Jaryd Clifford ‘shattered' as rival Yassine Ouhdadi banned for doping and stripped of Paris 2024 gold medal

7NEWS

2 days ago

'Shattered' Australian Paralympic runner Jaryd Clifford has spoken out after his top rival was banned for doping and stripped of his Paris 2024 gold medal.
It was revealed last month that Spain's Yassine Ouhdadi had tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid Clostebol from a sample collected one month before last year's Paralympics.
Only now has the International Paralympic Committee handed down its ruling, blaming the 'substantial delay' on 'an administrative error by a third party'.
Ouhdadi will forfeit his 5000m T13 gold medal because the tainted sample was provided before the Paralympics.
But Clifford, overtaken by Ouhdadi on the last lap, will not benefit having been disqualified from his bronze medal position after the race.
He was scratched from the results because he released the tether linking him to guide Matt Clarke as they crossed the finish line, and later told he had no grounds to launch an appeal.
'I had a brain fade with a metre to go, dropping the tether that was probably the laziest moment of my career,' Clifford said at the time.
'I just wanted to run through that line, I wished the dive had been earlier but that's sport, man ... it's so tough, four years to go back to the drawing board.'
Learning that Ouhdadi should never have been running in Paris has now devastated Clifford, who was also beaten to gold by the Spaniard at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021 and the world championships in 2023.
'It's hard to find the words for this, but I'll try,' Clifford wrote on Tuesday.
Clifford still accepts that he was ultimately responsible for his disqualification after dropping the tether.
But Ouhdadi's presence in the race has been a tough pill to swallow in the wake of the positive doping test.
'Due to my disqualification I cannot be elevated to a new position,' the Australian said.
'I'm pretty shattered. My races against Yassine have changed my life. It's taken a lot of strength to move forward from these moments in my career, particularly that race in Paris last year.
'Without Yassine in that 5000m, it's hard not to think about how different that last lap might have played out. Everything leading into that race was about beating him and only when he went past us on that last lap did everything begin to unravel.
'To think that holding on for a silver that day would be a gold today feels like another kick in the guts.'
After being passed by Ouhdadi, Clifford was also overhauled by Aleksandr Kostin — and the Russian neutral athlete has now been promoted to gold.
Anton Kuliatin, another Russian neutral athlete, was promoted to bronze by Clifford's disqualification and has moved up again to silver.
Three days after the controversial 5000m final, Clifford suffered more heartache in the 1500m T13 when he fell 0.01 seconds short of bronze.
Kostin won that final, with Kuliatin edging out Clifford for bronze, while Ouhdadi's fifth-place finish will be wiped as a result of his doping ban.
The Australian will now hope to enjoy a winning moment at the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympics — potentially over Ouhdadi, whose ban expires in September 2027.
'I'm determined to keep my focus on the future,' Clifford wrote.
'I had always reflected on those moments with sadness and frustration, but I learnt a lot from falling short too.
'No matter how much you revise the official results you can never change how a race made you feel.
'When I dream of winning a gold medal, I don't dream about the dot-point on the resume. I dream about the moment crossing the line knowing that all the hard work finally paid off.
'I can't control the past, but I can control the chance I give myself to fight for those moments in the future.
'I was able to pick myself up off the track in Paris last year because I knew I had an army there to dust me off and get me back on my feet.
'I feel so much love from so many places, but particularly the communities that have been there every step of the way. It means the world to have you all in my corner.
'I love nothing more than pulling on that green and gold singlet and giving it everything I've got. That will never change. Bring on the next four years!'
Clifford broke his own 1500m T12 world record with a 3:40.39 run on Sunday, taking just shy of a second off his previous mark from 2021.
He said it is 'such a relief' to have bounced back from injuries and setbacks in recent years.
'I haven't run a PB in the 1500m in over four years so hearing that time was very special,' Clifford said.
He will now turn his attentions to the 2025 world championships in September, with Ouhdadi out of the picture.