Tunisian wrestler Amine Guenichi has been ruled out of the Paris 2024 Olympics after being handed a four-year doping ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), a Tunisian federation official told Reuters on Wednesday.
Guenichi, who denied any wrongdoing, won the gold medal at the Arab Games last year in the men’s Greco-Roman 130kg category.
“Guenichi was banned for deliberately not complying with anti-doping testers,” the Tunisian federation technical director Montaser Obaidi told Reuters.
“Last November, the testers came to his room at the elite training centre and he refused to open his door and after several hours only provided them with a urine sample, which returned negative.
“He then underwent two blood tests that also proved negative.”
Obaidi added that Guenichi was then handed a provisional four-month suspension and the 25-year-old took part in a Olympic qualifying tournament in Egypt, where he punched his ticket for Paris 2024.
However, WADA told Reuters they appealed against the lifting of the ban to CAS, who handed the four-year ban to Guenichi.
“I am stunned. I don’t understand why WADA did appeal. Two of the doctors of the Tunisian Anti-Doping Agency wrote a report and they were angry with me,” Guenichi told Reuters.
“That day I fell asleep at 6:30 and then came knocking at my door at 7:30, I didn’t hear them. They came back at 1930 the same night and then I gave them my sample.
“With my lawyers we will do everything to have this ban cut or cancelled.”
