Related case:
CAS 2014_A_3604 Ralfs Freibergs vs IOC
December 17, 2014
Mr. Ralfs Freibergs is a Latvian Athlete competing in the Latvian Men’s Ice Hockey Team at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
On 22 February 2014 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Athlete after his A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone. After notification by the IOC the Athlete waived his right to be heard for the IOC Disciplinary Commission and filed a statement in his defence.
The Latvian Ice Hockey Federation submitted that all athletes for the Latvian Olympic Team had been tested, in particular all 33 ice hockey players. All samples, including a sample from the Athlete collected on 3 February 2014, were analysed at the WADA accredited laboratory in Helsinki and did not give rise to an adverse analytical finding.
With respect to the negative finding of the Helsinki WADA Accredited laboratory, an e-mail from a representative of that laboratory explains that the method and the reference material necessary to target the metabolite “18-nor-17b-hydroxymethyl-17a-methyl-4-chloro-5bandrost-13-en-3a-ol” is quite recent and not yet available to all laboratories.
Also the Athlete’s university in the United States submitted that the Athlete was tested after his return from Sochi without an adverse analytical finding.
At the hearing the Athlete’s representative argued about the test results from the laboratory in Helsinki before and the laboratory in the United States after the Sochi Olympic Games; the validity of the accreditation the Sochi laboratory; the notification to the Athlete in relation to the B sample opening and analysis; and alleged deviations from the ISL.
The IOC Disciplinary Commission rebuted and dismissed these arguments and unanimously held that the results of the analysis of the Athlete's Samples collected on 20 February 2014 are valid.
As a consequence, the IOC Disciplinary Commission unanimously concluded that the Athlete had committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to Article 2.1 of the World Anti-Doping Code,) and Articles 2 and 12 of the Rules, in that there was the presence of the prohibited substance 18-nor-17b-hydroxymethyl-17a-methyl-4-chloro-5b-androst-13-en-3a-ol in the Athlete's body, metabolite of dehydrochloromethyltestosterone.
Therefore IOC Disciplinary Commission decides:
1.) The Athlete, Mr Ralfs Freibergs, is disqualified from the Men’s Play-offs Quarterfinals – Canada vs Latvia match.
2.) The Athlete is considered as excluded from the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi in 2014.
3.) The Athlete’s diploma (for placing 8th) is withdrawn.
4.) The International Ice Hockey Federation is hereby requested to make appropriate mention of the above in the record of the sports results, and to consider whether it should take any further action within its competence.
5.) The Latvian Olympic Committee is hereby requested to return to the IOC, as soon as possible, the diploma awarded to the athlete in relation to the above-mentioned event.
6.) This decision shall enter into force immediately.
