A Latvian rower’s drive for Olympic success led to his downfall today as he became the fifth athlete to be kicked out of the Sydney Games for failing a drugs test. Andris Reinholds tested positive to the steroid nandrolone after finishing eighth in the men’s single sculls competition, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said.
Reinholds, who was also eliminated in the men’s single sculls semi-finals, tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone, IOC medical commission chief, Prince Alexandre de Merode announced. Although Reinholds did not win a medal, he had been tested in one of the IOC’s random tests on competitors and the concentration of nandrolone discovered was more than four times the permitted limit, the IOC said. The Latvian delegation blamed a Chinese herbal remedy and gave the IOC a sample.
The 29-year-old finished third in his event at last year’s world championships in St Catherine’s, Canada, and has been a top-level international competitor for the past five years.
Reinholds, a builder and engineer, faces a life ban from the sport if the positive test is recognised by the sport’s international governing body, Fisa.
Kathleen di Giacomo, the Fisa communications manager at the Penrith regatta centre, said her organisation had not yet been advised of the positive test. She said any rower testing positive for a banned substance would be suspended for life, subject to an appeals process.
Di Giacomo said rowing had recorded three previous positive tests this year but added drug offences were “extremely rare” in the sport.
No Latvian rowers were in action today and no Latvian official was available for comment.
