The biggest news of this week is certainly that 2020 Olympian Yul Moldauer has been suspended for 16 months due to three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period.
As one of the top gymnasts in the United States, Moldauer is part of the USADA’s Registered Testing Pool. Athletes in this pool are required to declare their location for one hour each day between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m., ensuring they are available for random out-of-competition drug testing without prior notice. Over the course of the year, testing officers attempted to conduct a test three times at the location Moldauer had designated, but he was not there on any of those occasions and missed the tests.
Moldauer missed three drug tests over the course of 2024, on Feb. 9,, May 29 and July 12. In a now-deleted Instagram post, he explained that the first two missed tests occurred while he was competing, though he noted that drug testing stations were available at those events and he passed the in-competition tests. Moldauer missed the first test while he was in France for the Top 12 Series competition in February, while the second coincided with the U.S. Gymnastics National Championships. The international competition might have been an understandable mistake, as he may not have known his competition schedule far in advance and forgot to update his location. However, he knew with near certainty that he would be competing at Nationals and should have updated his whereabouts accordingly. He stated that the third missed test took place after the Olympic trials, during a period when he was coping with the disappointment of not making the Olympic team. He wished to emphasize in this statement that he had never tested positive for any banned substances.
Some fans questioned why in-competition testing wasn’t enough to count as drug testing, but a key aspect of anti-doping efforts is testing athletes during their training. Many performance-enhancing drugs assist with training loads and can be tapered off before competition. This is why, unfortunately, Moldauer’s claim of passing non-USADA drug tests at competitions doesn't impact his case. In fact, his failure to inform USADA about his competition schedule actually complicates the ability to test him. Since they were scheduling out-of-competition tests on the days he was at competitions, it seems likely they didn’t have accurate competition plans for him. USADA must be able to conduct random drug tests outside of competition, which requires taking the competition schedule into account.
After his initial statement, he issued a second statement on Instagram, confirming he would not appeal the suspension. Moldauer wrote, “Those failures are on me. I am responsible for following the rules completely, and I feel short of that.” He continued, “I accepted the suspension without appeal because it was the right thing to do. I was in the wrong.” He ended by saying he intends to continue training for the 2028 Olympic team in Los Angeles and plans to return to competition in 2026.
It’s tough to see Yul Moldauer suspended for such an extended period, especially since I’ve been following him since I was young. I even saw him in person not too long ago at the Gold Over America Tour when it came to Boston. Moldauer is not only an elite athlete, but also known for his strong character, earning the title of USA Gymnastic’s Sportsperson of the Year in the Men’s Artistic division in 2023. However, I believe the suspension is justified given the situation, and I hope other athletes can learn from it and avoid making similar mistakes.
