In September 2022 Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Athlete Zane Robertson after his A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance Erythropoietin (EPO). Following notification a provisional suspension was ordered.
The Athlete accepted the test results and asserted that prior at a medical facility in Kenya by mistake he had received an EPO injection instead of the intended Covid-19 vaccination. In support he produced medical information and the testimonies from two Kenyan doctors.
For DFSNZ the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) conducted an investigation into the Athlete's evidence. The medical facility in question in Kenya confirmed to ADAK that the Athlete had not received any EPO injection, neither had he attended the medcial facility at the material time.
Furthermore ADAK established that the medical documents produced by the Athlete were falsifications. The statements from the alleged Kenyan doctors were false testimones made by a laboratory technician and a person from outside the medical facility.
As a result of ADAK's investigations the Athlete admitted that he deliberately had tampered with any part of of the doping control process. Hereafter the Athlete and DFSNZ reached an agreement and filed a joint memorandum of counsel as to sanction for approval into a decision of the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand.
The Tribunal determines that the Athlete had committed an anti-doping rule violation for the presence of EPO. Additionally the Athlete had tampered with the doping control process as second anti-doping rule violation.
Therefore the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand decides on 20 March 2023 to impose an 8 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete starting on the date of the provisional suspension, i.e. on 20 September 2022.
