After being eliminated in the qualifying round of the pole vault event last Monday, the 27-year-old athlete produced an "abnormal test result" following the doping test. This was confirmed the next day in a statement by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which provided no further explanation. Apparently, the disqualification is governed by Anti-Doping Rule 10.1.

This provisional suspension meant that the marks achieved by Polak in the pole vault events held at these Games were erased from the official record. The athlete only managed a best jump of 4.20 metres, a figure that did not allow her to advance to the final round taking place this afternoon.

Polak will not be the only absence in the Greek team in this medal competition, which will feature 19 qualifiers divided into two groups. Her compatriot, Ariadni Adamopoulou, was ruled out due to injury and will also not have the chance to seek a podium finish.

This is the second time in recent weeks that a case has triggered alarms within the Greek delegation regarding doping tests. The first instance was on 15th July, when, before heading to Paris, the Greek racewalker Kyriaki Filtisakou tested positive. In a recent interview, she stated that she "had never used illegal substances" and that "the truth will soon come to light."

Moreover, similar cases involving the use of banned substances have been detected in other delegations during the Games. These include the positive test of Nigerian boxer Cynthia Ogunsemilore, a bronze medallist at the Commonwealth Games and boxing champion at the African Games, and that of Iraqi judoka Sajjad Sehen, who tested positive for steroids a day before the start of the Paris event.

Polak debuted in 2013, at the age of 16, in regional tournaments in Greece. Her first international competition came four years later, in 2017, when she participated in the European Athletics U23 Championships held in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz, where she finished eleventh with a jump of 4.20 metres. After this, she managed to secure some significant titles, such as the 2018 Mediterranean Games and the Balkan Athletics Championships in the following three seasons.