Alex Schwazer

Alex Schwazer, OMRI (born 26 December 1984), is an Italian race walker. He was the 2008 Olympic 50k walk champion.

Just before the 2012 Summer Olympics, he was disqualified for two years for doping with EPO. He immediately admitted his guilt and retired. He subsequently decided to resume training with Sandro Donati, a prominent anti-doping advocate who was the one who had flagged him as suspicious to WADA in 2012. Their goal was to prove that it was possible to win even without doping. He qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics but was found positive to micro-doping with testosterone and disqualified for eight years. Schwazer has always claimed his innocence in this case and has appealed the disqualification starting a complex judicial case. His appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport were unsuccessful. However, an Italian criminal court investigating the case acquitted him in 2021 per non aver commesso il reato ("for not committing the offence"), with Italian prosecutors accusing the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the IAAF of tampering and procedural fraud. WADA and IAAF have denied the allegations. Schwazer is currently still fighting the disqualification.

Italian newspaper La Repubblica published an investigation on this affair, suggesting evidence indicating a plot to punish Schwazer and his trainer Donati for their whistleblowing efforts against state-sponsored doping and for exposing corruption in WADA and IAAF.