Aigle, Switzerland – Four-time Olympic cyclist Christos Volikakis has tested positive for doping after a sample from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games was retested, the International Cycling Union announced on Friday.
Volikakis won medals for Greece in track cycling at the World and European Championships, but not at the Olympics, where he was selected for each event from Beijing 2008 to Tokyo 2021.
The UCI announced that a sample taken from Vorikakis on August 16, 2016, tested positive for an anabolic substance known as Ligandrol. In Rio, he finished 12th in the keirin.
According to the UCI, Vorikakis has been provisionally suspended. He could later be disqualified from the Olympics and suspended due to a disciplinary lawsuit brought by cycling's governing body.
Samples from each Olympics are stored for up to 10 years and reanalyzed periodically as part of a program mandated by the International Olympic Committee to understand which athletes are still active for future games.
“The reanalysis program will make it possible to carry out further tests on the basis of up-to-date information, especially if detection methods evolve thanks to research or as a result of advances in science and technology,” the UCI said. .
Volikakis, now 35, was one of the first to test positive again in Rio.
Christos Volikakis of Greece celebrates after winning the bronze medal in the men's track cycling sprint event at the European Track Cycling Championships in Panevezys, Lithuania on October 20, 2012. Four-time Olympic cyclist Christos Volikakis has tested positive for doping after a sample from the competition was retested. The International Cycling Union announced on Friday, March 15, 2024, the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Credit: AP/Mindaugas Kulbis
