Schwazer was excluded from the
2012 Summer Olympics in London after an "adverse result" from a doping test. He was subsequently given a three-and-a-half-year competition ban by the
Italian National Olympic Committee in April 2013. Schwazer's girlfriend at the time of the offence, figure skater
Carolina Kostner, later admitted to prosecutors in Bolzano that she had lied to inspectors from the
World Anti-Doping Agency shortly before the 2012 Games when they visited her home looking for Schwazer, claiming that he was not there so he could avoid being tested. She also told the prosecutors that Schwazer slept in an
altitude chamber, which is not banned by
WADA but is illegal in Italy. In May 2016, a negative doping control sample from January was flagged as anomalous by the
Athlete Biological Passport and upon further inspection was found positive for a microdose of
testosterone. On 12 June 2019
FIDAL cancelled all results achieved by the athlete starting 18 March 2012, thus also cancelling his
Italian record of 1:17:30 made in
Lugano on 18 March 2012. Italian newspaper
La Repubblica, however, produced a documentary with evidence, including police phone tapping, which cast serious doubt on the treatment of Schwazer and strongly suggests that the 2016 doping control sample was tampered with. The documentary suggests that the real target was Schwazer's trainer since 2015,
Sandro Donati, former trainer of the Italian sprint team, whistle-blower and a long term critic both of doping and corruption in sport, who had uncovered Italian state-sponsored cheating in the 1980s. In 2020
La Repubblica published a long-form article on this affair, outlining the dubious aspects of this doping offence that could be a plot. In 2016 an Italian criminal investigation against Schwazer was also opened in the court of
Bolzano. On 17 March 2020 the doping ban was confirmed by the federal tribunal of Lausanne after a rejected appeal by Schwazer. On 18 February 2021, the Italian criminal case against Schwazer was closed. Schwazer was acquitted of all charges
per non aver commeso il reato ("for not committing the offence") and the court accused
WADA and the
IAAF of samples tampering. rejected all accusations and the Lausanne federal court finally refused to suspend the ongoing disqualification. Schwazer hence wasn't eligible to take part in
Tokyo 2020 Olympic (postponed in 2021 due to
COVID-19 pandemic). == Media ==