Ricky Garard Stripped Of Games Finish & Banned Until 2021

2017 CrossFit Games podium finisher Ricky Garard has tested positive for banned substances and has been banned.

Oct 4, 2017 by Chase Long

Ricky Garard Stripped Of Games Finish & Banned Until 2021

2017 Reebok CrossFit Games third-place finisher Ricky Garard has been disqualified and stripped of his podium finish after testing positive for banned performance-enhancing substances in a sample taken after this year's final event.

The 23-year-old Australian will lose the $76,000 he won for his third-place overall finish and his first-place finishes in the Madison Triplet and Cyclocross events. CrossFit HQ has also banned him from participating in any CrossFit-sanctioned events through the 2021 season, and they have rescinded their invitation to compete in the 2017 Reebok CrossFit Invitational.

CrossFit Games general manager Justin Bergh released the following statement:

"The CrossFit Games have never had a top individual athlete test positive for PEDs until this case. Historically, the most frequent causes for a failed test have been masters athletes failing to read and accept our policy for hormone replacement in competition, and individual and team athletes using supplements containing banned substances not found on labels. Garard's case does not appear to be accidental, and we take this result very seriously."

Garard's case does not appear to be accidental, and we take this result very seriously.

Garard tested positive for testolone, and a beta-2 agonist known as endurobol. Both substances that are specifically named as banned classes of drugs in the CrossFit Games rule book.

With Garard's disqualification, Patrick Vellner moves up to officially take third-place at the 2017 Games.

Two other athletes were also disqualified following the results from the sample taken after this year's final event. Tony Turski, a 56-year-old masters athlete from Southern California who took second in the Masters Men 55-59 Division, tested positive for Anastrozole. Fifty-two-year-old Josée Sarda of Canada East, who won the Masters Women 50-54 Division, tested positive for selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs), ostarine, and testolone.

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