In December 2017 the National Doping Control Commission of Chile (CNCD) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the fencer Karen Valeska Moreno Soto for her failure to submit to sample collection.
The Doping Control Officer (DCO) reported that during training on 12 December 2017 the Athlete was notified to provide a sample. Five other athletes provided a sample after training without issues. However that evening the Athlete failed to appear at the doping control station. She already had left home and she didn't respond to the phone calls of the DCO.
A provisional suspension was ordered, the Athlete filed a statement with evidence in her defence and she was heard for the Disciplinary Panel of the Tribunal de Expertos en Dopaje (TED).
The Athlete acknowledged that she was notified and denied she intentionally evaded the doping control. She explained that after fencing training she saw no DCO and she went to another room. When she later returned to the fencing room that evening she saw nobody anymore and left. Only on her way home she noticed the missed phone calls of the DCO.
Hereafter the CNCD indicated it was not possible anymore to provide a sample. Instead she produced the (negative) analysis results of her sample she provided voluntarily and tested by the drugs abuse laboratory of the University of Chile.
The Panel holds that the Athlete was properly notified that she was selected for doping control. The Panel does not accept that she forgot to appear for doping control. Considering the evidence, the Athlete's conduct and her degree of fault in this case the Panel concludes that the violation was not intentional and that there are grounds for a reduced sanction.
Therefore on 1 March 2018 the TED Disciplinary Panel decides to impose a 18 month period of ineligibility on the Athlete starting on the date of the provisional suspension, i.e. 12 December 2017.
