Romanian long jumper Florentina Iusco has had to pull out of the Paris Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) following a positive test for a banned substance.
Mrs. Iusco was due to compete in the long jump and triple jump at the Olympic Games and had traveled with her 106 compatriots to Paris in the expectation of taking part in the competition.
However, CAS have decided that the 28-year-old had not met their criteria to be cleared to compete after she tested positive for the banned substance, furosemide,a diuretic in April of last year.
Initially, the National Anti-Doping Agency (ANAD) issued her with no punishment as they ruled she was “not guilty or was not negligent”.
That ruling was subject to an appeal by WADA, with CAS eventually overturning the initial ANAD probe as they moved to hand out a suspension, starting from February 1, 2024.
Chairman of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, Mihai Covaliu said Romania would respect the ban. “This is the regulation for everyone and no one deviates from it, because it must be respected according to the letter of the law,” he told Agerpres.
The athlete said she was blindsided by the news.
“It’s very hard to process. I don’t think I’ll ever recover after this suspension.”
She said she’d learned about the development on Thursday by email when she was already in Paris. “In April 2023, I took some supplements. I made sure they were OK–they were fat burners with caffeine in them for energy,” she told GSP.ro.
Mr. Covaliu also said: “It absolutely casts a shadow of sadness over today’s event (the opening of the Romanian House in Paris), but we cannot deviate from the rules. The regulation is the same for everyone regardless of name, whoever breaks the rules does not get on the plane for the Paris Olympics. We were also notified of this case officially.
“CAS today communicated to ANAD, the decision to suspend Florentina Iușco for two years starting on February 1, 2024. All the results recorded by Florentina Iușco from April 23, 2023, inclusive, until July 24, 2024 were canceler, and the athlete will not make the omission to Paris 2024
She won her first senior medal at the age of eighteen at the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships after a jump of 6.57 m in the qualifying round. She had a personal best and European junior record of 6.79 m in the final, which brought her the bronze medal.
She took 9th place in the triple jump last month at the European Championships in Rome.
