only Russians and Chinese dope. I don’t buy Thormeyer’s weak defense, for instance.
I just hate to think of anyone doping and will be bummed if it impacts the CAN men’s relays.

phelpsfan
Reply to  ScovaNotiaSwimmer
8 months ago

Who cares if it isn’t he wasn’t going to make much of an impact in terms of the Olympics anyways

Last edited 8 months ago by phelpsfan
phelpsfan
Reply to  phelpsfan
8 months ago

Actually wait I forgot about his impact on the Canadian relays. Oops 😂

Sceptic
Reply to  ScovaNotiaSwimmer
8 months ago

When it happens 3 times, one couldn’t help but ask if it’s indeed “just” that

ScovaNotiaSwimmer
Reply to  Sceptic
8 months ago

You’ve got info that he’s had 3 whereabouts failures? Eeek, not a good look!

Lion Swim
Reply to  ScovaNotiaSwimmer
8 months ago

It takes 3 whereabouts failures in a calendar year for it to be a problem, so definitely not a great look. Though having met Ruslan, I do genuinely believe that this is multiple paperwork / communication errors, he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Pan Fan
Reply to  Lion Swim
8 months ago

he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

😱

ScovaNotiaSwimmer
Reply to  Lion Swim
8 months ago

Better a dummy than a doper, lol.

Buckeyefan101
Reply to  Lion Swim
8 months ago

Having known him personally he’s very laid back but highly intelligent, but always had trouble with deadlines and communication.

ScovaNotiaSwimmer
Reply to  Buckeyefan101
8 months ago

Aww, now I feel bad for the light-hearted slander, especially since I have a kid with executive functioning deficits.

Luckily my kid won’t ever be in the position of having to do all that whereabouts reporting constantly,

Last edited 8 months ago by ScovaNotiaSwimmer
Questioning
Reply to  ScovaNotiaSwimmer
8 months ago

How about listing Canada as your location while being for few weeks at a world championship all across the globe in Japan? One strike would scare anyone. Two strikes should scare even the most laidback, as the next one will be just a disaster

Eswim Alum
Reply to  Questioning
8 months ago

Making an uninformed assumption about what happened is stupid when you don’t know the details of the case.

Questioning
Reply to  Eswim Alum
8 months ago

It’s quite honourable that you defend your former club mate, but Ruslan’s Fukuoka incident is quite known

Eswim Alum
Reply to  Questioning
8 months ago

When the official article comes out you’ll regret spreading false information.

About Anya Pelshaw

Anya Pelshaw

Anya has been with SwimSwam since June 2021 as both a writer and social media coordinator. She was in attendance at the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Women's NCAA Championships writing and doing social media for SwimSwam. She also attended 2023 US Summer Nationals as well as the 2024 European Championships …

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