Tajikstan's Olympic hammer champ Nazarov banned for two years

Tajikstan's Dilshod Nazarov, who won Olympic hammer gold in the 2016 Rio Games, was on Thursday banned for two years for doping, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced.

Re-testing of Nazarov's sample from the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea, had shown the presence of a prohibited substance, namely DHCMT, or oral turinabol, a performance-enhancing anabolic steroid.

The AIU declared Nazarov ineligible for two years starting September 24, 2019, and scrubbed his results between August 29, 2011-August 29, 2013.

A three-time Asian champion, Nazarov also won world silver in Beijing in 2015 before claiming his country's first ever Olympic gold medal a year later in Rio.

The 38-year-old, who also competed in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics, finished 10th in the Daegu worlds and fifth two years later in Moscow.