‘Shattered': Aussie Jaryd Clifford left heartbroken as Paralympic race winner fails drug test

News.com.au

2 days ago

Australian Paralympic runner Jaryd Clifford says he feels like he has been robbed.
The Aussie athlete has hit out on social media after the runner who won the event he competed in at the Paris 2024 Games was stripped of his gold medal, the International Paralympic Committee confirmed on Monday.
Spain's Yassine Ouhdadi El Ataby has been handed a three-year suspension as a result of an out-of-competition urine sample from July 28, 2024, returning a positive result for a banned substance.
Ouhdadi El Ataby, who Clifford partially blames for his disqualification in Paris, tested positive to the banned substance Clostebol – the same drug tennis star Jannik Sinner tested positive for – just over a month before the T13 5000m race he won in Paris.
The International Paralympic Committee said in a statement on Tuesday the Spaniard had been stripped of his medal and the gold and silver medals would retrospectively be awarded to Russian runners Aleksandr Kostin and Anton Kuliatin, with bronze given to Ecuador's Sixto Roman Moreta Criollo.
But the development that his major competitor had been caught doping has left Clifford both upset and angry, with the Aussie runner of the belief that his disqualification was a direct result of Ouhdadi El Ataby.
Clifford – who has a vision impairment called 'best disease' and therefore requires a guide to compete – crossed the line in third.
But he and his guide were disqualified for not both holding the tether (a small piece of rope) as they crossed the finish line.
The Aussie led for a large part of the 5000m race but was overhauled late by Ouhdadi El Ataby and Kostin in the final 200m.
And Clifford believes if it wasn't for the Spaniard being able to compete, he likely not only would have not been disqualified but potentially would have won the race.
'It's hard to find the words, but I'll try,' Clifford wrote in a statement on Tuesday.
'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 passed us on that last lap did everything begin to unravel.
'To think that holding on for silver that day would be a gold today feels like another kick in the guts.
'I'm determined to keep my focus on the future. 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.'