Banned Olympic medalist now charged for false evidence

Olympic race walk silver medalist Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez lost her appeal against a four-year ban for doping and faced new charges on Tuesday for using false evidence.

The Athletics Integrity Unit published a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport which dismissed an appeal this month by the 20-kilometer walk runner-up at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Gonzalez blamed her positive test for the anabolic steroid trenbolone in 2018 on contaminated meat in tacos. Steroids are used in cattle farming in her native Mexico.

In a written statement to her original disciplinary hearing, she cited false details of the meat she had eaten. Athletes who prove how they ingested a doping product can avoid a ban.

Gonzalez expressly accepts that she lied and presented and relied upon fabricated documents in an apology to the CAS panel, the appeal ruling stated.

The AIU, which prosecutes cases in track and field, said it now charged the athlete with a second violation for tampering. The 31-year-old race walker, better known as Lupita Gonzalez, is banned into November 2022 and faces a further ban for the new charge.

Gonzalez will keep her silver medals from the 20-kilometer walk at the 2016 Olympics and the 2017 world championships in London. 

Image credits: AP