Daniel do Nascimento was handed a five-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit on Wednesday after an out-of-competition sample from 2024 revealed the presence of three banned substances.
do Nascimento, 26, missed the 2024 Paris Olympic men’s marathon following the positive test that was taken on July 4, 2024 during a training session in Kenya. The test confirmed that the samples contained drostanolone, metenolone and nandrolone which are all on the list of substances on World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned items.
All three substances are from the S1 anabolic steroid class and are anabolic hormones use to build strength, muscle and speed up recovery. They are also metabolites, a product of metabolism, which can be use to trigger greater energy output.
The ban for do Nascimento will extend to July 2029, meaning that he will miss the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 if he were eligible to compete.
do Nascimento was slated to likely be a factor in the Paris Games after qualifying for Brazil’s national team with a 2:07:06 time at the 2023 Hamburg Marathon. He received a provisional suspension because of the positive test in Kenya — weeks before the Paris Olympic.
However, on July 20, days before the start of the Paris Games, do Nascimento’s manager Flavio Schuler told Brazil’s doping control authority — Autoridade Brasileira de Controle de Dopagem — that they needed a 30-day extension to reply to the findings of the test. Schuler noted that do Nascimento was dealing with mental health issues at the time but would reply.
Schuler continued contact with the AIU between August and September, citing similar mental health claims by do Nascimento.
In late November and early December, AIU representatives communicated directly do Nascimento’s wife, a step that appeared to re-initiate dialogue regarding the positive test.
do Nascimento responded six months later, in February 2025, and did not clearly explain why the substances were in his positive test sample. At the time of the positive test in last July, do Nascimento could have accepted a four-year ban as a first time offense but the notice of Wednesday’s ruling has extended his suspension to six years. He was given a one year reduction for ultimately acknowledging the initial 2024 infraction.
Due to this delay and failure to establish that the violation was unintentional, the AIU extended the standard four-year sanction to six years. However, with a one-year reduction granted for eventually accepting the sanction, his final period of ineligibility was set at five years.
At the 2022, New York City Marathon, do Nascimento turned heads as he soared through the early stages of the race at world record pace. But he collapsed at the mile 20 mark and did not finish. His personal best came that same year at the Seoul Marathon in April 2022 at 2:04:51, the South American marathon record.
