The Vortex - November 2025: Penny Oleksiak Handed 2-Year Ban For Missing 3 Anti-Doping Tests
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Penny Oleksiak, the 2016 Olympic 100m freestyle champion for Canada, has accepted a two-year ban from competition stemming from three whereabouts failures.
Oleksiak's period of ineligibility extends to July 14, 2027, with the suspension applied retroactively to July 15 past.
According to a release from the Aquatics Integrity Unit, the 25-year-old from Toronto will have any competitive results from June 16 onward disqualified, including forfeiture of medals, points, and prizes.
Athlete whereabouts are part of the World Anti Doping Agency's (WADA) drug testing program. Selected athletes must provide a daily 60-minute availability window, 90 days in advance, to be tested, covering their entire elite careers.
If an athlete submits "late, inaccurate or incomplete whereabouts that lead to them being unavailable for testing, [they] may receive a Filing Failure," World Aquatics notes.
In July, after withdrawing from the world aquatics championships due to the whereabouts issue, Oleksiak said the matter "does not involve any banned substance" and added, "I am and always have been a clean athlete and will be making no further comment at this time."
"We are committed to the enforcement and support of all anti-doping rules as outlined in the Canadian Anti-Doping Program and through World Aquatics and the World Anti-Doping Agency," Swimming Canada chief executive officer Suzanne Paulins said in a statement.
"While we accept Penny's explanation these were inadvertent errors and she has not used banned substances, anti-doping regulations are in place to ensure a level playing field for all athletes. We will miss Penny on the national team and hope to see her back in the pool when she is eligible."
That response and commitment stands in stark contrast to the handling of the China 23-go-free crisis that has undermined trust in the anti-doping system.
Craig Lord
Meanwhile, swimmers who have tested positive for banned substances go free in hugely challenging circumstances that include there having been no proof of contamination, mass or otherwise, only the word of a state security service - and the acceptance of the guardians of clean sport.
We may never see Oleksiak again, and while the circumstances of her departure, permanent or temporary, do not suggest the had suddenly developed a taste for banned substances, she gets no benefit of the doubt under the strict application of rules there to send the right message to real cheats. The strict-liability rule is there for the same purpose but was not applied to China on the way to Tokyo2020. More than a dozen Olympians went on to race in the ultimate waters in their sport, in Tokyo and then Paris, a handful of them delivering gold, silver and bronze medals for China.
Oleksiak is eligible to race at LA2028 if she choses to make a comeback and earn selection at Canadian trials. Among those who doubt we'll be seeing her in racing again is Bruce Arthur at the Toronto Star, who penned this editorial:
Bruce Arthur
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Craig Lord
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Craig Lord
