Ms. Folashade Oluwafemiayo is a Nigerian athlete in the sport of IPC Powerlifting. On the 26 February 2013 the Athlete competed at the 5th Fazaa International Powerlifting Competition event in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where she provided a sample for doping control.
In April 2013 the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Athlete after her sample tested positive for the prohibited substance furosemide.
After notification a provisional suspension was ordered. The Athlete filed a statement in her defence and was heard for the IPC Anti-Doping Committee.
The Athlete returned the signed Letter of Decision to the IPC in a timely fashion. In the Letter of Decision, the Athlete stated that she did not accept that she had committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation and did not accept the consequences as set out in the Notification of an Adverse Analytical Finding and states that she has a valid Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE).
In addition to the Letter of Decision the Respondent submitted a letter stating that she had been admitted to hospital in January as well as the prescription paper that her doctor had given her.
The IPC Hearing Panel considers that there is no evidence to the comfortable satisfaction of the Hearing Panel which shows the absence of intent to enhance sport performance to consider elimination or reduction of period of ineligibility for specified substances under specific circumstances in accordance with Article 10.4 of the Code. The Athlete did not follow the specific dose schedule prescribed by the doctor and continued to use the prohibited substance right up until the time of the competition.
The Hearing Panel is not, therefore, satisfied that there was no intent on the Athlete’s behalf to titrate her body weight to ensure that she would be able to compete in a lower category weight.
The Hearing Panel notes that the National Paralympic Committee of Nigeria should work closer with their athletes to ensure that all Paralympic athletes are aware of all anti-doping rules and regulations. Particularly, the importance of submitting Therapeutic Use Exemptions and understanding the Prohibited List and the consequences that are involved with anti-doping rule violations.
The IPC Anti-Doping Committee recommends the following to the IPC Governing Board:
(a.) pursuant to Article 9 of the Code, disqualification of the results obtained in the Competition on 26 February 2013 with all resulting consequences, including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes;
(b.) pursuant to Article 10.1 of the Code, disqualification of all of the Athlete's individual results obtained in that Event (from 23-27 February 2013) with all Consequences, including forfeiture of all medals, points and prizes;
(c.) pursuant to Article 10.2 of the Code, a two (2) year period of ineligibility should be imposed on the Athlete;
(d.) pursuant to Article 10.9.3 of the Code, the Athlete shall receive credit for the period of provisional suspension and should therefore be declared ineligible from 19 April 2013 (date of notification) until 18 April 2015; and (e.) pursuant to Article 10.11 of the Code and the IPC Handbook, Section 2, Chapter 1.2 (‘Rules on the imposition of financial sanctions for anti-doping rule violations’), a financial sanction of €1.500,- should be imposed on the Respondent.
On 08 June 2013 the IPC Governing Board accepted the recommendation of the IPC Anti-Doping Committee.
