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Cape Town - Discus thrower Victor Hogan was earlier this week omitted from the South African team for the Rio Olympics after the national anti-doping body confirmed he had tested positive for the banned substance methylhexaneamine.
South African anti-doping agency chief executive Khalid Galant told the Associated Press that Hogan tested positive for methylhexaneamine at the national championships in April, where he threw a personal best. Hogan's backup B sample also tested positive.
Hogan is a three-time African champion and retained his title at the continental championships in Durban last month, two months after the failed test.
Galant says the South African athletics federation must now consider whether Hogan, who turns 27 this month, should be stripped of any titles.
He was slapped with a two-year ban.
Meanwhile, according to The Citizen, Hogan will appeal for a reduced sanction as he believes one of his supplements was contaminated.
“The substance was found in his body through no fault of his own, and we have requested a hearing which cannot proceed until we receive the results of the tests,” his lawyer Barend Kellerman said.
Kellerman claims Hogan cannot be banned until after the hearing and should be able to compete at the Olympics because he had not been provisionally suspended.
But Galant says Hogan won't be going to Rio.
“He can follow the appeal process, but however that unfolds, it will have no bearing on whether he goes to Rio,” Galant said.
“That decision was made independently by SASCOC based on its selection criteria.”
