Sarno slapped with two-year suspension

Olympian Vanessa Sarno’s promising career is in serious trouble after the International Testing Agency (ITA) slapped her with a two-year suspension due to her failure to submit herself to doping testing.

In a report posted on its website on 23 August, the Lausanne-based anti-doping body stressed that Sarno failed to show up for drug testing on three different occasions, a serious offense that merits a two-year ineligibility from major sports competition.

The 21-year-old Sarno is part of the golden generation of lifters that is being groomed to inherit Hidilyn Diaz’s throne in the Summer Olympics.

She won a gold medal in the women’s 71-kilogram event of the Asian Championship in Uzbekistan in 2020 and a silver medal three years later in South Korea. Sarno also has a pair of gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games after ruling the Hanoi and Phnom Penh editions, making her one of the most promising Filipino weightlifters.

But in the Paris Olympics last year, Sarno had a major flop as she submitted a DNF (Did Not Finish) tag after failing to come up with a successful lift in all three tries in snatch. Her forgettable performance severed her ties with the Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas (SWP) with president Monico Puentevella saying that “we haven’t heard anything from her since Paris.”

Now, Sarno suffered another major blow as she will be formally barred from seeing action in major international events, including the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand this December and the 20th Asian Games in Japan in September next year.

“The ITA reports that weightlifter Vanessa Sarno has agreed to the consequences for her ADRV under Article 2.4 of the IWF Anti-Doping Rules (IWF ADR),” reported the ITA, the same body that handed a three months suspension on Justin Brownlee after finding traces of banned substance in his system following Gilas Pilipinas golden quest in the 19th Asian Games in China in 2023.

“Vanessa Sarno committed three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period. The athlete did not challenge the ADRV (Anti-Doping Rule Violation) and agreed with the consequences proposed by the ITA. Accordingly, the case was resolved via an acceptance of consequences.”

The ITA also stated Sarno must forfeit any accolades she won from 1 January up until the start of her ineligibility last 4 August.

“The athlete’s period of ineligibility is from 4 August 2025 until 3 August 2027,” the ITA stressed.

“Additionally, all the athlete’s individual competitive results from the date of commission of the ADRV (1 January 2025) until the start of the period of ineligibility are disqualified including forfeiture of medals, points and prizes.”

DAILY TRIBUNE tried but Sarno didn’t issue any statement.

The SWP was no longer surprised to learn about Sarno’s suspension.

Puentevella said they lost contact with the Bohol-born lifter after the Summer Games, prompting them to move forward and prepare for the SEA Games without her.

“She’s not picking up the phone whenever we call them. So, I’m not surprised if she also refused to talk to (doping) testers,” Puentevella said, stressing that they will be moving on from Sarno’s suspension.

“But it’s okay. We still have a lot of young athletes in the pipeline. Our program and preparation for the SEA Games will not be affected by just one lifter.”