Was DQ man at Linz trying to avoid drug-testing?
M40 shot putter Sergey Rubtsov of Kazakstan was disqualified at the Linz world indoor meet in March because he left the arena midway through his event, we’ve now confirmed. Why skedaddle? One private report said he feared being drug-tested. I’ve sent inquiries to several WMA amigos, and so far the only response is from Numero Uno — WMA President Cesare Beccalli of Italiabrasil. Cesare writes: “I can not — and I think no one can — state that Sergey abandoned his event because he heard that he was going to be submitted to anti-doping test . But this is a fact — he abandoned the event with a pretext and came back no more; he simply disappeared, also from the Hotel. As for other eventual rules violation, I do not know details.”
So there you have it.
Be forewarned.
If you vanish from a world masters championships, you WILL be DQ’d!
Just don’t ask me where in the rule book this exists.
(Next time, Sergey, just tell the head official you’re passing your final throws.)
One Response
Hum – well maybe better to be dairy queened than to fail a drug test and be put on the shelf for 2 years! Strange and perhaps pathetic –
I most certainly will keep it in mind not to wander away midstream of any of my events. It might be tempting if the next WMA 8k x-c race is held on another horse track covered in mud and the pouring rain- to just say “oh forget it” and wander off the course in search of a cup of espresso or a pizza and beer.
Leave a Reply