Olympic hurdles champion McNeal suspended for violating anti-doping rules

American Olympic 100 metres hurdles gold medallist Brianna McNeal has been charged and provisionally suspended for violating World Athletics’ Anti-Doping rules, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Thursday.

The AIU said the 29-year-old McNeal, who won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics and was also world champion in 2013, was charged with “tampering within the results management process”.

McNeal led a U.S. clean sweep of the 100m hurdles at the 2016 Olympics but was banned for a year when she missed three out-of-competition drug tests, which constitutes an anti-doping rule violation.

McNeal’s ban, which was applied for the 2017 season, resulted in her missing the World Championships that year.

She qualified for the 2019 worlds where she was disqualified in the first round after a false start.