Peruvian swimmer Mauricio Fiol has been given an 8-year doping ban by a FINA Doping Panel after a second violation of anti-doping rules.
In 6 different tests conducted in the summer of 2019, Fiol tested positive 6 times for the banned substance Stonozolol, which the World Anti-Doping Code classifies as a Class S1.1A Exogenous Anabolic Androgenic Steroid.
The substance for which Fiol tested positive in 2019, Stonozolol, is the same substance that he tested positive for in 2015. In both cases, he was handed the maximum allowable suspension under World Anti-Doping Code regulations.
Fiol did not participate in the anti-doping proceedings. According to the FINA Doping Panel Decision, he ignored several letters informing him of the proceedings that went unresponded to.
The failed tests were first announced on August 1, 2019, just days before he was scheduled to make his return from a prior 2015 suspension for a failed doping test. In both cases, the tests came amid final preparations for the Pan American Games. In the 2nd instance, Fiol, even after announcing two more positive tests, went on to test positive 3 more times.
The positive tests came on June 30, July 7, July 12, August 12, September 1, and September 17. His original period of ineligibility ran until July 11, 2019.
The period of ineligibility has been back-dated to August 3, 2019, meaning that Fiol would be eligible again in 2027. Given his age, already 26 years old, he would be 33 by the time the time this suspension expires, barring appeal. That effectively ends his elite swimming career.
Fiol was the silver medalist in the 200 fly at the 2015 Pan American Games before being disqualified in his first doping incident of record.
He also won silver in both the 100 and 200 butterfly events at the 2014 South American Games and bronze in the 200 freestyle at the same event.
Fiol holds Peruvian Records in 19 events, which is more than any other Peruvian swimmer.
Stanozolol, which has been approved by the US FDA, but is no longer marketed in the US, has been used as a doping agent by many athletes, as well as in horse racing.
The substance has many possible medical uses, and is being studied to treat conditions like osteoporosis and skeletal muscle injury. In the US, the drug is approved by the FDA, but is not currently marketed in the country.
The substance is the one involved in the doping scandal surrounding coach Gennadi Tourestki in 2001, coach of Alexander Popov and Michael Klim, among others. It is also, most infamously, the steroid that was taken by Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson when he won gold in the 100 meters at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
And he isn’ even Russian…..
And he couldn’t even win the race…
Can we just ban this cheater for every and any sport events ever??
Six failed tests?! After a four year ban for the same doping offense? What is it that momma always said?
The Montreal Lab’s opinion was that, while they couldn’t prove it definitively, that there wasn’t evidence that he had more than one injection.
So, in the opinion of the Montreal Lab, it sounds like their best guess is that he got one shot and it stayed in his system long enough for 6 positive tests.
Absolutely no chance he was doping intentionally. I remember he seemed to be legitimately genuinely perplexed when he tested positive after winning his Pan Am Games medal, so find it hard to believe he would continue to dope using the same exact substance for years afterwards…
Please say sike
Say again how there was no intent, I missed Your explanation.
Yeah, but it was only 6 out of 6 samples that were positive.
Not enough hammers in the drawer to make that go away
Remember when “test positive” always indicated doping on Swimswam
That’s a lot of juice for someone who only goes 1:50+ in the 2Free
You don’t have to be the best in the world to want to cheat.
One thing is to be the best in the world… another thing is to juice, get caugh, keep juicing and still can’t be able to break a 1:50
I’ll take Stonozolol right now if it can get me to do a 1:50
He swam 1:55 in the 200 fly when he was dinged in 2015.
2free isn’t really his primary event.