Cyclist sanctioned for doping apologizes for positive test

Mountain biker Ariana Evangelista has apologized to the public on social media after she was sanctioned for failing a doping test at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

In a Facebook statement from the cyclist, who participated in the women's cross-country Olympic mountain bike event in the Asian Games, she said she received a notice from the International Testing Agency (ITA) on Tuesday, October 3, and has replied to them the following day.

Evangelista is waiting for the result of her B-sample.

"In the meantime, I deeply apologize to everyone for this issue and please know that it was not and will never be my intention to bring shame to our country. I have been tested a lot of times already in the 10 years that I've been racing in UCI [Union Cycliste Internationale] events and it is only now that this has happened," she wrote.

"There were many factors that could have led to the initial failing of the test and I have emailed those factors to the ITA already."

Evangelista revealed that she was also tested at the Southeast Asian Games held in Cambodia where she won the silver medal and in the Coupe du Japon Yawatahama International MTB Race in Japan where she won the bronze medal.

"Both happened in May 2023 and with presumably negative results, as I did not receive any notice like what happened for the China Asian Games," the cyclist wrote.

As it was taking its toll on her mental health, the cyclist had to remove her Facebook app on Thursday morning and had removed it again after making her statement.

"I just want to protect my mental and emotional health from reading comments from people who do not know the whole story yet," she wrote.

On the ITA's website, it was revealed that Evangelista tested positive for eryhthropoietin (EPO), which is a banned substance. The date of the doping violation was on September 24.

As of Friday, six athletes from the Asian Games, including Evangelista, were provisionally suspended from competition. She is the first Filipino to have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in the ongoing Asian Games.