Tunisian wrestler Amine Guenichi will miss the Paris 2024 Olympics after receiving a four-year doping suspension from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), a Tunisian federation official disclosed to Reuters on Wednesday.
Guenichi had previously secured a gold medal at last year’s Arab Games in the men’s Greco-Roman 130kg category.
According to Montaser Obaidi, the technical director of the Tunisian federation, Guenichi was penalized for intentionally avoiding compliance with anti-doping officials.
In November, when testers arrived at his room in the elite training center, he did not open his door and only provided a urine sample after several hours, which tested negative. Subsequent blood tests also returned negative results.
Despite these outcomes, Guenichi faced a provisional four-month suspension but still competed in an Olympic qualifying tournament in Egypt, where he qualified for the upcoming Paris Olympics.
However, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) contested the suspension lift, leading CAS to impose a four-year ban.
Guenichi expressed his shock over the appeal by WADA, noting that he had simply not heard the testers due to being asleep.
“I fell asleep at 6:30 and then they came knocking at my door at 7:30, but I didn’t hear them,” he explained.
“They returned at 19:30, and that’s when I provided my sample. With the assistance of my lawyers, we will do everything possible to have this ban reduced or overturned,” Guenichi added.
