Braden Keith contributed to this report.
FINA has announced the punishment for Serbian water polo player Filip Radojevic, who tested positive for a banned substance last year.
Radojevic is currently serving a two year suspension from the sport after he tested positive for the substance Pseudoephedrine, which FINA lists under category S6 (stimulants). The substance is commonly found in nasal decongestant, like Sudafed. Radojevic tested positive for Pseudoephedrine on August 13th, 2017, while in competition at the 2017 FINA World Junior Water Polo Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
Radojevic’s period of ineligibility didn’t actually begin until October 23rd, 2017, more than two months following his positive test. That means that he will be ineligible until late October of 2019. The FINA release for this case was, for reasons unknown, not published on the FINA website until March 23rd, 2018, five months after Radojevic’s period of ineligibility began.
While Radojevic is still serving his suspension, FINA has shown a pattern of delayed public notification regarding doping offenses. Earlier today, news broke that U.S. teen Matthew Willenbring had tested positive for a banned substance, but Willenbring has already finished serving his suspension well before FINA made his case publicly known. World Record holder Sun Yang was suspended for 3 months in May of 2014, but FINA didn’t announce his suspension until November of that year – several months after the suspension ended.