Canadian Olympic swimming champion Penny Oleksiak suspended for two years over anti-doping whereabouts failures

Penny Oleksiak, Canada's most decorated female Olympian, has accepted a two-year suspension from competition due to anti-doping whereabouts rule violations.

The suspension, which runs retroactively from July 15, 2025, to July 14, 2027, stems from three failures to accurately report her whereabouts within a 12-month period from October 2024 to June 2025.

Despite the ban, Oleksiak has maintained that she never used any banned substances, emphasizing she is and always has been a clean athlete.


Whereabouts failures occur when athletes fail to provide timely, accurate, and complete information about their daily locations and a specific 60-minute window each day when they are available for drug testing, as mandated by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and enforced by World Aquatics.

Oleksiak's repeated missed filings or missed tests compromised the ability to conduct reliable drug tests. According to the World Anti-Doping Code, three such failures within a 12-month period can lead to a two-year ban, which Oleksiak has accepted voluntarily.

The ban disqualifies Oleksiak from all competitions until mid-2027, including the forfeiture of medals, points, and prizes accrued during that period.

Despite this setback, she remains eligible to compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics once her suspension concludes.

"We are committed to the enforcement and support of all anti-doping rules as outlined in the Canadian Anti-Doping Program and through World Aquatics and the World Anti-Doping Agency," said Swimming Canada chief executive officer Suzanne Paulins. "While we accept Penny's explanation these were inadvertent errors and she has not used banned substances, anti-doping regulations are in place to ensure a level playing field for all athletes.

"We will miss Penny on the national team and hope to see her back in the pool when she is eligible.”

Oleksiak, 25, has an impressive career record with seven Olympic medals and nine World Championship medals, marking her as a key figure in Canadian swimming. She withdrew from the World Aquatics Championships in July 2025 amid the investigation and accepted a provisional suspension at that time.

This suspension highlights the critical role of the whereabouts system in upholding doping controls, demonstrating that violations can lead to substantial sanctions even without a positive test for banned substances.