By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
Olympic gold medalist Ahmed Hafnaoui has received a 21-month suspension for three whereabouts failures, the World Aquatics Integrity Unit has said. Hafnaoui was previously giving a provisional suspension for the same violation late last year.
Hafnaoui, 22, admitted to the violation and the suspension is effective from April 11, 2024 until January 10, 2026.
Athletes are required to maintain their location for random drug testing in an online app, and missing three random tests in a 12 month period is considered a violation.
Sources tell SwimSwam that Hafnaoui missed two anti-doping tests while training in America and then a third after returning home to Tunisia amidst visa issues in the United States. More recently, he has been at a training camp in France with Ahmed Jaouadi and Rami Rahmouni working with French coach Philippe Lucas.
He is one of two swimmers currently listed as suspended for Whereabouts filings by the Aquatics Integrity Unit. The other, Turkish Olympian Viktoria Gunes, received a two-year suspension in 2023.
Hafnaoui was the surprise Olympic Champion at the Tokyo 2020 Games in the 400 meter freestyle, winning in a time of 3:43.36. His best time of 3:40.70 from the 2023 World Championships makes him the 6th-best performer in the history of the event.
Hafnaoui swam part of the 2023-2024 season at Indiana, after sitting out the 2022-2023 season due to eligibility issues, but he only competed in two meets in October for the Hoosiers before moving to California to train with The Swim Team (TST) and Mark Schubert. He ended up going back to Tunisia due to visa issues and competing in the World Championships in February of last year.
The same week in which his provisional suspension was announced is the same week that he entered the NCAA transfer portal. This suspension does not extent to the NCAA, though it would make for a complicated situation at most programs where coaches are also USA Swimming coaches.
His last meet came at the February 2024 World Aquatics Championships, where didn’t final in any of his events, placing 17th in the 400 and 1500 and 18th in the 800.
Hafnaoui won the 400m freestyle from lane 8 at the 2021 Olympic Games, going 3:43.36. He has been dealing with an injury, and decided not to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games after a disappointing World Championships in Qatar.
He also swam the 400 free, 800 free, and 1500 free at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka in July of 2023 and was the World Champion in the 800 and the 1500 while training with Indiana.
He said that he decided not to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games after a disappointing World Championships in Qatar and while dealing with an injury.
Hafanoui was the 2023 African Male Swimmer of the Year award winner in the annual Swammy Awards.
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