The athlete noted that the prohibited drug entered the body along with the medicine due to negligence – both medical and his personal.
Photo: Masashi Hara / Getty Images for FIVB
Russian volleyball player Alexander Butko believes that illegal drugs entered his body due to his own and medical negligence. The Olympic champion said TASS.
“I pleaded guilty legally, but in conscience I am not guilty. I did not take specially prohibited drugs, this happened before the “Final Six” of the Russian Championship of the 2013/14 season, there was an epidemic of acute respiratory viral infections in Lokomotiv. Then we were also given Preductal, which contains trimetazidine,” Butko said.
According to the athlete, it was understood that all drugs were legal. “I am once morest doping, in volleyball it is an absolutely stupid thing. But, unfortunately, there was negligence – both medical and athlete. You have to watch what you take,” he added.
In September became knownthat Butko’s doping test, passed in 2014, but opened only in 2020, gave a positive result. Sportsman reached an agreement with the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on suspension, pleaded guilty and was suspended for one year (until April 1, 2023).
Butko is 36 years old, throughout his career he played for Dynamo Moscow, Luch, Lokomotiv, Iskra, Zenit Kazan, and spent last season in Kuzbass. Svyazychiy is the champion of the 2012 Games, the European champion (2017) and the winner of the World Cup (2011) as part of the Russian team.