PARIS, France — A male judoka from Iraq tested positive for two anabolic steroids at the Paris Olympics, the International Testing Agency said Friday.
Sajjad Sehen, a 28-year-old first-time Olympian, tested positive for metandienone and boldenone in a sample taken in Paris on Tuesday. He was due to compete next Tuesday.
Sehen is provisionally suspended while a disciplinary case is prosecuted, said the ITA, which oversees the games-time 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.
Sehen was due to compete in the men’s 81 kilogram class, starting Tuesday in the round of 32 against an opponent from Uzbekistan.
The announcement came just hours before the start of the Opening Ceremony.
The Olympics are getting off to a rough start.
In addition to suspected acts of sabotage targeting France’s flagship high-speed rail network, the French captial had a dreary feel Friday amid cloudy skies and forecast rains hours before its ambitious opening ceremony.
On a day of utmost importance for the country, with dozens of heads of state and government in town for the Olympic opening and a global audience topping 1 billion expected to tune in, authorities were scrambling to deal with widespread rail disruptions caused by what they described as coordinated overnight sabotage of high-speed train lines.
The train delays and drizzly weather underscored potential vulnerabilities of the host city’s bold decisions to break with Olympic traditions and stage an opening ceremony like no other.
