Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was the first Olympian to be banned for drug abuse in the 1968 Olympics after drinking two beers before shooting. Other athletes may have also tested positive for drugs, but they were not on the banned list at the time. Other athletes banned for drug use include Mary Decker Slaney, Kornelia Ender, and Rashid Ramzi.
Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was banned from the 1968 Olympics for drug abuse after he allegedly drank two beers, before firing his gun. The 1968 Olympic Games held in Mexico City were the first time athletes were tested for banned substances. Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was a Swedish athlete who competed in pistol shooting during the 1968 games. He tested positive for large amounts of alcohol and was subsequently disqualified. He not only had to return his bronze metal to the officers, but the rest of his team members as well. Interestingly, some believe that other athletes also tested positive for drugs, such as tranquilizers, during the 1968 games. However, the International Olympic Committee’s list of banned substances did not include all of these substances at the time. Some argue that Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was just an unfortunate jock who got caught. However, he went down in history as the first Olympian to be banned from the games for drug abuse.
Read more about Olympic athletes and banned substances:
Mary Decker Slaney, an Olympic athlete with world running records, was banned in 1997 for using testosterone.
Kornelia Ender, from East Germany, who won an Olympic medal in swimming in the 1970s, confessed to using steroids since she was 13 years old.
Rashid Ramzi from Bahrain, winner of an Olympic gold medal in running, tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug erythropoietin (EPO) in 2008.
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