Bulgarian athlete Ivet Lalova-Collio has been suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for testing positive for the banned performance-enhancing substance ostarine.
The 41-year-old represented Bulgaria at five Olympic Games.
She earned five sprint medals at European outdoor and indoor championships in the 100m and 200m indoors and outdoors.
Her 100m personal best is the Bulgarian record of 10.77, set in 2004. Lalova-Collio’s best 200m time is 22.32, set in 2015.
Oddly, she has competed in a few years. However, the AIU re-tested a sample from the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
What is Ostarine?
Ostarine (MK-2866) is a Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator (SARM) that works by binding to androgen receptors to promote muscle growth, increase lean mass, improve performance, and aid fat loss, mimicking anabolic steroids but with potentially fewer side effects on other organs like the prostate. It is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of prohibited substances. It’s being studied for muscle wasting conditions like cancer cachexia and osteoporosis, but is often sold illegally as a “research chemical” for performance enhancement.
Seven athletes retested and swere uspended from Rio
Seven athletes from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, including one bronze medallist, tested positive for doping in fresh analysis of their samples, the International Testing Agency said Thursday.
The new Olympic doping cases included four in weightlifting and one each in judo, wrestling and athletics.
The athletes caught include weightlifting medallist Aurimas Didzbalis of Lithuania and Lalova-Collio. Two of the athletes came from Egypt and one each from Belarus, Olympic host Brazil, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Uzbekistan.
“The majority of these positive re-analysis results are mainly due to technical advances,” the ITA said, with more sensitive detection of steroid traces.
Samples taken at the Olympic Games are stored and can be retested for up to 10 years after the event to allow for new developments in doping science. In 2021 and 2022 several new cases came from the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Four of the positive tests were for the anabolic steroid danabol, including Didzbalis, and two were for oral turinabol, the steroid most famously used in East Germany’s state-backed doping program.
Didzbalis placed third in the men’s 94-kilogram class in Rio and faces being disqualified by the International Olympic Committee- then stripped of his medal. Didzbalis also tested positive for doping ahead of the 2012 London Olympics.
