Olympic Gold Medalist Ahmed Hafnaoui Provisionally Suspended for Whereabouts Violations
Olympic gold medalist Ahmed Hafnaoui has been provisionally suspended for repeated whereabouts violations by the International Testing Agency.
World Aquatics’ Aquatics Integrity Unit affirmed the suspension on Friday, citing Article 2.4 of the World Aquatics Doping Control Rules (pdf). Hafnaoui has not tested positive for any banned substances, however he was found by the ITA to have failed to provide his location for testing. A whereabouts failure results from “three missed tests and/or filing failures … within a twelve month period by an athlete.” Hafnaoui accepted a provisional suspension while the case is being pursued.
From the Aquatics Integrity Unit press release:
“Athletes included in a Registered Testing Pool (“RTP”), such as Ahmed Ayoub Hafnaoui, have the obligations to provide daily whereabouts as well as a specific daily 60-minute time slot where they will be available for testing. The purpose is to allow Anti-Doping Organisations to locate athletes for unannounced Out-of-Competition Testing. Any combination of three (or more) Missed Tests (which relate to the Athletes’ unavailability with respect to their 60-minute time slot) and/or Filing Failures (which are caused by the Athletes’ failure to provide accurate Whereabouts) committed within a twelve-month period amount to a potential Anti-Doping Rule Violation (“ADRV”) as per Article 2.4 of the World Aquatics Doping Control Rules and World Anti-Doping Code. The potential consequences for such ADRV, if confirmed, is a period of Ineligibility between one and two years and disqualification of results obtained since the date of the ADRV, namely the date of the occurrence of third Whereabouts Failure (Article 10.3.2 World Aquatics Doping Control Rules).”
Hafnaoui’s status within the swimming world, beyond matters of testing, has been a question for some time. The Tunisian, who turned 22 on Wednesday, was one of the breakout stars of the Tokyo Olympics, shocking the field from an outside lane to win the men’s 400 freestyle.
The results since then have been mixed. He didn’t swim at the World Championships in 2022, then was brilliant in the 2023 championships in Fukuoka, winning the 800 free and 1,500 free and finishing second in the 400 free. He and 400 free winner Sam Short of Australia made a run at the world record of Paul Biedermann in that event, and he was within a half-second of Sun Yang’s 1,500 free world record.
Hafnaoui struggled at the 2024 World Championships in Doha – 18th in the 800 free, 17th in the 400, 17th in the 1,500 free – then pulled out of the Paris Olympics. He competed for Indiana University briefly in the fall of 2023, after being ruled ineligible for a year, before leaving the Hoosiers for a stint in California.
The Tunisian anti-doping apparatus hasn’t exactly been a bastion of stability, either. It’s status was suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which was delayed in announcing its reinstatement, leading to the dissolution of the Tunisian Swimming Federation’s board, the arrest of its head on charges of being anti-patriotic and a stabilization committee being appointed.
