Cape Town – Sprinter Thando Dlodlo participated in the World Relays event last year as he did not know the outcome of his doping test year, but pleaded guilty once informed.
That was the word from Khalid Galant, the CEO of the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (Saids), on Wednesday, after Dlodlo was banned for two years and six months for “testosterone and its related compounds”.
The 22-year-old athlete will be out of action until December 28, 2023, with his ban beginning retrospectively on June 29, 2021.
This means that he will miss out on a number of major events in that time, including the world championships and Commonwealth Games this year, but he should be able to return and fight for a spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics, when he will be aged 25.
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Saids noted on their list of athletes’ violations that Dlodlo had the “presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or makers in an athlete’s sample”, which was taken at the SA national championships in Pretoria last April.
Dlodlo’s sanction means that Team South Africa will be stripped of their gold medal in the 4x100m race at the World Relays competition in Silesia, Poland last May.
Dlodlo ran the opening leg of the final, and he was followed by Gift Leotlela and Clarence Munyai, before anchor Akani Simbine dipped on the line to clinch victory in 38.71 seconds.
“We did a lot of tests, since it was the national champs and it was also the (lead-up) to Tokyo, and he was one of the people tested. His sample returned a positive, and it’s not like the next day that we get the results. If it’s a positive, it still takes a couple of weeks for that to be confirmed,” Galant told IOL Sport on Wednesday.
“And testosterone is a bit more complicated than other substances. Now we have to send it for an additional test to determine whether it is what we refer to as exogenous – which means it’s artificial – or natural, and that is why it took time.
“In between the period of the test and all the confirmation analysis was when the World Relays championships was in Poland. So, obviously he didn’t know, so he competed.
Thando Dlodlo misses the SA junior record by 0.01 finishing second behind Roscoe Engel in 10.11 seconds in their semi. #FillUpTuks pic.twitter.com/Ewx0gzgTqy
— The Games (@thegamessport) March 15, 2018
“We informed the team of the positive on 29 June, so between the 16 April and 29 June, any competitions that he participated in and wherever he placed, will be disqualified – and medals will be revoked. That includes the national championships… it starts with that.
“It’s not that they’re allowed to compete (while awaiting test results) – they don’t know (what the result is). So, they are just competing as normal. Once we inform them, we impose a provisional suspension until the hearing.
“So, he was provisionally suspended from 29 June, and that is why his sanction starts from that date – because he accepted the provisional suspension.”
Apart from the World Relays disappointment, Dlodlo also missed out on the Tokyo Olympics as a result of his positive test.
Here they are @wesbotton . #ThandoDlodlo , @SimonMagakwe , @AkaniSimbine and @clarence_munyai ! https://t.co/VLSzKZTCuP pic.twitter.com/ZJwGX2ffQQ
Galant said that no hearing was required as the athlete pleaded guilty.
“What we are obligated to do is that we inform Sascoc that there is a case pending, and he is provisionally suspended. Before they could get on the plane, he was already provisionally suspended. Sascoc is not going to take him (to the Olympics),” he said.
“But we cannot obviously disclose it (the provisional suspension) because the case was not closed yet. But with a provisional suspension, Sascoc is not going to take him to Tokyo.
“There was no hearing as he accepted the charge and pleaded guilty. That means it was early admission, and a guilty plea, so he can then also apply and request for a reduction in sanction, and that was negotiated, so it didn’t have to go through a hearing, and that is why he got two-and-a-half years (from the usual four years).”