Chelsea forward Mykhailo Mudryk, who was charged by the FA for violating anti-doping rules in June 2025, has not played in a professional game since November of last year.
Mudryk, who was signed by Chelsea in the January 2023 transfer window, was provisionally suspended in December 2024. The investigation has been ongoing, but a recent report fueled rumors of the winger making a career change.
Several media outlets published that Mudryk, who is Ukrainian, has been preparing for his life after football by eyeing the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as a sprinter. However, multiple sources, including Mudryk's legal team, have shut down those rumors.
Here's what to know about how the rumor connecting Mudryk to Olympic sprinting started, and how it has since been refuted.
Mykhailo Mudryk Olympic sprinter rumors refuted
Mudryk was suspended last year after testing positive for a banned substance. Before the start of the 2024/25 season, his No. 10 shirt at Chelsea was handed to Cole Palmer.
Some media outlets recently indicated that as Mudryk awaits the outcome of the FA investigation — he could potentially face a four-year ban under FIFA guidelines — he's considering a switch to athletics, and suggested that Mudryk was eyeing the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as a Ukrainian sprinter.
The reports referenced an article from the Spanish newspaper Marca, which has since been deleted.
On Monday, Mudryk's legal team, Morgan Sports Law, responded to those rumors, writing in an email to The Sporting News: "Our client is not considering becoming an Olympic sprinter, as alleged. Such an allegation questions our client's commitment to his football career and is thus extremely damaging to his professional reputation."
The Ukrainian Athletics Federation (UAF) also responded to those rumors Monday, telling Dynamo.Kiev.Ua that "no request has been received" from Mudryk.
"As long as the investigation into Mykhailo Mudryk's doping case is ongoing, this is not and cannot even be a subject of discussion," Olha Nikolaiyenko, the press secretary for the UAF, said when asked if the soccer star becoming a Ukrainian sprinter was realistic.
Additionally, the president of the UAF, Olga Saladukha, told Tribuna in a statement that Mudryk "is not training with the national track and field team for any competitions. And we have not had any discussions ... regarding his transition to track and field."
With the statements from Mudryk's legal team and the UAF, there are no signs that a change from soccer to sprinting could actually happen.
Editor’s note: The Sporting News published a story on the rumors, but that article has been withdrawn due to inaccurate information.