Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ) has reported and anti-doping rule violation against the Respondent Kelsey Kennard after her sample tested positive for the prohibited substance probenecid. After notification a provisional suspension was ordered. Respondent filed a statement in her defence and was heard for the Tribunal.
The Respondent gave a prompt admission and stated that on 10 September 2015 she attended an Urgent Doctor’s clinic and was diagnosed with a bad case of cellulitis. She was administered the protocol treatment for cellulitis, being antibiotics together with probenecid to boost the effectiveness of the antibiotics. At the time of treatment, the Respondent was not intending to play football for the next few months and therefore did not tell the doctors treating her that she was subject to the anti-doping testing regime, nor did she make inquiries about what medication she was being given.
Shortly after, she was persuaded to play football and commenced training for the 2015 National Women's League (NWL) competition. She did not make any inquiries about the medication she had taken to treat her cellulitis at, or following, this seminar. The Respondent was tested at her last NWL game for the season. She failed to disclose probenecid on the doping control form as over two months had elapsed since her treatment, although she did disclose the iron medication that she had taken in the past week.
The Tribunal finds that the Respondent could establish no significant fault given the exceptional circumstances of the case including:
- the emergency nature of the treatment and the clear therapeutic reason for taking the substance;
- the fact that she was not intending to play in the NWL at the time she took the substance;
- the length of time the substance remained in her system from the time it was taken to the time of testing; and
- the change in status from a non-national level athlete to a national level athlete between the time of taking the substance and the time of testing.
Therefore the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand decides on 1 March 2016 to impose a 6 month period of ineligibility on the Respondent starting on the date of the sample collection, i.e. on 22 November 2015.
