Related case:
UKAD 2017 UKAD vs Thomas Edward Curry
September 26, 2017
On 26 September 2017 the National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP) decided to impose a 4 year period of ineligibility on the rugby player Thomas Edward Curry after his sample tested positive for the prohibited substance Cocaine.
In this case the NADP ruled that the Athlete’s ingestion of Cocaine was not consistent with the scientific evidence of the London Lab. As a result the Panel concluded that the Athlete must have used more Cocaine and closer in time to the match. Accordingly the Panel was not satisfied that the Athlete established how the admitted anti-doping rule violation occurred nor that the violation was not intentional.
Hereafter in October 2017 the Athlete appealed the NADP decision of 26 September 2017 with the Arbitral Appeal Tribunal. The Athlete requested for a reduced sanction and contended that the Panel erred in their finding that he had not established that he ingested Cocaine Out-of-Competition or how the violation occurred.
Considering the evidence in this case the Appeal Panel concludes that the NADP was not erroneous in their finding that the Athlete failed to establish that the anti-doping violation was not intentional. He failed to demonstrate that he had used Cocaine only Out-of-Competition nor that the use of Cocaine was unrelated to sport performance.
The Appeal Panel finds it clear, and in any event, that the Athlete bore considerable personal responsibility for the commission of the anti-doping rule violation because he consumed significant quantities of cocaine knowing of its Prohibited status shortly before a match.
Therefore the Arbitral Appeal Tribunal decides on 22 May 2018 to dismiss the Athlete’s appeal and to uphold the NADP decision of 26 September 2017.
