Imago
Source: Instagram/Aaron Brooks
Imago
Source: Instagram/Aaron Brooks
After an independent arbitrator’s ruling in February 2026, it all seemed set for the 2024 Paris Olympic champion to make his return well before the LA 2028 Olympics. That was after the independent arbitrator reduced Aaron Brooks’ doping ban to two years, allowing him to return in 2027. However, an insider now reveals the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) is plotting to overturn that ruling.
Insider Pat Mineo (@MrPatMineo on X) reports that USADA will challenge the arbitration ruling that cut Brooks’ ban from four to two years.
“BREAKING: @usantidoping is challenging the arbitration ruling in Aaron Brooks’ case after a 4-year suspension was reduced to 2,” Mineo wrote on X. “Now back in limbo, the outcome could have major implications for the LA28 Olympic cycle.”
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The 25-year-old breached anti-doping rules in April 2025 after he tested positive for anabolic agent DHEA, a banned substance in the same month. USADA immediately suspended him for 4 years, but an independent arbitrator reduced it to 2 years in February 2026. That was after the arbitrator concluded that the former Penn State star had unintentionally ingested the substance and had proven as such.
The positive test came from an out-of-competition sample, and Aaron Brooks revealed that he tested positive because of some over-the-counter medication he took to treat his pneumonia. The USADA confirmed the same when they released a statement over the reduction to the wrestler’s ban.
💥BREAKING: @usantidoping is challenging the arbitration ruling in Aaron Brooks’ case after a 4-year suspension was reduced to 2. Now back in limbo, the outcome could have major implications for the LA28 Olympic cycle. pic.twitter.com/QfmfHIJCVP
— The Wrestling Room (Pat Mineo) (@MrPatMineo) April 7, 2026
“USADA announced today that an independent arbitrator has rendered a decision in the case of wrestling athlete Aaron Brooks of State College, Pa,” reads the statement.
“After an evidentiary hearing on November 24, 2025, where both parties were provided a full opportunity to present their cases and witnesses to the independent arbitrator, the arbitrator—who also serves as an arbitrator in matters before the Court of Arbitration for Sport—determined that Brooks will receive a two-year sanction after testing positive for an anabolic agent during an out-of-competition drug test on April 21, 2025.”
However, the situation has now changed, as Mineo reported that USADA had already begun challenging the ruling the moment it was issued. That would mean serious consequences for the 25-year-old’s chance to compete at the 2028 Olympics. That’s because at the moment, his two-year ban will end on June 12, 2027, while the Olympics begin on July 14 in Los Angeles.
If the USADA is successful in its challenge, Aaron Brooks will have to serve the full four-year sentence, which means his ban will run through June 12, 2029, and he’ll miss the LA Olympic Games as a result.
As uncertainty continues to surround the case, those closest to Aaron Brooks have begun to speak out. That includes his father, who offered further insight into how the situation unfolded from their perspective.
John Brooks opens up on Aaron Brooks breaching anti-doping rules
Because, as it turns out, the only reason Aaron Brooks tested positive was that he was sick. The now 25-year-old suffered from pneumonia at the time and had just left the hospital when he bought an over-the-counter supplement to help combat it.
John Brooks addressed the situation in the aftermath of the initial suspension ruling, pointing to the circumstances surrounding his son’s health and the decisions that followed.
“He had a respiratory infection,” John Brooks told The Herald Mail via Flo Wrestling. “He thought he had a cold, so he tried to push through it, and he ended up with double pneumonia. He was in the hospital for four days. He couldn’t breathe. Pneumonia, it can be fatal.
“He finally gets out and is looking at his doctor’s report and all the things he’s lacking in. And he went to get supplements to replenish whatever it is that needs to be replenished. One of the things he purchased was right next to the fish oil. It’s just a supplement, a natural, plant-based supplement, so he picked it up and started taking these things.”
Soon after, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a natural body hormone also available synthetically, turned up in Brooks’ test. However, Brooks senior asserted that his son didn’t take the supplement to help him compete, but rather to walk again.
“It wasn’t a matter of being able to compete. It was a matter of feeling better, being able to walk up steps without being out of breath. He didn’t read the label, which was his mistake, to see if it was something that he can’t take,” Brooks senior added.
For now, though, Aaron Brooks finds himself back in uncertainty, with his Olympic hopes once again hanging in the balance. Only time will tell how the USADA’s challenge goes.
Written by
Edited by
Firdows Matheen