In March 2018 the Rugby Football Union (RFU) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the rugby player Ashley Johnson after his A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance Hydrochlorothiazide. After notification a provisional suspension was ordered. The Athlete filed a statement in his defence and he was heard for the National Anti-Doping Panel.
The Athlete gave a prompt admission, argued that the violation was not intentional and that he acted with No Significant Fault or Negligence. Here the athlete demonstrated with evidence that by mistake had had used his wife’s Fat Burner pill containing the substance.
Considering the evidence in this case the Panel establish:
- The source of the Prohibited Substance was the Athlete’s consumption of pills which were, in fact, the Fat Burner pills that were his wife’s. The burden was on the Athlete to prove that and he has discharged that burden
- He took his wife’s pill, believing that he was taking his own Nutrilean supplement.
- As a result he has inadvertently consumed pills that have given rise to an Adverse Analytical Finding.
- The Athlete’s conduct was careless, even allowing for what was said to be the “generally chaotic” circumstances in which the family has its breakfast where the supplements in question were used.
Here the Panel regards the Athlete’s prompt admission, his conduct and his degree of fault to determine a proportional sanction. Therefore the National Anti-Doping Panel decides on 23 July 2018 to impose a 6 month period of ineligibility on the Athlete starting on the date of the sample collection, i.e. on 7 February 2018.
