In November 2019 Sport Ireland (SI) has reported anti-doping rule violations against the cyclist IS-7145 after his A and B Sample tested positive for the prohibited substances Oxandrolone and Boldenone and their metabolites or markers. After notification a provisional suspension was ordered. The Athlete filed a statement in his defence and he was heard for the Irish Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel.
The Athlete accepted the test result and denied the intentional use of the substances. He explained that at the relevant time he had used several supplements purchased online by his brother from a number of health shops. He acknowledged that he had not checked these supplements before using nor had he mentioned these products on the Doping Control Form.
Analysis of 3 supplements in question in a Laboratory in Dublin revealed the presence of Oxandrolone in the supplement Total War as unlisted ingredient. Analysis hereafter of this supplement in the Cologne Lab confirmed the presence of Oxandrolone. However it did not detect the presence of the substance Boldenone in this supplement. A new tub of Total War purchased by SI and analysed in the Cologne Lab confirmed that neither Oxandrolone nor Boldenone was detected in this product.
SI accepts that the presence of Oxandrolone in the Athlete’s samples was the result of a contaminated supplement he had used but it contended that the Athlete failed to establish the source of the substance Boldenone. SI rejected the assertion that Boldenone as a derivative of Oxandrolone explained the presence of this substance in his samples since they are total different substances.
Further SI dismissed the assertion that the presence of Boldenone was the result of food contamination due to the found concentration of exogenous and synthetic Boldenone in the his samples was too high to be consistent with the ingestion of contaminated meat.
The Panel finds that the presence of prohibited substances had been established in the Athlete’s samples and that he has committed anti-doping rule violations. The Panel deems that these violations are considered together as one single violation and that the imposed sanction is based on the violation that carries the more severe sanction.
Considering the evidence in this case the Panel concludes that positive test for Oxandrolone was the result of the Athlete’s use of a contaminated supplement. Nevertheless the Athlete could not explain the presence of Boldenone in his samples nor establish grounds for a reduced sanction.
Therefore the Irish Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel decides on 3 October 2020 to impose a 4 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete starting on the date of the provisional suspension, i.e. on 5 November 2019.
