On 3 Febuary 2014 the Spanish Agency for the Protection of Health in Sport (Agencia Española de Protección de la Salud en el Deporte, AEPSAD) decided to impose a 1 year period of ineligibility on the respondent E16 after her sample tested positive for the prohibited substances chlorothiazide and hydrochlorothiazide without a TUE.
The respondent uses prescribed medication for her chronic illness and was sanctioned without a TUE on 28 November 2011 with a 3 month period of ineligibility.
After she tested positive in june 2012 her case was withdrawn due to a temporary TUE was alreay applied and approved.
The respondent applied for a new TUE on 10 June 2013 when tested out-of-competion on 4 July 2013. The TUE application for the respondent’s was approved for the period 12 July 2013 up to and including 7 June 2017 after she was tested.
Hereafter in March 2014 the respondent appealed the AEPSAD decision with the Tribunal Administrativo del Deporte (TAD), the Spanish Disciplinary Committee for Sports.
The respondent argued that she was without fault or negligence and without intention to enhance sport performance; the sanction was disproportional. With medical reports she showed the necessity to use the prescribed medication for her chronic illness including an approved TUE.
The Tribunal considers the respondent’s arguments and agrees that there was no intention to enhance sport perfomacne and there is an approved TUE with retrospective effect for the use of the prescribed medication as treatment for her illness.
However the Tribunal concludes that the respondent failed to apply for a new TUE in 2012 after her first TUE had expired in June 2012. The respondent can’t claim ignorance and that she was tested out-of-competition. She acted negligently because she waited almost a year until she applied for a new TUE on 10 June 2013. The respondent was tested before and therefore fully aware that the prescribed medication would result in a positive test and the necessity for a TUE.
Therefore the Tribunal dismiss the respondent’s appeal and decides on 8 May 2014 to confirm the AEPSAD decision of 3 February 2014.
