Iranian swimmer Kia Afzali has been suspended for three years for the use of Oxandrolone, an anabolic steroid.
Afazli’s positive test came on February 22 during an Iranian National Team tryout event, and he was suspended by Iran’s anti-doping authority. Afzali has been a member of the National Team since at least 2017.
The Iran NADO did not provide a justification for the three-year ban, nor did the international governing body FINA in adding Afzali to their list. Three year bans are unusual, as anti-doping rules generally allow the maximum four year ban for a first offense, and a reduction to two years if they believe the offense was unintentional.
There are only two circumstances lined out in the World Anti-Doping Code where a first offense could result in a three-year suspension. One is if the individual provides assistance to criminal or anti-doping investigators. The other is a case where an athlete has ingested a non-Specified Substance, which includes anabolic steroids, but the committee believes there was no significant fault or negligence. In that case, the reduction can be reduced by up to half, which in this case means between 2 and 4 years.
Afzali is one of three Iranian aquatics athletes who is currently serving an anti-doping suspension, according to FINA’s list. Sepehr Davati was banned for four years in 2019 and Matin Fathi was banned for four years in 2019.
Is there a way to reduce the exclusion?
I totally forgot what this article was about after Goated McIntosh hijacked this post/comment section. 😂
Yes, I was shocked to see that an article about an Iranian swimmer being suspended had more than 20 comments!
Sarm goblin
I have such a hard time believing people have ingested Anavar, sarms or anything of the sort by mistake.
@Braden Keith, out of topic but it’s been 3 weeks since Mister Dressel scratched the meet and we still don’t know why. Are we gonna wait up until 2023 Fukuoka Trials next June to hear from him or what?
Chalmers (heart/shoulder surgeries), Sjöström (elbow), Ledecky (stomach bug), Manuel (OTS), Simone Biles (Mental Health), Adrian (cancer) etc… they all gave us an update on their situation via their social media real quick. Meanwhile, Remel went dead silent on his social media and is ignoring everyone, which is sad for the fans and one of the main reasons why swimming is still living in its amateurism.
I wish some elite swimmers like Dressel will stop being secretive about their… Read more »
The meat munchin is CRAZy. Leave that man alone. He’s playin with his cows and chicken since u wanna know so bad
If CD plans to put something out there, then it will probably be on his own accord (Instagram or something) rather than through a SwimSwam podcast.
Hate to speculate, but I’m almost certain this is mental health related. I feel like if it were something else (like a specific injury or doping offense) it would’ve leaked out by now, given that he’s the biggest swim star since Phelps. Given what we now know about his history with these issues, I’d guess people who know what’s going on with CD are being extra respectful and don’t want to be “that guy” who spills this to the public.
Man, he’s a real person. If he hasn’t shared, maybe it’s because he doesn’t want to. Chill.
SwimSwam editors: honestly a blanket ban on comments asking for updates on swimmers would be totally appropriate. (a) You all are great at your jobs and super on top of that stuff already and (b) these people have a right to privacy; we know some athletes read or hear about these forums and comments like this aren’t healthy. A method of privately reaching out to SwimSwam staff could be an okay middle ground.
Eh, I do get this perspective. I do – Dressel should be able to share what he wants, when he wants. I’m not faulting him for not. And sorta the longer the continued silence goes on, the bigger of a deal we can assume it is. (And it really only matters how big a deal it is to Dressel.) If it’s better for him to continue not saying anything, that’s what’s best.
But it is definitely abnormal that we haven’t heard anything. If anything it makes it more distressing!
To me, this sorta situation fits with Braden’s comments about swimmers not actually acting like most other pro athletes when it comes to certain things. (I can’t think of a similar… Read more »
yep, it’s super unusual. At this point, I’m assuming the worst until we hear a different reason.
To be fair, hockey does this quite a bit. “Lower body injury” is the extent you MIGHT hear something. As a Lightning fan, they (the organization and/or the media) would dangle Brayden Point out there before every game of the playoffs after he got hurt in the 1st round until minutes before puck-drop, only to find out after the Stanley Cup Finals that the dude needed a massive surgery that’s going to put him out for months. I guess we ultimately did find out, but…it was a while from the time of the injury.
Not taking away from your overall point, but it’s also not unprecedented in professional sports.
I almost mentioned “unspecified lower body injury” or Tom Brady being on the injured list with “shoulder” for like 12 straight years as being aaaalmost a comp but not really.
Those descriptors are also more specific than what Dressel’s given us! (And with a sport like hockey or football, it makes sense why you’d want to be as vague as possible – they can whack you where you’re injured! But also makes sense why you need injury reports – because gambling.)
And heck teams dangling a player out there only to pull em right before the game also makes sense for them from a competitive standpoint a lot of the time – make the other guys prepare like… Read more »
“(I can’t think of a similar circumstance where we didn’t get something from a pro athlete having to withdraw from a major comp for weeks.)”
I’m involved in a wide variety of Olympic sports (through USOPC work) and every sport says this, often about the exact same issues. It’s true that professional athletes in the Big 4 sports, the ones where sports betting influences what the league and athletes’ union negotiate must be released, are required to release something about their injuries, but this lack of information is extremely common for professional athletes in Olympic sports. There are dozens of examples across sports, but for some reason every sport wants to compare itself to NFL instead of its comparable… Read more »
Sorry, you think we should ban swim fans from asking about updates on swimmers?
I’m not sure I follow you, because that just doesn’t really make any sense to me.
Haha. Yeah what I specifically meant was this pattern of posting on unrelated articles, demanding that you guys dig up what’s going on with so-and-so.
But… based on the votes, I guess I’m the crazy one!
He’s under no obligation to tell us. That said, I agree it’s unusual. One could argue that transparency about things like mental health and cancer have been net positives for athletes’ brands. Additionally, Dressel has been pretty open about his anxiety, burnout, etc. in the past, so I would think that if it were along those lines, he wouldn’t have gone off the grid like this.
I dunno, could be he just doesn’t want to talk to anyone and he’s tired of his life being our business. Could be something else. I don’t have a crystal ball, just some guesses. Time will tell.
Just to play devil’s advocate here – it sorta comes with the territory, no? Cashing all those sponsor checks comes with a set of expectations, those being that his life, most specifically when its comes to swimming, is the public’s business. Ya don’t make the big bucks otherwise!
There’s an entire debate to be had if that’s good for athletes or not, but it certainly pays better than simply being a hermit would. There’s a world in which he’s got no sponsors, no podcast, no YouTube channel and just idk, works at Home Depot and swims. It’s what a… Read more »
He is still going through it is my guess. At this point just put him in the probably retired category until he shows up to a major meet or says something on social media. Do you really have to know why? Same with Simone. It does bug me that they seem to prolong the announcement to keep collecting sponsor checks. Not really sure how that works tbh.
lol what? these situations are very different, how are you jumping to the conclusion he’s retiring?
How? By assuming it’s a mental thing. The treatment would be to stop competitive swimming. He probably doesn’t know yet what he is doing cause it hasn’t been very long yet.
Not saying this is a panic attack or any mental health issue, I know as much as the swim swam comments.
But there is a documentry about tennis player who suffered with panic attacks and withdrew from the finals of the US Open due to this.
I would also guess panic attacks..I have had them! And you can’t race! It took a long time for them to go away, with meds, that are counter productive to racing, if not banned . Anxiety can be a career ender depending on the effectiveness of therapy and meds. Mine just ended for no apparent reason.
As far as him speaking about his issue, I am sure he has consulted with his sponsors, doctors, and family, and all have put his health above all else.