In November 2018 the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the football player Grant McDonald (19) after his A and B sample tested positive for the prohibited substance Higenamine.
After notification the Athlete gave a prompt admission, accepted the test results and a provisional suspension. He denied the intentional use of the substance and challenged the sanction proposed by the CCES. The Athlete filed a statement in his defence and he was heard for the Doping Tribunal of the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC).
The Athlete explained that he had purchased the supplement Amino IQ in his supplement store and was assured that this supplement was guaranteed to be free from banned substances. He mentioned the use of this supplement on the Doping Control Form.
In the store the Athlete researched the first listed ingredients of this supplement on the Global DRO website with his cellphone. However he conducted only an incomplete search for all the listed ingredients and he acknowledged that afterwards he never completed his search. As a result he missed the listed prohibed substance Higenamine mentioned on the label of the product.
The CCES accepted that the Athlete is not a cheater, that he gave a prompt admission, fully collaborated to the CCES, consulted the ingredients of the supplement on the Global Dro website and purchased the product in a store and not on the internet.
The CCES also contended that he acted negligently since he failed to verify the full list of ingredients. He had only verified the first ingredients listed on the label, he stopped just before Higenamine and never completed his search later.
The Sole Arbitrator holds that the Athlete’s main fault was to have been negligent by failing to verify all the ingredients contained in a new brand of supplements he started to use. The Arbitrator deems that the Athlete was 19 years old and that he was tested for the first time. He demonstrated transparency and humility when confronted with his mistake en established No Significant Fault or Negligence in this case.
Threfore the SDRCC Doping Tribunal decides on 8 April 2019 to impose a 10 month period of ineligibility on the Athlete starting on the date of the sample collection, i.e. on 3 November 2018.