Elton Jantjies, who was part of the Springbok team that won the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, announced in August 2023 that the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (Saids) had notified him that a urine sample taken from him in June of that year had returned a positive result for a banned substance.
The banned substance, Clenbuterol, is used to help burn fat, and by asthma sufferers. It also promotes increased stamina in athletes.
Jantjies vowed then to prove his innocence, but on the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport (SAIDS) website, it was confirmed that Jantjies had been banned for four years.
According to TimesLive, Jantjies has a robust legal team working to unravel the circumstances surrounding the ban that could potentially jeopardise his career.
This potentially career-ending development is the latest in a string of controversies that have plagued one of the most polarising figures in the history of South African rugby.
News24 reports that in mid-2022, Jantjies was arrested and charged with malicious damage to property and a contravention of the Aviation Act after he allegedly lost it on an Emirates flight that landed at OR Tambo International in Johannesburg.
Charges against Jantjies were later dropped, but he was back in the headlines in November of the same year when it was alleged that he was having an affair with Springbok team dietician Zeenat Simjee.
