Bahman Asgari (karate)

Iranian karate fighter Bahman Asghari was one of the participants in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics until the very last moment.

He was to become one of ten athletes who will compete in the weight category up to 75 kg.

Asgari could well have competed for a medal - he is the reigning world champion, although he won gold back in 2018.

However, in July, the International Karate Federation suspended Asgari from the competition for 12 months.

He was accused of using a prohibited drug.

The Iranian athlete should be especially offended that the Games will be held without him, since this will be the only chance for karate fighters to win Olympic medals.

Already in 2024, this type of martial arts will disappear from the program.

Oleg Vernyaev (artistic gymnastics)

The case of the Ukrainian gymnast Oleg Vernyaev is still a mystery to the fans.

In January of this year, the International Gymnastics Federation suspended the reigning Olympic champion on the uneven bars indefinitely from the competition.

Neither the organization nor the athlete himself have commented on the merits of the allegations since then, as the investigation continues against him.

For six months, no clarity has come.

It is only obvious that Vernyaev will not go to Tokyo - his name is absent in the final application of the Ukrainian national team.

But the native of Donetsk counted not only on a medal on his favorite uneven bars, but was also going to compete with the Russians Nikita Nagorny and Artur Dalaloyan for the all-around award, as it was at the last world championship.

Christian Coleman (athletics)

American sprinter Christian Coleman's uneasy relationship with anti-doping rules has long been known not only to athletics fans. Back in 2019, they tried to disqualify him for three missed tests within 12 months, but then his lawyers managed to find a loophole in the rules. He escaped punishment and competed at the World Championships in Doha, where he became the best in the 100 meters running and in the 4x100 relay. He ran the personal distance in 9.76 seconds - no one has performed so well since.

But then Coleman missed the doping officers' visit again, and this time "met the deadline."

On the second try, he received a two-year ban and lost the chance to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.

Later, the American appealed and achieved a reduction in the term, but he will still stay at home while other sprinters decide who is the strongest at the moment.

Danil Lysenko (athletics)

The case of Russian high jumper Danil Lysenko goes back to 2018.

At first, he was not at the address indicated by the athlete himself for taking out-of-competition doping samples, and then he completely stopped reporting his whereabouts.

As a result, he also had three passes during the year, for which he had to answer.

However, the All-Russian Athletics Federation tried to hush up the scandal and came up with a legend that Lysenko was not available for testing, allegedly due to treatment after the accident, for which the certificates were even forged.

The deception was revealed, and together with the athlete, the entire federation and other athletes were punished.

Now only ten Russians who have received neutral status will go to Tokyo, and Lysenko himself, who these days could have already served the standard suspension and returned to the national team, will not play until August 2022.

It is interesting that at his last start Lysenko conquered the height of 2.40 m - since then no one has conquered it.

Brianna McNeill (athletics)

American athlete Brianna McNeill will not be able to defend the Olympic champion title in the 100-meter hurdles in Tokyo.

The reason is her second disqualification in her career, which will end only in August 2025, that is, even after the next Games in Paris.

McNeill has already been punished once after winning in Rio de Janeiro - for the same three missed tests.

In January 2020, she again refused to let the doping officer visit her, citing her poor health after a recent abortion as the reason.

Although the American was not yet threatened with disqualification, she decided to ensure that this pass was not counted.

She provided a certificate from the clinic about the operation, but decided that the date was incorrect and corrected it herself.

Subsequently, McNeill edited the certificates several times, indicating the wrong number.

Although McNeill essentially gave no reason to think that she was using illegal substances, she was accused of falsifying documents.

After almost a year and a half of proceedings, she was sentenced to a five-year disqualification.

McNeill tried to challenge the punishment and, before appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), even qualified for the US team at the Tokyo Games, entering the top five hurdler of the season.

But in the end, her removal came into effect.

Luveau Magnonga (athletics)

South African long jumper Luvo Magnonga will be another athletics star who will not be at the upcoming Olympics. Once he had already missed the main starts of the fourth year due to his careless attitude to the rules. In 2011, he earned his first major prize money for his performances and became addicted to methamphetamine. Manyonga tried not to use it during the competition, but one day he nevertheless passed a positive doping test and received an 18-month disqualification, and due to a long treatment for drug addiction, he did not return to the sport until 2016.

When Manyonga started performing again, he immediately found himself in the elite of the long jump.

He became a silver medalist at the Rio Games, and a year later he won the World Championship.

His results have since deteriorated slightly, but he could still be considered a contender for an award in Tokyo until it was revealed that Manyonga had missed three doping tests.

For this violation, he received four years of disqualification.

Dilshod Nazarov (athletics)

There will be a new champion in men's hammer throw at the Olympic Games.

The former triumphant, Tajik sportsman Dilshod Nazarov, will not perform in Tokyo.

He will be serving a ban for consuming 4-chlorodehydromethyltestosterone, a prohibited substance.

There is one nuance in the fairly standard doping story.

Nazarov passed the same doping test back in 2011.

From the first time, they did not find anything reprehensible in him, but when the sample was rechecked, it still gave a positive result.

Nazarov was annulled all results from August 2011 to August 2013, and at the same time was assigned a two-year suspension, the report of which began in September 2019.

If the investigation against him had begun a few months earlier, then Nazarov could have gone to his fifth Olympics.

Salva Eid Nasser (athletics)

The story of the representative of Bahrain of Nigerian origin, Salva Aid Nasser, in many ways repeats the one that Coleman fell into. In the spring of 2019, she missed doping tests twice and once did not disclose her whereabouts. While a possible violation was being checked, Nasser competed in the 400 meters at the Doha World Championships and won it with a fantastic time of 48.14 seconds - the best in 34 years and the third in women's running history.

Initially, the athlete was acquitted, since a doping officer was found guilty of missing one test, who did not make an effort to find her.

But then the case was referred to the CAS, and the court still disqualified the Bahraini athlete for two years, so she will not perform in Tokyo.

Interestingly, in January 2020, Nasser again missed out-of-competition testing for a very unusual reason - her flight was canceled, and she had to urgently make changes to her data in order to report her location.

She asked her coach to do this, but he did not read the messages because he was sleeping.

Unfortunately for the runner, it was on that day that they wanted to test her for doping again.

Shakarri Richardson (athletics)

American sprinter Shakarri Richardson is difficult for now to be attributed to real sports stars, but she definitely had to become her at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

In 2021, she ran the 100 meters in 10.72 seconds, the sixth time among women in history, and then won the selection for the US national team.

Richardson's popularity, in part due to her flamboyant image, skyrocketed in those days.

But soon the athlete's doping test tested positive for marijuana.

She justified herself by the fact that shortly before the selection for the Olympics she lost her mother, and with the help of the drug wanted to relieve stress.

Richardson received a 30-day suspension, which falls on the medal draw in the women's 100-meter at the Tokyo Games.

In theory, she could at least compete in the relay, but after an anti-doping rule violation, she was not included in the team, which caused a storm of indignation in her homeland.

This decision was criticized even by the press secretary of the US President Jen Psaki.

Now fans are signing a petition en masse for Richardson to go to the Olympics, and have already collected more than half a million signatures.

Sun Yang (swimming)

In swimming, the three-time Olympic champion from China Sun Yang has long been considered the main troublemaker. In 2018, he became the hero of a scandal when, during an attempt by anti-doping services to obtain a blood test, he smashed extracted samples. The high-profile case initially ended with the athlete's acquittal, thanks to which he was able to compete at the 2019 World Championships and win two personal golds. His victories sparked a wave of protest among his rivals.

Soon, Sun Yang's case began to be investigated again, and then the CAS still disqualified him for eight years. But the swimmer's lawyers secured another revision when it became known that one of the judges had posted racist comments about China on social media. The final point was set only in June 2021. Sun Yang was found guilty of violating anti-doping procedures. His suspension was reduced to four years and three months - he will be able to compete at the Olympics in Paris, but the road is closed to him in Tokyo.