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There was a positive test for a banned substance at the Olympics before the opening ceremony even began.
Sajjad Sehen’s first Olympic Games are over before they even started after the Iraqi judoka tested positive for metandienone and boldenone in a sample taken in Paris Tuesday.
The 28-year-old was due to compete Tuesday but is heading home instead.
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Athletes of Team Iraq on a boat on the Seine River during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 July 26, 2024, in Paris. (Aytac Unal/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Sehen is provisionally suspended while a disciplinary case is prosecuted, according to the International Testing Agency, which oversees the anti-doping program for the International Olympic Committee.
“This means that the athlete is prevented from competing, training, coaching or participating in any activity during the Olympic Games,” the agency said.
The agency added that Sehen “has the right to challenge the imposition of the provisional suspension before the Court of Arbitration for Sport – Anti-Doping Division (CAS ADD)” and also “has the right to request the analysis of the B sample.”
Iraq’s delegation with flag bearer Ali Ammar Yusur Rubaiawi, front center, sails on a boat during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris July 26, 2024. (Damien Meyer/AFP via Getty Images)
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Sehen was in the bracket for the 81kg division.
The Tokyo Games had six athletes test positive for banned substances.
Metandienone is sold under the brand name Dianabol, commonly shortened to D-Bol. Both substances Sehen allegedly took are anabolic steroids.
Sehen was scheduled to face Sharofiddin Boltaboev of Uzbekistan in the elimination Round of 32.
Sehen claimed bronze at the 2023 Arab Games and was a two-time World Cup bronze medalist last year in the category.
Aside from the 18-person soccer team, there are now only three other athletes representing Iraq at the games: sprinter Taha Hussein Yaseen, swimmer Hasan Al-Zinkee and weightlifter Ali Rubaiawi.
Ali Ammar Yusur Rubaiawi, a flag bearer for Team Iraq, waves the flag on a boat with Team Ireland during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 July 26, 2024, in Paris. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
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The entire 81kg competition will take place July 30, beginning at 4 a.m. ET.
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