French sprinter Mouhamadou Fall, suspended for nine months, will not participate in the Paris Olympics

Mouhamadou Fall will not go to the Olympic Games: after his positive test for a banned stimulant in July 2023, the French sprinter was notified on Monday April 29 of his suspension for nine months by the sanctions commission of the French Wrestling Agency against doping (AFLD). Tested positive, during the French championships, for heptaminol, a stimulant banned in competition, the 32-year-old athlete who was aiming for the Olympic Games this summer in Paris had pleaded accidental contamination by food supplements.

“This is an extremely serious and unfair decision”reacted his lawyer, Mᵉ Christophe Ayela, specifying that the runner was suspended ” from now on [le 29 avril] » by the AFLD sanctions commission, before which Mouhamadou Fall appeared on April 10.

“Everyone agrees that he has never doped and that he is the victim of contamination via food supplements”declared Mᵉ Ayela. “This explains this minimum suspension, but it is already too much for a bona fide athlete. »

The contamination thesis

Sixth in the world championships in Budapest with the 4 × 100 meters relay in 2023, Mouhamadou Fall pleaded at the beginning of April for accidental contamination by food supplements which contained – without his knowing it, he said, octodrine, of which heptaminol is a metabolite. According to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), both heptaminol and octodrine are substances which belong to the class of stimulants prohibited in competition, but which can be found in many medications or supplements.

Without contesting the thesis of contamination, the representative of the AFLD college, Antoine Marcelaud, requested a fifteen-month suspension instead of the two years incurred. In the decision rendered on Monday, explained Mᵉ Ayela, “we blame [à l’athlète] for not having been careful enough in the choice of food supplements”.

With this suspension, the four-time French champion over 100 meters, who trains in El Paso (Texas) under the leadership of former French high jumper Mickaël Hanany, sees his participation in the Olympic Games this summer in Paris disappear. . He could, however, appeal to the Council of State, argued Mᵉ Ayela.