Serbian Water Polo player Nikola Radjen‘s suspension has been announced as 4 years, per FINA. Radjen tested positive for cocaine earlier this year.
It was all but inevitable that Radjen would be suspended after his national federation released a statement noting that he wasn’t taking the drug for any performance benefits, while not denying that he had taken cocaine.
Older versions of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) codes called for a two-year ban for first violations, but WADA recently enacted a new code as of January 1st, 2015 that upped that class of suspension to four years.
Now comes confirmation that Radjen was punished under the new code, with FINA announcing a four-year ban on the star water polo player.
Radjen is currently 30, meaning that when his suspension expires, he’ll be into his mid-30s. He tested positive for cocaine in two separate tests on February 17 and April 15 of 2015. FINA notified Radjen of the positive test on May 5th, and so his suspension will run from May 7, 2015 through May 6, 2019.
You can read FINA’s full case summary by following this link.
FINA also ruled that any medals, prizes or prize money that Radjen won after the first failed test (February 17) will also be forfeited.
Four years for recreational drugs…..2 years for performance enhancing drugs? FINA, what are you smoking?
Bilabong – if you read past the headline, you’ll notice that the disparity is due to a change of rules. Comparing suspensions pre-2015 to those post-2015 is comparing apples to much bigger apples.