Antani Ivanov Suspended Two Years for Doping Violations

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Antani Ivanov Suspended Two Years for Doping Violations

Bulgarian Olympian Antani Ivanov has been handed a two-year ban for whereabouts violations in anti-doping testing.

The ban is retroactive but will still rule Ivanov out of the Paris Olympics.

Per reports in Europe, the Court for Arbitration for Sport has upheld the ban. He was sanctioned first by the Bulgarian Olympic Committee in October but appealed to CAS. The decision came down in late June that he would have to face punishment. Those reports indicate that he missed doping tests due address changes, which violates the World Anti-Doping Agency’s code. FINA has not yet announced the sanctioning.

The decision was made public in late June, while Ivanov was taking part in a state-level championship in Bulgaria. His reaction to the decision was to hit back at Bulgarian authorities that swimming in the country “dies without me.”

At the Tokyo Olympics, Ivanov was 29th in the 100 fly and 20th in the 200 fly. He holds the national record in the 200 fly long-course and all three fly records in short-course competition. Ivanov won a bronze medal at the World Junior Championship in the 200 fly in 2017 and bronze in the 200 fly at the NCAA Championships in 2021, representing Virginia Tech.

The native of Veliko Tanovo made NCAAs as a freshman in 2019, finishing 12th in the 200 fly. He was third in the 200 fly and sixth in the 100 fly at NCAAs in 2021 and swam on four relays at NCAAs in 2022. He’s an eight-time All-American.

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Stewart

1 year ago

Bulgarian swimming dies without me” no.mate, it will thrive without you