Just six months after winning his ticket to the next Olympic Games, Paris 2024, Mexican cyclist Gerardo Ulloa has to see that dream lost, as well as the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, which begin this Friday.
A lack of attention to anti-doping protocols caused an 18-month ban out of competition for Ulloa, who has been the strongest card for Mexico in mountain biking in recent years and who debuted on the highest Olympic stage in the last edition, held in Tokyo in summer 2021.
“On October 17, I accepted and signed a suspension letter from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for not complying with the statuses indicated by the biological passport, a system that WADA established in 2008 in cycling. to identify a series of properties and variables in the blood of athletes during different surprise checkups, for which your responsibility as an athlete is to inform your place of residence at all times and a daily time slot in which they can appear for a blood check. doping by surprise,” Ulloa mentioned in a statement.
The mistake of the cyclist from León, Guanajuato, is that he did not share that information with WADA in a timely manner, so when they came to perform a surprise test, it was not available.
“Unfortunately, due to carelessness I did not inform the authorities of my change of location and at the time of the surprise control I was not at my residence. “My mistake was not updating my location as indicated by the regulations.”
The absence of Ulloa Arévalo became evident in previous months in the Snowshoe and Mont Sainte-Anne World Cups, but will continue until the summer of next year, when the Olympic Games are held in the French capital, which would have been the second of his career before turning 28.
By not updating his residence information and not being present at the correct location for the surprise control, Ulloa was awarded a provisional suspension imposed by WADA for 18 months, starting on July 26 of this year: “This leaves me outside the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and any other competition endorsed by the International Cycling Union (UCI).”
Since December 2021, the man from Guanajuato has been part of the MASSI UCI Team, which is based in Spain. Although his initial contract was for one year, he achieved a renewal to keep competing at the highest demands of cycling.
Ulloa Arévalo indicated in his statement that together with the MASSI UCI Team and his representation agency they consulted with sports lawyers to try to appeal the 18-month sanction or, failing that, reduce it, but they did not find success within the legal frameworks.
He also revealed in that text that he has never tested positive for prohibited substances inside his body during the anti-doping tests to which he has been subjected, insisting that the current sanction was derived solely from his mistake for not sharing his new location in time. the Old Continent.
“I have always been governed by clean sport and against doping. I abide by my responsibility and take the sanction assigned to me in the best way possible. I will continue training to come back stronger,” said Gerardo Ulloa at the close of his statement.
It was at the end of April when Ulloa won the Olympic ticket for Paris 2024, during the Pan American Championships held in Congonhas, Brazil. There, he won first place in the Cross Country and Short Track events. The man from Guanajuato will be active again for the UCI starting January 25, 2025.
Source: https://www.eleconomista.com.mx