In March 2016 the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Brazilian MMA Athlete Felipe Olivieri after his A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance Methyltestosterone. After notification a provisional suspension was ordered. The Athlete filed a statement in his defence and he was heard for the UFC Arbitration Panel.
Due to a false positive WADA had suspended the accreditation of the Rio Lab in June 2016 and the Athlete’s A and B bottles were transferred to the Salt Lake City Lab where the B sample was analysed in September 2016 confirming the positive test result of the A sample in the Rio Lab.
The Athlete requested the Panel to set aside the test results claiming that the Athlete’s Sample had been mishandled by the Rio Laboratory staff and that the Sample’s chain of custody had been compromised as departures of the ISTI and the ISL.
USADA contended that the Rio Lab had conducted a valid analysis of the Athlete’s Sample between January and March 2016 in accordance with the ISL. At that time the Lab was a WADA accredited Laboratory whereas the matter of the false positive in the Rio Lab was unrelated to the Athlete’s positive test result.
Further USADA asserted that the Athlete failed to demonstrate that any of the alleged departures reasonably could have caused this positive test result. The lack of a seal on the container transport package does not mean that the Samples were not secured. There is no requirement that the container must have been sealed nor did it effected the integrity of the Sample bottles within.
The Arbitrator finds that the presence of a prohibited substance has been established in the Athlete’s A and B sample and accordingly that he committed an anti-doping rule violation. Any inconsistencies found on various forms have no consequences to the analytical findings based on the evidence in this case. Neither is the absence of a secure seal on the external transport container a departure of the ISTI because the Sample bottles themselves were properly sealed.
The suspension of the accreditation of the Rio Lab by WADA in June 2016 does not mean that the previous analysis of the Athlete’s Sample in March 2016 was incorrect or flawed. The Arbitrator deems that the analysis of the Athlete’s sample in the Rio Lab was in accordance with the ISTI and the ISL while the Athlete failed to produce no evidence showing a departure from the ISL.
Therefore the UFC Arbitration Panel decides on 21 January 2017 to impose a 2 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete starting on the date of the provisional suspension, i.e. on 10 March 2016.
