Many Tajikistanis does not believe that Tajikistan's first-ever Olympic champion, hammer thrower Dilshod Nazarov, has used performance-enhancing drugs (doping).

“Such a hero as Dilshod Nazarov does not need performance-enhancing drugs (doping); accusations against him are intrigues of enemies of the athlete and our country,” they say.  

Recall, Dilshod Nazarov was supposed to participate in the world championships that are currently taking place Qatar.  But he was suspended over a failed doping test.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which oversees integrity issues in international athletics, including doping, said on September 24 that Nazarov’s sample from the 2011 world athletics championships in Daegu, South Korea, contained a metabolite of oral turinabol.

The AIU noted that Nazarov and other doping suspects are “suspended temporarily...prior to a final decision at a hearing conducted under the IAAF [International Association of Athletic Federations] Anti-Doping Rules or the Integrity Code of Conduct.   

Dilshod Nazarov (born May 6, 1982) is a Tajikistani track and field athlete who specializes in the hammer throw.  He has represented his country at the Olympic Games on four occasions (in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016), winning the gold medal in Rio de Janeiro, the first gold medal for Tajikistan in the history of the Olympic Games.

He has competed seven times at the World Championships in Athletics (2005 to 2017), but has been most successful at regional competitions: he won medals at four consecutive Asian Athletics Championships and was the hammer champion at the Asian Games in 2006, 2010 and 2014.  He won his first global medal (silver) in 2010 at the IAAF Continental Cup.

His personal best for the event is 80.71 meters, set in 2013.