(by Associated Press)
The reigning Olympic and world champion in the men's 50-kilometer race-walk, Matej Toth, has been suspended over an alleged breach of anti-doping rules.
The IAAF's Athletics Integrity Unit said Sunday that the Slovakian was provisionally suspended because of irregularities in his biological passport, which tracks blood data over time for signs of drug use. He faces a potential four-year ban.
The AIU confirmed Toth remains suspended "pending the outcome of his case, adding: "As is normal process, and in order to protect the integrity of the case, the AIU will refrain from further comment until a final decision has been made.''
If Toth is found guilty, it would be a heavy blow to race-walking, which is already reeling from a string of doping bans for Russian walkers who dominated major championships for many years.
Toth has previously spoken out against doping and backed the Russian team being barred from last year's Olympics.
He had been due to compete next month at the world championships in London.
The comment by Evan Dunfee Canadian walker, fourth in Rio de Janeiro, entrusted to two tweets:
- O no! Hope everything is okay . Won't be the same without you on the start line.
- Having spent a few months training with Matej a few years back and knowing him personally I fully believe that he's clean.
The previous case in cycling
A similar case occurred in cycling when Roman Kreuziger (CZE) was stopped by the UCI for anomalies in the biological passport between 2011 and 2012 just before leaving for the Tour de France 2013: the Tinkoff-Saxo decided to exclude the Czech from the Tour and replaced him with Rafal Maika.
In August next year, the UCI denied the cyclist's participation in Vuelta 2014 and finally in September Czech federation chose for absolution with Kreuziger.
At the beginning of June 2015, WADA and UCI withdrew from Lausanne's TAS to Kreuziger and closed the case on the alleged irregularities on their biological passport.