FILE – In this Sunday, Aug. 11, 2013 file photo, Roland Schoeman of South Africa reacts after winning the Men’s 50m Freestyle final at the Fina Swimming World Cup in Berlin, Germany. Former Olympic and world champion swimmer Roland Schoeman has been banned for one year after testing positive for a black market substance judged to be a cancer risk. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer, File)
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Former Olympic champion swimmer Roland Schoeman has been banned for one year after testing positive for a black market substance considered to be a cancer risk.
The 39-year-old South African tested positive for GW501516 in May, swimming body FINA said in a published ruling.
Schoeman had been in training to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He won three medals — including gold in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay — at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He is also a three-time world champion who set a world record while winning the 50-meter butterfly title in 2005 in Montreal.
FINA’s doping panel imposed a one-year ban that expires on May 17, the governing body said Wednesday.
The substance GW501516 is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency in the category of “hormones and metabolic modulators.” WADA alerted athletes in 2013 that GW501516 failed medical trials and was a toxic threat to health if used as a performance enhancer.
“(It’s) a developmental drug that was withdrawn from research by the pharmaceutical company and terminated when serious toxicities were discovered in pre-clinical studies,” WADA warned seven years ago.
Schoeman can appeal against the ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.