The New Zealand Olympic Committee and Rowing New Zealand have today confirmed that the New Zealand men’s quadruple sculls has been allocated a quota spot for the Olympic Games after a member of the Russian men’s crew that finished ahead of them at the final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne in May returned a positive drug test.
The Russian crew has been subsequently disqualified.
The Russian crew finished in first place ahead of the New Zealand crew that finished just out of Olympic qualification in third.
Rowing New Zealand and the New Zealand Olympic Committee were notified of the positive test results this morning by FISA.
FISA has confirmed that Sergej Fedorovtsev provided both A sample and B samples that have tested positive for Trimetazidine.
With the reallocation of the quota spot the New Zealand Olympic Committee is delighted to name the following athletes to the men’s quadruple sculls crew to compete at Rio 2016. They are John Storey, George Bridgewater, Nathan Flannery, Jade Uru and coach Mike Rodger.
Kereyn Smith, CEO of the New Zealand Olympic Committee congratulates the athletes and says integrity in sport is paramount. “Our athletes are proud to compete clean and we are delighted to confirm them as members of the New Zealand Olympic Team today. We commend FISA for taking ongoing steps to remove drug cheats from competition.”
Simon Peterson, CEO of Rowing New Zealand, says the New Zealand rowing crews that just missed out of Olympic qualification have remained focused and prepared.
“We have appreciated the emotional ups and downs as the athletes first missed qualification only to be asked to remain in competition mode. We are hugely disappointed that our athletes found themselves competing against cheats however very pleased that today they have achieved their goal of winning a spot at the Olympic Games in Rio.”
The crew had been continuing to train as Rowing New Zealand had not ruled out the possibility of a positive drug test affecting results from the May regatta and the subsequent reallocation of quota spots.
The crew will remain training in New Zealand until 24 of July when they will depart to join their other team mates in Rio de Janeiro ahead of day one of rowing competition at the Olympic Games on 6 August.