6 December 2024, Lausanne – The Aquatics Integrity Unit acknowledges the decision of the International Testing Agency (ITA) to assert an Anti-Doping Rule Violation against the swimmer Ahmed Ayoub Hafnaoui, pursuant to Article 2.4 of the World Aquatics Doping Control Rules, namely the occurrence of three (or more) Whereabouts Failures within a twelve-month period.* Pending the resolution of this matter, Mr. Hafnaoui has voluntarily accepted a provisional suspension. Given that the case is underway, there will be no further comments during the ongoing proceedings.
*Athletes included in a Registered Testing Pool (“RTP”), such as Ahmed Ayoub Hafnaoui, have the obligations to provide daily whereabouts as well as a specific daily 60-minute time slot where they will be available for testing. The purpose is to allow Anti-Doping Organisations to locate athletes for unannounced Out-of-Competition Testing. Any combination of three (or more) Missed Tests (which relate to the Athletes’ unavailability with respect to their 60-minute time slot) and/or Filing Failures (which are caused by the Athletes’ failure to provide accurate Whereabouts) committed within a twelve-month period amount to a potential Anti-Doping Rule Violation (“ADRV”) as per Article 2.4 of the World Aquatics Doping Control Rules and World Anti-Doping Code. The potential consequences for such ADRV, if confirmed, is a period of Ineligibility between one and two years and disqualification of results obtained since the date of the ADRV, namely the date of the occurrence of third Whereabouts Failure (Article 10.3.2 World Aquatics Doping Control Rules).