Related case:
World Athletics 2021 WA vs Dzmitry Nabokau
June 10, 2021
In October 2019 the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of World Athletics has reported an an anti-doping rule violation against the Belarussian Athlete Dzmitry Nabokau after his A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance Furosemide. After notification a provisional suspension was ordered. The Athlete filed a statement in his defence and he was heard for the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal.
The Athlete denied the intentional use of the substance and accepted the test result. He believed that the food parcel he had received from his grandmother might have been the source of the positive test. He explained with evidence that his grandmother used prescribed Furosemide as treatment for her condition and that she inadvertently had contaminated the food parcel she had provided.
Further he asserted that analysis of his supplements and medication he had used tested negative and a sample of a hairtest showed no presence of Furosemide. Also he referred to an experiment in the Belarus Anti-Doping Lab that demonstrates that Furosemide could be transmitted on surfaces and in foods. However the Athlete could only provide his grandmother’s recent prescription for Furosemide but not the previous prescriptions at the relevant time nor any other medical document.
The AIU contended that there were flaws and inconsistencies in the Athlete’s explanation due to he failed to establish with evidence that his grandmother was using Furosemid at the relevant time. Also he failed to establish that the scenario he described in his explanation would have led to the level of concentration found in his sample.
The Panel concludes that the Athlete’s explantion was speculative, that he failed to establish that his explantion was more likely than not and that he is unable to rely on any reduction or elimination of the period of ineligibility.
The Panel finds that in order to establish how the prohibited substance entered his body it is not enough to posit one possible explanation; it is necessary to demonstrate that the explanation is probable and that it is more likely than not.
Therefore the Disciplinary Tribunal decides on 1 September 2020 to impose a 2 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete starting on the date of the provisional suspension, i.e. on 28 October 2019.
