CAS 2016/A/4834 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) v. Organización Nacional Antidopaje del Ecuador (ONADE) & Monica Maria Cajamarca Illescas
- Athletics (marathon)
- Doping (19-norandrosterone)
- Prevalence of WADA and IAAF rules over national regulations
- Balance of probability
- Establishment of source of prohibited substance
1. The regulations of the WADA and of the IAAF are fashioned in a way that a national authority within the system of the anti-doping regulations is bound by such rules. This means e.g. that a national anti-doping organization is obliged to apply these rules even if it is of the opinion that a rule in any way can be in conflict with its national law. This is a consequence of the membership to the federation.
2. The standard of proof of balance of probabilities requires an athlete to convince the CAS Panel that the occurrence of the circumstances on which the athlete relies is more probable than their non-occurrence.
3. In order to establish under the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC) the source of a prohibited substance it is not sufficient for an athlete to merely protest their innocence and suggest that the substance must have entered his or her body inadvertently from some supplement, medicine or other product which the athlete was taking at the relevant time. Rather, an athlete must adduce concrete evidence to demonstrate that a particular supplement, medication or other product that the athlete took contained the substance in question.
In May 2016 the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and thereupon in June 2016 the National Anti-Doping Organisation Ecuador (ONADE) reported two anti-doping rule violations against the Ecuadorian marathon runner Maria Cajamarca Illescas after her samples - provided in April and in May 2016 - tested positive for the prohibited substance 19-norandrosterone (Nandrolone).
Consequently on 11 July 2016 the ONADE Disciplinary Committee decided to impose a temporary suspension of 1 year on the Athlete.
Hereafter in October 2016 the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed the ONADE decision with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). WADA requested the Panel to set aside the Appealed Decision and to impose a 4 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete.
WADA contended that the Athlete failed to establish with evidence how the prohibited substance had entered her system, nor that the violation was not intentional. Further she provided different explanations in contradictions with each other and which would in any case show that she acted with gross negligence at very least.
ONADE requested the Panel to dismiss the WADA appeal and contended that only Ecuadorian law is applicable with the exclusion of any other “foreign” law or regulations, including the IAAF Rules. It asserted that the imposed provisional suspension of 1 year was in accordance with all requirements and guarantees enshrinded in the Ecuadorian Constitution and laws.
The Athlete denied the intentional use of the prohibited substance and argued that there are non-doping explanations for the positive test results. She suggested that the substance entered her system through consumption of rooster meat from her husband’s farm.
The Sole Arbitrator establishes that the regulations of WADA and of the IAAF are fashioned in a way that a national authority within the system of the anti-doping regulation is bound by such rules. It means that the IAAF Rules shall be applied to the merits of this case.
The Sole Arbitrator holds the positive test results established that the Athlete committed an anti-doping rule violaton. The two violations shall be considered together as one single first violation and the sanction imposed shall be based on the violation that carries the more severe sanction.
The Sole Arbitrator finds that the Athlete’s suggeston that the Substance entered her system through consumption of rooster meat is not supported by any evidence other than the Athlete’s own statement. Neither did the Athlete try to find out any corroborative evidence to strengthen her case. Accordingly, the probability that the Athlete intentionally used a supplement or medication including the Substance remains at least as high as the probability that she was contaminated by accident.
Therefore the Court of Arbitration for Sport decides on 29 September 2017 that:
1.) The appeal filed by the World Anti-Doping Agency on 21 October 2016 against the decision issued by the Disciplinary Committee of the Organización Nacional Antidopaje del Ecuador on 11 July 2016 in the matter of Mónica Maria Cajamarca Illescas is upheld.
2.) The decision issued by the Disciplinary Committee of the Organización Nacional Antidopaje del Ecuador on 11 July 2016 in the matter of Mónica Maria Cajamarca Illescas is set aside.
3.) Mónica Maria Cajamarca Illescas is sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility starting on 12 May 2016.
4.) All competitive results obtained by Mónica Maria Cajamarca Illescas from and including 10 April 2016 until the beginning of the provisional suspension are disqualified with all resulting consequences (including forfeiture of medals, points and prizes).
(…)
7.) All other motions or prayers for relief are dismissed.
