World indoor high jump champion Dimitris Chondrokoukis of Greece failed a doping test and has withdrawn from competition ahead of the Olympics. In a letter attributed to Chondrokoukis’ father, Kyriakos Chondrokoukis denied his son had taken the banned steroid stanozolol and asked for the B sample to be tested in a separate accredited lab. “The paradox of the use of such an easily detectable banned substance by a recent world champion who is under the microscope of doping control authorities, and on the eve of the Olympic Games, is blatantly obvious,” Kyriakos Chondrokoukis wrote in the letter. “Against this paradox I will fight, we will fight, to answer and determine what exactly happened.” Chondrokoukis was expected to be a contender for the gold medal after winning the indoor title this March. He joins over 100 other Olympic hopefuls to test positive ahead of London.
Via