.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1 "Robert Helenius given two-year ban for failed drug test")
UK Anti-Doping and SAN, the professional boxing federation in Finland, has suspended the heavyweight Robert Helenius (32-5) for two years after he tested positive for the banned substance clomiphene.
It was at the weigh-in on Aug. 11, 2023, in a test conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, that Helenius tested positive. The following day he was knocked out in seven rounds by Anthony Joshua at the O2 Arena in London in a fight he had accepted with a week’s notice as a replacement for Dillian Whyte, who had by then already been ruled out by a positive drugs test.
Helenius, 40, insisted he didn’t knowingly cheat. He is recuperating after neck surgery and is undecided about the future. He is suspended until Sept. 17, 2025; the start of his suspension was backdated to Sept. 18, 2023.
“Mr Helenius was tested by UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) after his bout against Anthony Joshua at the London O2 Arena on 12 August 2023. Analysis of his Sample revealed the Presence of clomifene. Clomifene is a Specified Substance that is prohibited at all-times.
“UKAD notified and charged Mr Helenius with ADRVs for the Presence and Use of a Prohibited Substance and provisionally suspended him. On being notified of the ADRVs, Mr Helenius stated that the clomifene detected in his urine Sample must have originated from his consumption of eggs and chicken meat. However, following a request by UKAD, Mr Helenius was unable to provide any evidence that the eggs and chicken meat he had consumed in advance of the bout originated from hens that had been administered clomifene. Mr Helenius was therefore unable to identify the source of clomifene in his Sample and therefore unable to reduce the applicable period of Ineligibility of two years.
“Mr Helenius is entitled to credit for the time he spent provisionally suspended, so his ban is deemed to have commenced on 18 September 2023 and will end at midnight on 17 September 2025.”
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