DANISH BADMINTON MIXED DOUBLES Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra Boje have decided to withdraw from the 2024 Paris Olympics due to administrative issues.
Quoted from a statement from Badminton Europe, Thursday (18/7), the decision to withdraw was initially taken unilaterally by Christiansen, who was proven to have made three mistakes when filling out the whereregardings form.
Whereregardings itself is something that is used to find out the whereregardings of athletes for doping testing purposes, especially in the three months leading up to the Olympics.
Athletes who are declared to have qualified for the four-yearly sporting event have this responsibility and will be tested randomly and without notification (random checking) by the relevant team based on the location information they have filled in on whereregardings.
Errors in filling in the data can result in athletes being subject to sanctions.
“I feel disappointed that my carelessness and negligence caused us to lose one of the pinnacle moments of our careers,” Christiansen admitted.
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“I’m even more disappointed because it means Alexandra can’t go to the Olympics either. We’ve been training hard and looking forward to competing in Paris,” he added.
The world’s 11th-ranked mixed doubles pair said the decision to withdraw was also taken so that their teammates might focus more on competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Christiansen/Boje were previously in Group C in the 2024 Paris Olympics draw. The group also includes fourth seeds Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino (Japan), Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet (Hong Kong), and Ye Hong Wei/Lee Chia Hsin (Taiwan).
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The Danish Badminton Federation and the Danish National Committee and Sports Confederation (DIF) admitted to having their own regrets over the situation experienced by their strongest mixed doubles pair.
“This is a very unfortunate situation for Mathias, and at the worst possible time. We recognise the rules in this area and it is highly likely that Mathias will receive a suspension,” said Badminton Denmark’s Head of Sport Jens Meibom.
“But with our knowledge of the entire process and Mathias in general, we are confident that this is simply a case of him accidentally failing to record his whereregardings correctly. There is absolutely nothing to suggest any attempt at cheating or deliberate non-compliance with the rules that apply in this area,” he concluded. (Ant/Z-1)
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