Alex Schwazer, OMRI (born 26 December 1984), is an Italian race walker. He was the 2008 Olympic 50k walk champion.
Quick Facts Personal information, Nationality ...
Alex Schwazer
Schwazer in 2008 |
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Nationality | Italian |
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Born | (1984-12-26) 26 December 1984 (age 39) Sterzing, Italy |
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Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
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Weight | 73 kg (161 lb) |
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Country | Italy |
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Sport | Athletics |
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Event | Racewalking |
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Club | C.S. Carabinieri |
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Personal bests |
- 20 km walk: 1:18:24 (2010)
- 50 km walk; 3:36:04 (2007)
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Just before the 2012 Summer Olympics he was disqualified for two years for doping with EPO. He immediately admitted his guilt and retired. He subsequently decided to resume training with Sandro Donati, a prominent antidoping advocate that was the one who had flagged him as suspicious to WADA in 2012. Their goal was to prove that it was possible to win even without doping.[1] He qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics but was found positive to micro-doping with testosterone and disqualified for eight years. Schwazer has always claimed his innocence in this case and has appealed the disqualification starting a complex judicial case. His appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport were unsuccessful. However, an Italian criminal court investigating on the case has acquitted him in 2021 per non aver commesso il reato ("for not committing the offence"), with Italian prosecutors accusing the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the IAAF of tampering and procedural fraud. WADA and IAAF have denied the allegations. Schwazer is currently still fighting the disqualification.[2]
Italian newspaper La Repubblica published an investigation on this affair, suggesting evidence indicated a plot to punish Schwazer and his trainer Donati for their whistleblowing efforts against state sponsored doping and for exposing corruption in WADA and IAAF.[3][4][5]
Schwazer was excluded from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London after an "adverse result" from a doping test.[11] Schwazer said "My career is finished... I wanted to be stronger for this Olympics, I made a mistake". He announced his decision to quit athletics and described the result as the "biggest blow of my life".[11] He was subsequently given a three-and-a-half year competition ban by the Italian National Olympic Committee in April 2013. Schwazer's girlfriend at the time of the offence, figure skater Carolina Kostner, later admitted to prosecutors in Bolzano that she had lied to inspectors from the World Anti-Doping Agency shortly before the 2012 Games when they visited her home looking for Schwazer, claiming that he was not there so he could avoid being tested. She also told the prosecutors that Schwazer slept in an altitude chamber, which is not banned by WADA but is illegal in Italy.[12]
In May 2016, a negative doping control sample from January was flagged as anomalous by the Athlete Biological Passport and upon further inspection was found positive to a micro dose of testosterone.[5] Schwazer was informed about the positive in June, a few weeks before the Olympic Games. He appealed the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. On 11 August 2016 the court dismissed his appeal and imposed an 8-year period of ineligibility on him, until 7 July 2024.[13]
On 12 June 2019 FIDAL cancelled all results achieved by the athlete starting 18 March 2012, thus also cancelling his Italian record of 1:17:30 made in Lugano on 18 March 2012.[14]
Italian newspaper La Repubblica, however, produced a documentary with evidence, including police phone tapping, which cast serious doubt on the treatment of Schwazer and strongly suggests that the 2016 doping control sample was tampered with.[3] The documentary suggests that the real target was Schwazer's trainer since 2015, Sandro Donati, former trainer of the Italian sprint team, whistle-blower and a long term critic both of doping and corruption in sport, who had uncovered Italian state sponsored cheating in the 1980s.[15] In 2020 La Repubblica published a longform article on this affair, outlining the dubious aspects of this doping offence that could be a plot.[4]
In 2016 an Italian criminal investigation against Schwazer was also opened in the court of Bolzano.[16] On 17 March 2020 the doping ban was confirmed by the federal tribunal of Lausanne after a rejected appeal by Schwazer.[17] On 18 February 2021, the Italian criminal case against Schwazer was closed.[18] Schwazer was acquitted of all charges per non aver commeso il reato ("for not committing the offence") and the court accused WADA and the IAAF of samples tampering.[18][2] However, his eight-year ban remains in place, because the WADA[19] rejected all accusations and the Lausanne federal court[20] finally refused to suspend the ongoing disqualification.
Schwazer hence wasn't eligible to take part in Tokyo 2020 Olympic (postponed in 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic).