20 Olympic athletes ineligible to compete after failing to meet anti-doping guidelines

Twenty unnamed athletes are ineligible to compete in the Tokyo Olympics after failing to meet anti-doping guidelines, the Athletics Integrity Unit announced Wednesday. The test's results listed Nigeria the most, with 10 competitors unable to represent the country out of the 23 it entered for the Games.

Athletes from "Category A" countries — or those considered to be of "the highest doping risk to the sport" — must undergo at least three urine and blood tests without notice to be conducted no less than three weeks apart within the 10 months leading up to a major event to be eligible to compete at the Olympics, according to National Federation Anti-Doping Obligations. In 2021, the Federation identified seven countries as "Category A" nations, including Belarus, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and Ukraine. The anti-doping tests this year found at least one athlete from each "high risk" country who did not meet the minimum anti-doping testing requirement, except for Bahrain.