Russia’s Bilyal Makhov who was upgraded to London 2012 gold has been banned for 4-years

Bilyal Makhov has been slapped with a four-year ban for doping. Bilyal Makhov has been backdated to the date of his failed test in January 2020, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency said Russia’s Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) spokesperson said Bilyal Makhov had failed to explain how a banned substance entered his body.

The spokesperson was quoted by Russian news agency TASS as saying:

“The athlete stated initially that the banned substance entered his body after taking medical preparations, which were prescribed by his doctor during his medical treatment abroad. However, the athlete failed to provide medical documentation confirming such prescriptions and did not give the names of the medications at the issue.”

"This is why the Disciplinary Anti-Doping Commission concluded that the athlete had failed to provide explanations on how the banned substance ended up in his body," RUSADA’s spokesperson added.

Bilyal Makhov’s representative Tigran Avanyan has said that the Russian wrestler was disqualified as he did not use his right to the Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) permit. He added that the 34-year-old was unlikely to appeal his four-year ban.

The ban could possibly mark the end of the decorated wrestler’s career as he will be 37 by the time his ban is uplifted.

Why was Bilyal Makhov upgraded to Olympic gold?

The Russian wrestler was jointly upgraded to the gold medal in the 120kg weight category at the 2012 London Olympic Games

Bilyal Makhov, a three-time world champion (2007, 2009 and 2010), initially bagged a bronze at the London Olympics after losing to Georgia’s Davit Modzmanashvili.

However, both Modzmanashvili and his opponent in the final, Artur Taymzov, were both caught doping in the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) retesting of samples given at the 2012 Olympic Games.

They upgraded both Bilyal Makhov and Iran’s Komeil Ghasemi to the gold medal in the weight class after the positive tests were confirmed.