Olympic swimmer ban four years

American Olympic swimmer Michael Brinegar, has been banned for four years for blood doping.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) identified irregularities in Brinegar’s Athlete Biological Passport between July and September 2022, leading to the suspension.

It said the highly “abnormal blood values” were “caused by blood doping”.

An independent arbitrator initially cleared Michael Brinegar of the doping violation, but Usada appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which has now issued the ban.

This ruling means Brinegar, who swam in the 800m and 1500m events at the Tokyo Olympics, is excluded from Sunday’s final trial for the Paris 2024 US team. ​

24-year-old Brinegar, who is the son of former US Olympian Jennifer Hooker Brinegar, denies any wrongdoing.

“As an Olympian and the son of an Olympic swimmer whose US women’s team faced an East German team that was systematically doping, cheating is a betrayal of everything I have been taught and stand for,” Brinegar posted on Instagram.

“I am deeply disappointed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling and Usada’s accusations that are utterly unfounded.”

The decision comes after Usada criticised the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) in how it dealt with the case of 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned drug but were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.

Chinese anti-doping chiefs found contamination was the reason for the failed tests, which Wada said it was “not in a position to disprove”.