By Alfredo Echenique Lugo
27 Jul 2024, 13:44 PM EDT
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games have been underway for less than 24 hours and already have their first athletes testing positive for doping. The first was Iraqi judoka Sajjad Sehen who tested positive for methandienone and boldenone.
And recently, the second positive case for doping was reported, and the first female one. This is the Dominican volleyball player Lisvel Eve Mejía, who tested positive for Furosemide after a doping test carried out in the last Nations League tournament, so she will be separated from the team and will not participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The Olympic Games organization announced this in a statement on Saturday. “Regrettably and following the protocol at this time, the athlete will be separated from the team and will not participate in the Olympic Games in Paris, France,” said the medical department of the organization.
The player who represented the Dominican Republic at Tokyo 2020 also spoke about it and confessed to feeling “disappointed in herself.” Although she was calm, since she didn’t do it on purpose.
“There is one part that does make me feel at peace with myself, given that I have always been a person of integrity and honesty, calm and hard-working. My intention was never to take that medication to improve my physical performance,” said the Dominican player.
He added that it was “an oversight” on his part not to have previously investigated the medication he used to control fluid retention in his body, in this case Furosemide, “which has yielded a doping test in the last VNL.”
On the other hand, the Secretary General of the Dominican Olympic Committee, Luis Chanlatte, commented on his social networks that, “We deeply regret the positive test of our athlete Lisvel Eve Mejía, but we must move forward. Fair play is everyone’s commitment.”
Mejía was removed from the Dominican Republic’s squad in Paris and her place on the women’s volleyball team, which will debut this Sunday, July 28, against Italy, will be taken up by Geraldine González.
Keep reading:
Olympic Games 2024: schedule, calendar and all the events for today, Saturday, July 27
Discover the Latin American flag bearers in Paris 2024