Tajikistan's first-ever Olympic champion, hammer thrower Dilshod Nazarov, who is currently in Qatar, said in statement e-mailed to Asia-Plus on September 25 that he is "in shock," commenting on his suspension from participating in the world championships that will take place in Qatar from September 27 to October 6. Dilshod Nazarov is suspended temporarily over a failed doping test.
"I have always been for cleanliness in sports and all my awards have been earned through fair competition. I am fully open to cooperate with relevant sports bodies to lift all suspicions and for that I have hired a well-known European lawyer," the statement reads.
Nazarov noted that he hopes “to restore he good name soon and raise the flag of Tajikistan at international competitions again.” “I hope for support and understanding. That's all I can say now,” the statement concludes.
Meanwhile, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which oversees integrity issues in international athletics, including doping, said on September 24 that Nazarov’s sample from the 2011 world athletics championships in Daegu, South Korea, contained a metabolite of oral turinabol.
The AIU noted that Nazarov and other doping suspects are “suspended temporarily…prior to a final decision at a hearing conducted under the IAAF [International Association of Athletic Federations] Anti-Doping Rules or the Integrity Code of Conduct.”
Representatives of Tajikistan’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) say, “This is just suspicion.”
The 37-year-old hummer thrower Dilshod Nazarov won the first Olympic gold medal for Tajikistan at Rio 2016.
Dilshod Nazarov (born May 6, 1982) is a Tajikistani track and field athlete who specializes in the hammer throw. He has represented his country at the Olympic Games on four occasions (in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016), winning the gold medal in Rio de Janeiro, the first gold medal for Tajikistan in the history of the Olympic Games.
He has competed seven times at the World Championships in Athletics (2005 to 2017), but has been most successful at regional competitions: he won medals at four consecutive Asian Athletics Championships and was the hammer champion at the Asian Games in 2006, 2010 and 2014. He won his first global medal (silver) in 2010 at the IAAF Continental Cup.
His personal best for the event is 80.71 meters, set in 2013.
