Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk was issued a four-year suspension after testing positive for testosterone, the The Athletics Integrity Unit announced on Tuesday.
The AIU said it its report that a urine sample collected on December 7 in Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine contained metabolites of testosterone.
Bekh-Romanchuk’s suspension started on May 13, when she was first given a provisional ban right before she was set to participate at Diamond League’s Qatar meet on May 16. She has typically competed in the long jump and triple jump.
Then, on May 21, she told anti-doping officials denied that she did not take testosterone and on July 9 Bekh-Romanchuk, 30, submitted an explanation from a doctor about an alleged unspecified medical condition and treatment that could have triggered elevated levels of testosterone. She is eligible to appeal the ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
On Tuesday Bekh-Romanchuk posted a lengthy message on social media addressing the ban.
“I can no longer fight on two fronts — my honest name in front of the Athletics Integrity Unit and my future in my personal life,” her translated statement read. “It’s incredibly exhausting, firstly emotionally and has an impact on my health. Sometimes it’s important to take a break and get your priorities right. That’s why I decided to take a break to focus on my family and my own health. Soon the decision of the Athletics Integrity Unit will be published, with which I strongly disagree. I refused to sign any documents that required recognition of my guilt, because I am an honest person and my humanity and dignity are important to me. It pains me that my case has been handled carelessly and not conducted the necessary investigation. I understand that this raises a lot of questions – so soon I will be giving a big interview in which I will tell everything frankly.”
Bekh-Romanchuk won silver in the long jump at the 2019 world championships in Doha and silver in the triple jump at the world championships in Budapest. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics she took fifth in the long jump but only finished in 11th place in the same event at the Paris Games last year. She also won the European triple jump title in 2022.
The ban from the AIU will extend until May 2029, which is beyond the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles along with two world championships in Tokyo in September and Beijing, China in 2027.
