In July 2019 the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) had reported an anti-doping rule violation against the rugby player Lorenzo Thomas after his A and B samples teste positive for the prohibited substance GW1516. After notification a provisional suspension was ordered. The Athlete filed a statement in his defence and he was heard for AAA Arbitration Tribunal.
The Athlete denied the intentional use of the substance and believed that the supplement Neurocore was the source of the positive test. He had used this supplement only after inspection of its label and consultation with a sports law doctor.
Analysis of the Athlete's supplement in the Montreal Lab did not reveal the presence of GW1516. The original container of Neurocore was already discarded and the Athlete was unable to obtain information on the batch or lot number of this supplement he had used at the relevant time.
Furthermore the Athlete asserted that the test result should be invalided since several inconsistencies occurred as departures of the ISTI during the sample collection procedure.
Considering the evidence in this case the Panel finds that no departures of the ISTI occurred and that the Athlete failed to establish that any alleged departure caused of could reasonably have caused the presence of GW1516 in his samples. Further the Athlete was unable to offer any proof of any contamination of his supplements.
Although there was no evidence the Athlete intentionally had used GW1516 the Panel finds that the Athlete failed to establish that his positive test was not the result of any significant fault or negligence.
Therefore the AAA Arbitration Tribunal decides on 23 February 2021 to impose a 4 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete starting on the date of the provisional suspension, i.e. on 25 July 2019.
