Thando Dlodlo. (Photo by Roger Sedres/Gallo Images)
- Sprinter Thando Dlodlo has been retrospectively banned for two-and-a-half years after testing positive for testosterone.
- Dlodlo’s doping ban means South Africa has been stripped of its World Athletic Relay Championships gold from Poland last year.
- Dlodlo’s questionable sample was retrieved at the 2021 SA National Championships in April, months before the Tokyo Olympics.
Sprinter Thando Dlodlo has been retrospectively banned for two-and-a-half years after testing positive for “testosterone and its related compounds”, the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport (Saids) confirmed.
Dlodlo’s name appears on the latest Saids list of banned athletes after they found one of his samples to have the “Presence of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Makers in an Athlete’s Sample“, according to the country’s doping control body website.
Dlodlo’s sample in question was retrieved at the SA National Championships in April last year, months before being part of the South Africa delegation that represented the country at the delayed Tokyo Olympic Games.
However, Dlodlo participated in Poland’s World Athletics Relay Championships alongside Akani Simbine, Gift Leotlela and Clarence Munyai, where SA won 4X100m gold after beating favourites Brazil by 0.01 seconds.
Dlodlo testing positive meant South Africa had been stripped of that gold medal. It is the first time the country has suffered such a penalty after winning a major international medal.
Dlodlo was omitted from Team SA’s 4X100m roster in Tokyo for unknown reasons, where SA failed to get past the first heat.
Dlodlo’s ban is effective from 29 June 2021 to 28 December 2023.
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