Mixed doubles pair Christiansen-Boje pulls out from Paris Olympic

PETALING JAYA: Danish No. 1 mixed doubles pairing of Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje will not be competing when the Olympic badminton tournament kicks off in Paris next week.

Christiansen has decided to withdraw from the badminton mixed doubles event at the Paris Olympics after he unintentionally made mistakes in three of his ‘whereabouts’ filing and thus risking a penalty.

Christiansen made three errors when disclosing his whereabouts. Athletes must report their daily whereabouts for the three months leading up to the beginning of the Olympic Games in accordance with anti-doping regulations.

According to the rules, three warnings in 12 months can lead to a case at Anti Doping Denmark as an anti-doping rule violation, which can potentially result in the athlete being suspended.

For Christiansen, the decision to withdraw was difficult but inevitable.

“I’m devastated that my carelessness and sloppiness caused us to miss what should have been one of the highlights of our careers. I’m most devastated that it also means Alexandra won’t be going to the Olympics. We have both trained intensively and have been looking forward to competing in Paris.

“I don’t want to risk that my participation at the Olympics creates unnecessary noise, which can also be disturbing for our good colleagues on the national team and the other Olympic athletes, and therefore I have chosen to withdraw,” he was quoted on Badminton Europe.