Years of sweat and sacrifice, all down the drain! While Italy is set to host the world for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, an embarrassing piece of news just came in for the host country. An athlete, who could have won them a medal on home soil, has faced a crushing suspension days before the opening ceremony.

Reports have come in suggesting that 24-year-old biathlete Rebecca Passler failed a doping test. She tested positive for two banned substances from an out-of-competition sample. The results of the sample revealed that letrozole and methanol were present in her body.

Following her test results, Italy’s National Olympic Committee (CONI) was quick to respond with a bold decision.

Barring her from competing at the Winter Olympics, CONI ordered, “Having received notification from the International testing Agency that athlete Rebecca Passler had tested positive, CONI has ordered her immediate exclusion from the team competing in the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games. The Italian National Olympic Committee reserves the right to evaluate, where possible, a possible replacement.”

Her dream to compete for her nation at home is over. However, there are more severe consequences to come. Beyond the Winter Olympics, Passler faces the prospect of a competition ban of up to four years and is provisionally suspended for now.

Letrozole, one of the drugs detected in the test, is a hormone therapy drug used to treat breast cancer and is a prohibited substance because it can be used to mask the use of anabolic steroids and alter hormone levels to potentially boost endurance. Indeed, it reduces estrogen levels to values below the detection limit. Methanol is another toxic chemical not meant for human consumption.

Therefore this remains a huge blow for the host country. After all, Passler was 33rd in the overall World Cup rankings and her best result was placing 11th in the women’s 4x6km relay at the 2024 IBU World Championships.

The biathlete, whose uncle, Johann, is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist in biathlon, now sees her entire career in jeopardy. But while Passler’s is the first positive test since athletes started to arrive, history suggests it may not be the last.

Athletes who lost their shot at Winter Olympics’ glory due to positive doping tests

The Winter Olympics have been held throughout decades, and there have been multiple disqualifications over the years due to doping. The first official positive test came in 1972 when West German hockey player Alois Schloder was flagged for ephedrine.

In 1974, Soviet cross-country skier Galina Kulakova was stripped of a bronze medal after using a prohibited nasal spray. Even Czech hockey captain František Popisil’s bronze medal was taken away following the discovery of codeine, which he took as part of a flu medicine.

The 2002 Salt Lake City Games became an infamous low point due to the widespread use of the blood-booster EPO in cross-country skiing. High-profile athletes like Spain’s Johann Mühlegg and Russia’s Larisa Lazutina and Olga Danilova were among those disqualified and stripped of their medals.

Most recently, the 2022 Beijing Games saw positive tests from multiple athletes. These included Spanish figure skater Laura Barquero for the steroid clostebol and Russian skater Kamila Valieva for the heart medication trimetazidine.

Such incidents are proof that while there are doping challenges evolving every Winter Olympics, the rules to keep such athletes out of the competitions are also in effect with stricter consequences.