Olympic gold medalist Conor Dwyer gets 20-month ban
Olympic gold medalist Conor Dwyer has received a 20-month doping ban after an arbitration panel found that he had testosterone pellets inserted into his body.
The 30-year-old Dwyer, who won relay gold medals in 2012 and 2016, tested positive three times between Nov. 15 and Dec. 20 last year. His ban was made effective on Dec. 21, meaning he won’t be eligible for next year’s Olympics.
The arbitration decision says Dwyer worked with a nutritionist who suggested the pellets, which are inserted into the skin tissue near the hip.
The decision says a doctor treating Dwyer claims to have contacted an official at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, who said the treatment was allowable.
But, the report says, neither Dwyer, his doctor nor his nutritionist followed up with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which makes its rules and list of banned substances public and also has a hotline to respond to questions.
“It’s frustrating that Mr. Dwyer did not take advantage of this support, and hopefully, this case will convince others to do so in order to protect fair and healthy competition for all athletes,” USADA CEO Travis Tygart said.
The arbitrators gave Dwyer a slightly reduced sentence in part because he argued that he wasn’t using the pellets for performance but rather to mitigate “health concerns which were causing him to have a high degree of stress.”
