‘HEARTBREAK’

Olympic Gold Medal Hurdler Blasts Sport’s Governing Body for 5-Year Ban: ‘I Will Never Recover’

McNeal missed a drug test after having an abortion, and the sport’s governing body charged her with tampering.

After the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a five-year ban against American hurdler Brianna McNeal on Friday, the Olympic gold medalist fired back in a statement: “Instead of being met with some sort of compassion and understanding, I was being interrogated and stigmatized.” McNeal said the “white European men” of the court “would never in a million years be in my shoes.” McNeal missed a January 2020 doping test at her home, declining to let inspectors in because she had had an abortion the day before. She then changed the date of the procedure on her official forms because she thought her doctor had mixed up the dates. The sports governing body charged her with tampering. She asked, “Should my career be pretty much over because I had the date of my abortion wrong by 24 hours? … If I were a white woman or a European, would I have been met with some consideration?” She added, “I am a clean athlete. Never have I ever taken any banned substance, but I am being treated like one of the worst dopers out there… I will never recover from this heartbreak.”