On 18 October 2022 the South African Institute for Drugfree Sport (SAIDS) reported an anti-doing rule violation against the South African boxer Zolani Tete after his A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance Stanozolol. The samples had been provided by the Athlete in Wembley in London on 2 July 2022 after a boxing match.
Following notification in October 2022 a provisional suspension was ordered while results management authority was referred to United Kingdom Anti-Doping (UKAD) in January 2023. The Athlete filed a statement in his defence and he was heard for the National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP).
The Athlete admitted the violation, accepted the test results and denied the intentional use of the substance. He assumed that contamination had caused the positive test results.
However the Athlete's attempts to find the source of the prohibited substance were unsucessful. Analysis of a supplement in question and his nail clippings in a laboratory revealed no prohibited substances.
In this case the Panel is troubled that there had been substantial delays attributed to the London Laboratory, SAIDS and UKAD. Because the Athlete was notified 3½ months after the sample collection this delay effected his opportunity to produce corroborating evidence in his defence.
Following assessment of the evidence the Panel concludes that the Athlete failed to demonstrate that the violation was not intentional, nor how the substance had entered his system. The Panel finds that there is lack of evidence in favour of the Athlete whereas the evidence is more consistent with a plausible motivation for using Stanozolol.
Considering the Athlete's conduct the Panel deems that he had acted with significant fault and negligence. Further the Panel already had determined that there had been substantial delays in this case not attributed to the Athlete.
Therefore the Panel decides on 9 August 2023 to impose a 4 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete, starting backdated on 30 July 2022.
