IOC sanctions one athlete for failing anti-doping tests at London 2012

As the International Testing Agency (ITA) is now operational, the IOC has delegated the selection of samples to be reanalysed and the results management to the ITA, which will therefore review all the test results and notify the athletes concerned.

The notification gives them the choice to have their case heard before the CAS or before an IOC Disciplinary Commission. This choice is given as the Anti-Doping Rules (ADR) for the Olympic Games London 2012 still apply for cases that arise from the current reanalyses.

As part of this process, the IOC today announced that one athlete has been disqualified from the Olympic Games London 2012. The details follow.

Davit MODZMANASHVILI, who participated in the 2012 Games as a member of the team of the National Olympic Committee of Georgia, has been under the jurisdiction of the National Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan since 2017.

Davit MODZMANASHVILI, 37, of Uzbekistan, competing in the Men’s Freestyle Wrestling 120kg  event (Qualifications and Finals) in which he ranked 2nd and was awarded the silver medal, has been disqualified from the Olympic Games London 2012. Re-analysis of Modzmanashvili’s samples from London 2012 resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (oral turinabol). 

The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for this case of Mr Denis Oswald (Chairman), Mrs Gunilla Lindberg and Mr Juan Antonio Samaranch, decided the following:

1. The Athlete, Davit MODZMANASHVILI:
   
   1. is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London in 2012 (presence and/or use, of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen),
   2. is disqualified from the events in which he participated upon the occasion of the 2012 Olympic Games, namely, the Men’s Freestyle Wrestling 120kg, and
   3. has the medal obtained in the Men’s Freestyle Wrestling 120kg event withdrawn and is ordered to return it.
2. The UWW is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned event accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
3. The Georgian Olympic Committee (in coordination with the National Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan, insofar as necessary) shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
4. The decision enters into force immediately.

The full decision is available here (ITA-LD-RT II-2718140).

The reanalysis programme for the samples from the Olympic Games London 2012 will continue in 2019 before the statute of limitations is reached by 2020*.

This is part of the IOC’s efforts to protect clean athletes and the integrity of the competition. The IOC has been storing samples from the Olympic Games since Athens 2004, and has reanalysed them systematically. The fight against doping is a top priority for the IOC, which has established a zero-tolerance policy to combat cheating and to make anyone responsible for using or providing doping products accountable.

* Please note that, for legal reasons, the IOC will not give detailed information on possible cases. This would follow in due course.