Newly crowned Olympic judo champion Majlinda Kelmendi of Kosovo has been provisionally suspended in France by the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) for refusing to take a doping test, a source told AFP
Majlinda Kelmendi
Rio de Janeiro: Newly crowned Olympic judo champion Majlinda Kelmendi of Kosovo has been provisionally suspended in France by the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) for refusing to take a doping test, a source told AFP.
Majlinda Kelmendi. Pic/AFP
Kelmendi made history on Sunday by winning her country's first ever Olympic medal in their Games debut as she claimed under-52kg glory in the Rio dojo. But two months ago while training in France, Kelmendi refused to give a urine sample in an unannounced, out-of-competition test sprung by the French agency.
Kelmendi was not the only athlete to refuse the test and did so only after her coach Drito Kuka consulted with the International Judo Federation's (IJF) anti-doping officer Andrea Ember, according to French judo magazine l'Esprit du Judo.
An IJF spokesman told AFP on Monday that the body's position had not changed and that any ban would not apply outside of France. "The test was contested by the athlete and her coach and from the IJF's point of view, the procedure seemed contestable," said spokesman Nicolas Messner.
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