Canadian swimmer provisionally suspended after failing to provide whereabout information
July 24, 2025Canadian swimmer Penelope Oleksiak has accepted a voluntary provisionally suspension after failing to provide whereabout information.
Canadian swimmer Penelope Oleksiak has accepted a voluntary provisional suspension after committing three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period, the International Testing Agency (ITA) announced this week.
The failures occurred between October 2024 and June 2025, triggering a potential anti-doping violation under rules requiring elite athletes to provide accurate location information for out-of-competition testing.
Second Canadian Swimmer in Recent Years
Oleksiak is the second Canadian swimmer in recent years to face consequences for whereabouts-related violations. According to the Anti-Doping Database, Ruslan Gaziev received an 18-month sanction from the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) after committing three whereabouts failures during a 12-month period. His suspension began in late 2023 and was ended on May 31, 2025.
Globally, 272 athletes have been sanctioned for missing tests or failing to update their whereabouts information. The most affected sport is track and field with 72 cases, followed by boxing (29), wrestling (23), and swimming (19).
Canada ranks 10th globally in total whereabouts sanctions, tied with Brazil and Australia.
Sanction Trends and Penalties
Whereabouts failures can lead to a range of sanctions. The most common penalty is a two-year suspension, imposed in 100 cases, followed by one year (72 cases) and 18 months (24 cases). A few cases have resulted in public warnings or suspensions as short as three months.
The annual number of such violations has fluctuated, with a sharp rise in recent years — from 5 in 2015 to 42 in 2024. The year 2025 we have already recorded 9 violations.
In swimming, whereabouts failures remain relatively rare. Since 2015, only 19 swimmers worldwide have been sanctioned for such violations, with Russia leading that list with 4 cases.
The resolution of Oleksiak’s case is pending. Until then, she remains ineligible to compete or participate in any official swimming activity.