In October 2018 the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Dominican player Erika Isabel Asencio Soriano (18) after her A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance Trenbolone. After notification a provisional suspension was ordered. The Athlete filed a statement in her defence and she was heard for the FIVB Disciplinary Panel.
The Athlete denied the intentional use of the substance and asserted that the positive test was the result of contaminated meat that she and her team had consumed in a hotel-restaurant at the International Airport of Mexico City. In support the Athlete produced evidence of her travel to and stay in Mexico and information about the restaurant in question.
The Panel established that all the players of the Athlete’s team ate from the same restaurant and that one other player was tested. That player tested negative whereas the Athlete tested positive and she had received some anti-doping education. The coaches were aware of meat contamination in Mexico but believed that the meat would be safe at the airport since they believed there were stricter regulations at the airport than elsewhere in Mexico.
Furthermore the Panel establish that there were several discrepancies between the Athlete’s statement and the filed evidence from publicly available sources which the Athlete and her Federation were unable to explain. The coaches ignored the warnings about the consumption of meat in Mexico while the meat used in the barbecue rib sandwiches in question was pork, not beef as asserted by the Athlete. As a result the Panel finds that the Athlete failed to demonstrate that the violation was not intentional nor showed that the presence of Trenbolon was caused by contamined meat.
The Panel notes that the imposed sanction is harsh given the Athlete’s age and inexperience and that she may be have been let down by her national federation.
Therefore the FIVB Disciplinary Panel decides on 4 February 2019 to impose a 4 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete starting on the date of the provisional suspension, i.e. on 1 October 2018.