Japanese Speed Skater Kei Saito Is First 2018 Olympian Banned for Doping

Japanese speed skater Kei Saito tested positive for a masking agent.

The first athlete has been banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics for doping. 

Japanese speed skater Kei Saito tested positive for a masking agent, the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced. He was provisionally suspended and voluntarily agreed to leave the Olympic Village on Tuesday. 

Saito’s only event of the Olympics was slated to be Wednesday’s 5,000m short track relay. An out-of-competition test came back positive for a diuretic called acetalozamide, though, and Saito was forced to leave Korea without participating in a race. 

The 21-year-old first time Olympian is a biology student at Kanagawa University. His older sister, Hitomi, is also competing in speed skating at the Olympics.