Doping scandals have been plaguing the road to the Rio 2016 Olympics, indicting some of the most reputable names in the sports world.
The doping spotlight hasn't missed Morocco, where several athletes who had their eyes on Rio 2016 were found guilty of using illegal performance-enhancing substances. They have thus been banned from participating in the event they have long been dreaming of.
Three of the eight males on Morocco’s 2016 Olympic boxing team, which dominated the 2016 African Qualifiers, are facing doping accusations. While Mohamed Arjaoui awaits the International Boxing Association’s final decision concerning his use of a prohibited substance for medical purposes, Hamzah Barbari and Said Harnouf tested positive for illegal athletic drugs.
Additionally, taekwondo competitor Hakima El-Meslahy, who had qualified for the Under-57 kg event in Rio, was accused of doping. She has demanded that her samples be tested again, so her Olympic future will be determined based on the results of the retest.
According to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the vice president of the Moroccan boxing federation Mohamed Lahjawej believes that the recent events harm Arjaoui’s case, making it less likely for the IBA to take lenient measures towards him.
Lahjawej states that the Moroccan Olympic Committee has performed drug tests on all its Olympic athletes through the national anti-doping agency, which sent the samples to a foreign lab. In case of positive samples, the lab is obliged to inform the athlete involved, the MOC, the specific international federation and the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Morocco has been one of the most athletically successful nations in the Arab world. It has produced some of the most accomplished Arab athletes and won the second greatest number of Olympic medals in the Arab World, after Egypt. Nevertheless, it has a less than stellar doping record.
Morocco was one of the five countries warned by the IAAF concerning its drug testing programs earlier this year, risking an international ban.
Since 2003, more than 30 Moroccan athletes have been suspended by the International Association of Athletics Federations after failing drug tests. The majority of the suspensions have occurred during the last four years.
Moroccan weightlifter Wafa Ammouri was banned from the 2004 Athens Olympics for doping. Similarly, runners Amine Laalou and Mariem Alaoui Selsouli, potential medalists, were banned from the 2012 London Olympics.
In light of the 2012 scandal, Moroccan authorities reopened a doping investigation that was initially launched in 2007 in the country’s track and field federation. The investigation, which is looking into athletes, pharmacies and clinics, yielded the arrest of six individuals last month.