Peruvian swimmer Mauricio Fiol announced on Thursday he has pulled out of the 2019 Pan American Games due to a positive doping test, multiple sources have reported. Fiol won the silver medal in the 2015 Pan American Games for Peru but was disqualified for testing positive for stanozolol, the same substance that Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson famously tested positive for in the 1988 Olympic Games.
Fiol had been suspended four years and was hoping to make his return to competition at a home Pan American Games in Lima next week. But Fiol tested positive for the same substance again, ending his chances at competing next week. He was set to swim all three relays for Peru.
“My first responsibility is to go out to publicize this information that has baffled me, since I have never consumed that substance ,” Mauricio Fiol said through a video on Facebook. “I would be really miserable with my family and all the people who love me if I did it after all that I had to suffer these four years. I would have to be a self-destructive patient to get a substance that was already unfairly sanctioned.
“From today I will devote all my strength to discover what has happened and prove my innocence. Unfortunately that will take a while and the first consequence is that I will not fulfill my dream of returning to the Pan American Games,” he said.
