Latest news with #PennyOleksiak
National Post
11 hours ago
- Sport
- National Post
Canadian star swimmer Penny Oleksiak notified of anti-doping rules violation
TORONTO — Swim star Penny Oleksiak of Toronto has been notified of an apparent anti-doping rule violation by the International Testing Agency. Article content According to the ITA, Oleksiak committed three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period between October 2024 and June 2025. Article content She has been made aware of the case and has accepted a voluntary provisional suspension pending the resolution of the matter. Article content She has the right to provide her explanations for each of the three whereabouts failures. Article content Given that the case is underway, there will be no further comments from the ITA, World Aquatics or Oleksiak during the ongoing proceedings. Article content That implies that the third missed test came after Oleksiak qualified for the Canadian team at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. Article content In a now-deleted Instagram post, Oleksiak announced two weeks ago that she was withdrawing from the World Championship team and accepting a voluntary provisional suspension. Any eventual sanction would be reduced by the amount of time she was suspended under the voluntary provisional suspension. Article content In the post, Oleksiak asserted 'I am and always have been a clean athlete' and that the case 'does not involve any banned substance; it's about whether I updated my information correctly.' Article content Swimming Canada echoed the sentiment and said 'We support her decision and believe she is a clean athlete who made an administrative mistake.' Article content A Whereabouts Case is an Anti-Doping rule violation that can affect athlete eligibility even if they have never taken a banned substance. The World Anti-Doping Code defines a Whereabouts failure as any combination of three missed tests or filing failures in a 12-month period. Article content Article content Athletes who are members of the 'Registered Testing Pool' which is the highest tier of athlete testing, are required to report an accurate and up-to-date filing of their whereabouts at all times. This is so they can be drug tested at any time and any place with no advance notice. Article content
Hamilton Spectator
11 hours ago
- Sport
- Hamilton Spectator
Canadian star swimmer Oleksiak notified of anti-doping rules violation
TORONTO - Swim star Penny Oleksiak of Toronto has been notified of an apparent anti-doping rule violation by the International Testing Agency. According to the ITA, Oleksiak committed three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period between October 2024 and June 2025. She has been made aware of the case and has accepted a voluntary provisional suspension pending the resolution of the matter. She has the right to provide her explanations for each of the three whereabouts failures. Given that the case is underway, there will be no further comments from the ITA, World Aquatics or Oleksiak during the ongoing proceedings. That implies that the third missed test came after Oleksiak qualified for the Canadian team at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. In a now-deleted Instagram post, Oleksiak announced two weeks ago that she was withdrawing from the World Championship team and accepting a voluntary provisional suspension . Any eventual sanction would be reduced by the amount of time she was suspended under the voluntary provisional suspension. In the post, Oleksiak asserted 'I am and always have been a clean athlete' and that the case 'does not involve any banned substance; it's about whether I updated my information correctly.' Swimming Canada echoed the sentiment and said 'We support her decision and believe she is a clean athlete who made an administrative mistake.' A Whereabouts Case is an Anti-Doping rule violation that can affect athlete eligibility even if they have never taken a banned substance. The World Anti-Doping Code defines a Whereabouts failure as any combination of three missed tests or filing failures in a 12-month period. Athletes who are members of the 'Registered Testing Pool' which is the highest tier of athlete testing, are required to report an accurate and up-to-date filing of their whereabouts at all times. This is so they can be drug tested at any time and any place with no advance notice. According to World Aquatics , if an athlete in the testing pool submits 'late, inaccurate or incomplete whereabouts that lead to (them) being unavailable for testing, (they) may receive a Filing Failure.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
11 hours ago
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Canadian star swimmer Oleksiak notified of anti-doping rules violation
TORONTO – Swim star Penny Oleksiak of Toronto has been notified of an apparent anti-doping rule violation by the International Testing Agency. According to the ITA, Oleksiak committed three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period between October 2024 and June 2025. She has been made aware of the case and has accepted a voluntary provisional suspension pending the resolution of the matter. She has the right to provide her explanations for each of the three whereabouts failures. Given that the case is underway, there will be no further comments from the ITA, World Aquatics or Oleksiak during the ongoing proceedings. That implies that the third missed test came after Oleksiak qualified for the Canadian team at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. In a now-deleted Instagram post, Oleksiak announced two weeks ago that she was withdrawing from the World Championship team and accepting a voluntary provisional suspension. Any eventual sanction would be reduced by the amount of time she was suspended under the voluntary provisional suspension. In the post, Oleksiak asserted 'I am and always have been a clean athlete' and that the case 'does not involve any banned substance; it's about whether I updated my information correctly.' Swimming Canada echoed the sentiment and said 'We support her decision and believe she is a clean athlete who made an administrative mistake.' A Whereabouts Case is an Anti-Doping rule violation that can affect athlete eligibility even if they have never taken a banned substance. The World Anti-Doping Code defines a Whereabouts failure as any combination of three missed tests or filing failures in a 12-month period. Athletes who are members of the 'Registered Testing Pool' which is the highest tier of athlete testing, are required to report an accurate and up-to-date filing of their whereabouts at all times. This is so they can be drug tested at any time and any place with no advance notice. According to World Aquatics, if an athlete in the testing pool submits 'late, inaccurate or incomplete whereabouts that lead to (them) being unavailable for testing, (they) may receive a Filing Failure.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2025.
CBC
08-07-2025
- Sport
- CBC
What does Penny Oleksiak's withdrawal mean for Canada's relay chances at swim world championships?
Social Sharing Less than a month ago, just days before her 25th birthday, Canada's most decorated female Olympian stood on the pool deck of Commonwealth Place in Victoria with a smile stretching across her face. Penny Oleksiak had just completed a successful national swimming trials, winning both the 50- and 100-metre freestyle events and being named to Canada's team for this month's world championships in Singapore. Oleksiak beamed as she talked about her newfound love of swimming and how excited she was for all the racing she was about to do this summer. "I actually want to be on the pool deck and in the water, race and be competitive and I'm having fun," she said in mid-June. "It feels so nice and it's showing in my times, my skin, it shows. I'm happy." WATCH | What is a 'whereabouts' violation? Penny Oleksiak's withdrawal from world championships has us wondering - what even is 'whereabouts'? 17 hours ago Duration 1:56 There was a sense from Swimming Canada officials, swimmers and fans alike who watched Oleksiak in and out of the pool throughout trials that this was a new athlete — focused, ready for this next chapter and embracing the challenge of finding peak form once again. That all came crashing down last Friday when Oleksiak took to social media, posting on her own Instagram page that she was involved in a "whereabouts" case with World Aquatics and that she was withdrawing from the world championships. "I want to emphasize that this whereabouts case does not involve any banned substance; it's about whether I updated my information correctly," Oleksiak wrote. "I am and always have been a clean athlete and will be making no further comment at this time." Shortly after Oleksiak's post, Swimming Canada sent out its own statement. "Swimming Canada is in full support of Penny's decision and we believe she is a clean athlete who made an administrative mistake. We wish her well and look forward to seeing her back in the pool," said Swimming Canada CEO Suzanne Paulins. Athlete Whereabouts is part of the World Anti Doping Agency's (WADA) drug testing program. Selected athletes must provide a daily 60-minute availability window, 90 days in advance, to be tested, no matter where in the world they might be. If an athlete submits "late, inaccurate or incomplete whereabouts that lead to them being unavailable for testing, [they] may receive a Filing Failure," according to World Aquatics. Any combination of three filing failures or missed tests within 12-months could result in a two-year ban. In her statement Oleksiak said her situation involved whether or not she updated her information correctly. If she's worried, she's not showing it. On Sunday, she posted on her Instagram a picture of her on a beach with the caption: "All sunshine and smiles over here." Canada's Ruslan Gaziev just returned from a Whereabouts ban that kept him out of competition for 18 months, including missing the Paris Olympics. Oleksiak's case is still in the preliminary stages and there has been no determination of a ban or suspension. But her voluntary withdrawal from the team is important. Had Oleksiak continued to compete at the world championships and then receive a suspension or ban, it could have not only affected her personal results but also any relay she competed on — the Canadian relay teams could be disqualified had she competed and then been suspended. That's significant because all of Oleksiak's nine world championship medals have been won on relays and she was sure to play a prominent role in relays in Singapore. It's likely Swimming Canada will not add any swimmers to the roster in the wake of Oleksiak's withdrawal from the team. It also raises questions about Oleksiak's future in swimming, a career that has been somewhat turbulent since rising to superstardom at the 2016 Olympics in Rio when she was just 16 years old. Oleksiak captured gold, silver and two bronze medals at those Games, becoming the first Canadian ever to win four medals at a Summer Olympics. Since then, she's acknowledged she has fallen in and out of love with the sport, even going so far as to tell CBC Sports in April 2024 she had been through "hell and back" since her first Games. Over the past couple of years, however, Oleksiak has said she's rediscovered her connection to swimming, and rather than retirement, wants to compete at the L.A. 2028 Olympics.
Straits Times
05-07-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
Canada's Penny Oleksiak withdraws from worlds over whereabouts issue
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Canada's Penny Oleksiak will not be competing at the upcoming World Championships in Singapore. TORONTO – Penny Oleksiak, Canada's most decorated female Olympian, has pulled out of the upcoming swimming World Championships in Singapore because of a probe into an alleged breach of the anti-doping code under the whereabouts rule. Elite athletes are obliged to keep doping authorities informed of their whereabouts at all times so random testing can take place. Former Olympic 100 metres freestyle champion Oleksiak announced her withdrawal from the world championships on social media on July 4, stressing that the issue did not involve any banned substances. "I wanted to confirm I am involved in a whereabouts case with World Aquatics that's still in the preliminary stages," she wrote in a statement. "I want to emphasise that this whereabouts case does not involve any banned substance; it's about whether I updated my information correctly. "Out of respect for Swimming Canada, my fellow racers and clean sport, I have decided not to compete at the world championships. I am and always have been a clean athlete and will be making no further comment at this time." There was no immediate response to a request for comment from World Aquatics. Swimming Canada also released a statement supporting Oleksiak's move, saying they believed she was a clean athlete who had made an "administrative mistake". "We understand that Penny has been notified that she did not keep her whereabouts information fully up-to-date," said Swimming Canada chief executive Suzanne Paulins. "She has explained to us that it was inadvertent and that in no way is she involved in the use of banned substances. "This is a team-first decision, as while she has not been sanctioned at this time, participating at world championships could potentially affect team results if an anti-doping rule violation is determined." As well as taking the blue riband sprint gold at Rio as a 16-year-old in 2016, Oleksiak has won six other Olympic medals and nine at three World Championships. The 2025 championships take place in Singapore from July 27 to Aug 3. In other swimming news, the River Seine reopened to swimmers on July 5 in Paris, allowing people to take a dip in the French capital's iconic waterway for the first time since 1923. Parisians and visitors looking to cool off this summer can dive in – weather permitting – at three bathing sites, including one a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower. The seasonal opening of the Seine for swimming is seen as a key legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympics, when open water swimmers and triathletes competed in its waters which were specially cleaned for the event. REUTERS, AFP
