Mr. Pinheiro Carra (Respondent) is a Brazilian athlete in the sport of IPC Powerlifting. Respondent competed at the London 2012 Paralympic Games where he provided a sample for doping control.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has reported an anti doping rule violation against Respondent after his A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance hydrochlorothiazide.
The IPC notified Respondent of the doping violation and ordered a provisional suspension. The notification letter enclosed a letter “Letter of Decision” for the Respondent to complete and return to IPC by no later than 29 August 2012.
Respondent returned the signed Letter of Decision to the IPC in a timely fashion. In the Letter of Decision, Respondent stated that he:
- did not accept that he had committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation;
- had no valid Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) justifying the presence of the prohibited substance founds in the sample;
- requested the analysis of the B sample;
- did not challenge the provisional suspension; and
- wished to challenge the Anti-Doping Rule Violation and/or the consequences.
Respondent and the team doctors stated that none of the team doctors had prescribed any medication to Respondent and he was not taking any medication unknown to the team doctors. Respondent used green tea capsule “Chà Verde” to maintain his weight. These supplements were provided by Respondent’s coach and purchased in a Brazilian supermarket.
Respondent suspected this supplement of containing the prohibited substance hydrochlorothiazide and requested the supplement be analysed.
Based on the facts the IPC Anti-Doping Committee concluded that Respondent’s provisional suspension should not be eliminated.
The reasons being:
- Respondent was negligent in using a manufactured supplement;
- Respondent competes in a weight category sport, in which diuretics play a role in performance based on the weight class allocations; and
- Respondent used the supplement for the purpose of eliminating water from his body to reduce and/or maintain weight.
The IPC Anti-Doping Committee recommended to the IPC Governing Board to impose a provisional suspension. Following receipt of the results of the analysis of the green tea supplements from the laboratory, a full hearing in the case to determine a sanction will be held.
On 2 September 2012, the IPC received the report from the Laboratory regarding the analysis of the Chà Verde Product.
The laboratory confirmed that the Chà Verde Product contained the prohibited substance hydrochlorothiazide.The results of the Chà Verde Product Laboratory Report were presented in the second hearing.
Respondent’s coach stated he was aware of the problem of contaminated or mis-labelled supplements, but had never heard about it in connection with green tea capsules.
The Committee concludes that Respondent can establish how the substance entered his body and that he did not intend to enhance his performance. However the Committee considers Respondent and his coach negligence with using the food supplement. The coach bears some responsibility for the Respondent’s adverse analytical finding.
The Committee thinks the NPC Brazil must review the conduct of the coach. He had bought the product for his wife but then gave it to his athlete. He had not reviewed the product label for the ingredients of the product or done any other research into the composition of the product. Therefore he put the Respondent at unacceptable and considerable risk.
The Hearing Body of the IPC Anti-Doping Committee recommends to the IPC Governing Board:
(a) to impose a nine month period of ineligibility, starting on 28 August 2012, the date of the notification;
(b) to impose a financial sanction to € 560,-.
On 5 September 2012 the IPC Governing Board accepted the recommendation of the IPC Anti-Doping Committee.
