Olympics: Italy Bans Chatbi From Rio Over Missed Tests

MILAN,(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th july,2016) - The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) have excluded steeplechaser Jamel Chatbi from the Rio Games due to missed drug tests. The Moroccan-born athlete, who once served a three-year ban for doping, will not travel to his maiden Olympics after missing a third random doping control in one year. In accordance with the regulations of national athletics federations, athletes must adhere to a 'whereabouts programme' in order to comply with strict anti-doping rules. A statement by CONI on Thursday announced: "CONI, in concordance with the Italian Athletics Federation, has excluded the athlete Jamel Chatbi (3000m steeplechase) from the Rio Olympic Games for missing a third doping control in the last year.

"The Italian athletes going to Rio now number 308 (164 men and 144 women)." Chatbi, 32, competed for Morocco at the 2008 world cross country championships. A year later, he won 3000m steeplechase gold at the Mediterranean Games and, at the world athletics championships, he withdrew from the final after failing a mandatory control when he tested positive for the steroid clenbuterol. Chatbi was handed a three-year ban from competition on August 18, 2009, but applied for and was given Italian citizenship in 2012.