Olympic champion Brianna McNeal will miss the Tokyo Olympics after losing her appeal against a five-year ban for breaking anti-doping rules. 

In 2016, McNeal won the gold medal for the 100-meter hurdles event at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. This year, the 29-year-old will not have an opportunity to defend her title.  

The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced that it would uphold the five-year ban against McNeal for “tampering or attempted tampering with any part of doping control,” the Associated Press reported.  

Last month, McNeal provisionally qualified for the U.S. Olympic team, pending a verdict to appeal her five-year ban. During the Olympic trials in June, she finished in second place in the 100-meter hurdles finals. Gabbi Cunningham, who finished in fourth place, is expected to take McNeal’s spot on the U.S. Olympic team, ESPN reported.  

As of Friday afternoon, the court has not released specifics surrounding McNeal’s case and a detailed verdict has not yet been published.

However, prior to the court’s verdict, McNeal gave some insight into the case during an interview with The New York Times. 

McNeal said that the anti-doping ban derived from her missing an at-home appointment with officials in Jan. 2020. She says she was at home recovering from an abortion that she had two days prior to the appointment and that when officials arrived at her home, she didn't hear anyone.

Although McNeal has not been accused of doping, she was ultimately banned because there were many inaccuracies found in documents that were meant to prove she had an abortion. 

“Right now I feel excommunicated from the sport itself and stigmatized, and to me it is unfair,” McNeal said. “I just don’t believe that this warranted a suspension at all, much less a five-year suspension, for just a technicality, an honest mistake during a very emotional time.”

The champion hurdler has violated the rules before, The Washington Post reported. 

In 2016, the United States Anti-Doping Agency banned the 29-year-old for a year after she missed three random drug tests. The ban cost her a chance to compete at the 2017 world championships. 

Along with being banned from competing in the Tokyo Olympics, McNeal will also be banned from participating in the 2024 Olympics held in Paris.

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