In May 2016 the Badminton World Federation (BWF) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the American Athlete after her A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance terbutaline. After notification a provisional suspension was ordered. The Athlete filed a statement in her defence and she was heard for the BWF Hearing Panel.
The Athlete admitted the violation and accepted the test results. She explained that during her stay in New Zealand she used a recommended terbutaline inhaler to improve her breathing prior before she got tested. Also she checked the WADA 2015 prohibited list before using this inhaler.
The Panel is convinced that the violation was not intentional and accepts the Athlete’s explanation.
The Panel notes that terbutaline is a beta-2 agonist and is not one of the two beta-2 agonists that is explicitly allowed on the WADA 2015 prohibited list. The Panel finds that the Athlete has been careless when studying the Prohibited List and has without doubt acted with negligence.
Considering the circumstances in this case the Panel concludes that the Athlete’s degree of negligence is rather severe.
Therefore the BWF Hearing Panel decides to impose a 1 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete starting on the date of the sample collection, i.e. on 24 March 2016.
