The last 24 hours of tension for Matej Toth are finally over; for him a real liberation has arrived. Already in the late afternoon of yesterday, numerous Slovak websites reported the news that the IAAF had renounced to appeal of the TAS against the absolution of the strong racewalker from doping charges.
<<On Thursday, December 21, shortly before 19:00, the Athletics Integrity Unit informed the Slovak federation and the lawyer of Matej Tóth, of the decision not to appeal to the acquittal verdict. The AIU should send a written declaration to the Federation on Friday 22 December 2017>>
The 50Km Olympic Champion had been suspended as a precautionary measure,before London Championships, due to anomalies in his biological passport: low levels of hemoglobin in the anti-doping sample collected on 4 May 2016. Based on this single anomaly, IAAF experts accused Toth of blood doping by hypothesizing blood manipulations compatible an autologous transfusion.
Later the Slovak Sports Court had acquitted Matej Toth, based on the scientific findings of the expertise provided by defense lawyers. To oppose this decision, international anti-doping could only have recourse to the Lausanne TAS Court. The waiver comes the last day to be able to still appeal to the Swiss court, thus closing the story in favor of the slovakian walker.
