Santo Condorelli’s 18-Month Suspension Quietly Lifted Last October

Santo Condorelli’s 18-month suspension for a “whereabouts failure” pertaining to anti-doping tests has been lifted, clearing the two-time Olympian to return to train and compete again for his new Texas Ford Aquatics (TFA) pro group led by coach Coley Stickels.

Condorelli, 28, told SwimSwam on Friday that “there was a mistake with the filing,” though he declined to offer additional details besides noting it was a “communication error.” The Tokyo 2021 Olympic silver medalist for Italy said he settled the issue with World Aquatics a few months ago, but the global governing body still hasn’t released an update on the case.

While the list of sanctioned swimmers posted on World Aquatics’ website, dated October 10, 2022, shows Condorelli’s suspension as still active, a more current link sent by a World Aquatics spokesperson on Friday no longer includes Condorelli’s name. Another World Aquatics spokesperson followed up Monday to note the case had been handled by Italian national anti-doping organization (NADO Italia) and had been resolved since last October, albeit without any public notice.

His now-defunct suspension was slated to run from June 24, 2022, until Dec. 3, 2023. World Anti-Doping rules don’t allow athletes who are suspended to train with a club that is a member of a national federation except during the last two months/quarter of that suspension, whichever is shorter.

A “whereabouts failure” typically indicates that said athlete has failed to submit their whereabouts, in other words, where they live or are staying temporarily, by a required deadline. The violation can also occur in the event that the athlete doesn’t provide sufficient information on how the testers can access them at home. For example, if the athlete lives in a gated community and fails to disclose that, so the testers can’t get inside, or if the athlete lives in an apartment complex and uses the main address but doesn’t include their unit number.

Condorelli won his first Olympic medal last summer, competing on Italy’s men’s 4×100 free relay, which earned silver. He swam on the prelims relay, splitting 47.90 on the 2nd leg. The Italian squad would break the national record in the event, though it would only stand until finals that night, when they lowered the mark again. Condorelli was the only member of the prelims relay in Tokyo who didn’t go on to race on the finals relay. He was replaced by Thomas Ceccon, who split 47.45 in finals.

From 2015-2018, Condorelli represented Canada internationally. He qualified for the Canadian Olympic team in 2016, where he narrowly missed out on winning an individual Olympic medal. The then-21-year-old swam a 47.88 in finals of the men’s 100 free, finishing fourth in the Olympic final by just 0.03 seconds.

Condorelli has moved around a ton his entire life. He was born in Japan and raised just outside of Portland, Oregon. At the 2013 U.S. Junior National Championships, Condorelli set the U.S. National Age Group Record in the LCM 100 free for 17-18 boys. The former USC Trojan only began to compete for Canada in 2015, which he was allowed to do because his mother is a Canadian citizen. Condorelli’s father is Italian, allowing him to represent Italy internationally. He’s the self-proclaimed “most international of international swimmers,” adding that “no other swimmer has represented three nations.”

The next stop on his world tour is Frisco, Texas, where’ll join Stickels’ TFA Pro Team featuring Matt King, Miranda Tucker, Morgan Scott, Jacob Molacek, Marina Spadoni, and Tyler Sesvold.

From the Vault: 

• Santo Condorelli Flips Off His Dad Before Every Race