Related case:
CAS 2009_A_1926 ITF vs Richard Gasquet
December 17, 2009
In April 2009 the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Athlete Richard Gasquet after his A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance Cocaine in a low concentration.
After notification a provisional suspension was ordered. The Athlete filed a statement in his defence and he was heard for the ITF Independent Anti-Doping Tribunal.
The Athlete denied the intentional use of the substance and requested for a reduced sanction. He asserted that he had kissed a woman in a club who had ingested Cocaine prior to their rendezvous.
the Athlete argued that if there was a doping offence, the Athlete could establish “No Fault or Negligence” or alternatively “No Significant Fault or Negligence”. Further, he argued that there should be no period of ineligibility.
He argued that because of the circumstances of the offence – accidental contamination in a social setting after the player had decided to withdraw from the competition through injury - were such that any ban would be grossly disproportionate to the offence and therefore unlawful.
Also in June 2009 the Athlete filed a complaint with the French prosecuting authority, alleging against the woman that a harmful substance had been administered to him, contrary to the French penal code. A criminal complaint was, at some point in time, also filed by the woman against the athlete for defamation.
The French newspaper, Aujourd’hui, published an interview with the woman that reportedly took place the afternoon before, and in which she denied having either taken or been offered any cocaine during the evening of the rendezvous. However, she admitted having taken cocaine on previous occasions in her life.
Furthermore, she asserted that she had kissed the Athlete only briefly and not mouth to mouth, and that she was willing to give evidence and undergo a hair test herself.
On September 2009, the public prosecutor’s department of Paris issued a communiqué stating that the proceedings initiated by the Athlete on 4 June 2009 against the woman for administration of a harmful substance to him had been closed, as no criminal offence had been revealed.
The communiqué furthermore noted that the toxicological examination carried out on “a young lady heard during this procedure” revealed that she regularly consumed cocaine, and that she would be subject to a therapeutic order from the public prosecutor’s department.
The ITF Tribunal Panel accepts that the player has discharged the onus on him of establishing, on the balance of probability, how cocaine entered his system. The Panel notes that the most likely explanation is that advanced by the player, namely that cocaine was transferred to the player from mouth to mouth kissing with the woman.
The Panel rules that this explanation is more likely than not to be the correct one. The Panel holds that in this case, the Athlete’s inadvertent ingestion of cocaine occurred in circumstances in which the degree of his fault was very small, as small as the miniscule quantity consumed.
On 15 July 2009 the ITF Tribunal decides to impose a 2 months and 15 days period of ineligibility on the Athlete for the time already served, starting on the date of the provisional suspension until the date of the decision.
Also Athlete’s results obtained in competitions in Barcelona and Rome during April 2009, shall remain undisturbed and the prize money and ranking points obtained by the player in those competitions shall not be forfeited.
