Suomen urheilun eettinen keskus SUEK ry vuosikertomus 2022  / Suomen urheilun eettinen keskus (SUEK). - Helsinki : SUEK, 2023

In March 2022 the Athlete and the Brazilian Doping Control Authority (ABCD) reached a settlement and the Athlete accepted a 3 year period of ineligibility because of her use of the prohibited substance Erythropoietin (EPO).

Stipulated in the settlement is that the period of ineligibility shall be partially suspended because of the substantial assistance provided by the Athlete.

In August 2022 ABCD determined that the Athlete's sanction can be suspended by 18 months pending approval by WADA and World Athletics. Yet, in September 2022 WADA and World Athletics did not approve such suspension on the basis of substantial assistance.

Hereafter in October 2022 the Athlete appealed the first instance settlement with the TJD-AD Appeal Panel. The Athlete requested the Appeal Panel to uphold the settlement and to grant the suspension of the imposed sanction.

The Athlete asserted that she had cooperated and had provided sustantial assistance. Accordingly she claimed a partially suspension of her sanction by 18 months.

Meanwhile in January 2023 ABCD had officially decided not to grant a partially suspension of the Athlete's sanction. ABCD had concluded that the Athlete had failed to provide sufficient substantial assistance.

Following assessment of the settlement between the parties the Appeal Panel determines that clearly was stipulated that partially suspension based on substantial assistance was only possible with approval of WADA and World Athletics.

Because WADA already had denied approval in September 2022 the Appeal Panel deems that it is further without merits to hear the Athletes arguments.

Therefore the Panel decides on 21 June 2023 to dismiss the Athlete's appeal and to uphold ABCD's Decision no to allow partially suspension of the imposed 3 year period of ineligibility.

Related case:

TJD-AD 2022-021 Disciplinary Decision - Canoe
December 7, 2022

In April 2022 the Brazilian Doping Control Authority reported an anti-doping rule violation against the canoe Parathlete for his Whereabouts Filing Failures within a 12 month period. This resulted in 3 Missed Tests in February, April and December 2021.

Consequently on 7 December 2022 TJD-AD Panel decided to impose a 1 year period of ineligibility on the Parathlete. Hereafter both ABCD and the Parathlete appealed the TJD-AD decision with the TJD-AD Appeal Panel.

ABCD and the Athlete requested the Appeal Panel the set aside the Appealed Decision. ABCD wanted a more severe sanction whereas the Parathlete wanted an acquittal or alternatively a more reduced sanction.

The Rapporteur assessed and addressed the Parathlete's conduct regarding his Whereabouts and the missed tests in February, April and December 2021. He determines that the Parathlete for his Missed Tests failed to provide sufficient explanations to ABCD, nor provided corroborating evidence in this matter.

The Rapporteur concludes that the Parathlete acted with a high degree of fault or negligence, rather acted more evasive with his Whereabouts. Accordingly he deems that there are no grounds for the imposition of a reduced sanction.

Therefore the TJD-AD Appeal Panel decides on 21 June 2023 to set aside the Appealed Panel and to impose a 2 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete, starting on the date of the provisional suspension, i.e. on 19 April 2022.

Anti Doping Danmark Annual Report 2022 / Anti-Doping Denmark (ADD). - Brøndby : ADD, 2023

In October 2018 police officers seized a quantity of Cocaine and cash in possession of the football coach Mr Campbell. Thereupon Mr Campbell was charged with an offence of supplying Cocaine.

Ultimately in September 2020 he pleaded guilty to the offence of supplying a controlled drug. The Court confiscated the Cocaine and cash and Mr Campbell was fined.

Consequently in December 2022 United Kingdom Anti-Doping (UKAD) reported anti-doping rule violations against Mr Campbell for possession and trafficking of a prohibited substance. Following notification a provisional suspension was ordered and the case was referred to the National Anti-Doping Panel.

In view of the Court conviction and Mr Campbell's admission in June 2021 UKAD contended that he had committed these violations. Also UKAD deemed that there are no grounds for a reduced sanction, although prior there had been delays, there has been no substantial delay in the hearing process attributed to UKAD.

Preliminary the Panel had dismissed in January 2023 Mr Campbell's request to have the provisional suspension lifted. Furthermore the Panel concludes that under the Scottish FA Anti-Doping Regulations the Panel has no discretion to impose a reduced sanction, nor that delays in this case was UKAD's fault.

Therefore the National Anti-Doping Panel decides on 20 June 2023 to impose a 4 year period of ineligibility on Mr Campbell, starting on the date of the provisional suspension, i.e. on 22 December 2022.

Detection of emerging patterns of drug misuse in sports via wastewater monitoring : A mini-review and potential strategies / William Chih-Wei Chang, Mei-Chich Hsu, Pao-Chi Liao

• Environmental Pollution 333 (15 September 2023) 122087
• PMID: 37348696
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122087

Abstract

Biological testing is a key component of the current anti-doping programme implemented by the authorities to detect doping in sports. Strategies such as longitudinal individualised data analysis and sport-specific analysis have been developed to increase the comprehensiveness of the testing. However, the trends of drug misuse in sports might not be effectively captured through today's testing plan. Wastewater testing, assembling individual-level data of a designated group to produce population-level results in one single aggregated sample, can be employed to as a complementary strategy offering added value for doping control. This paper presents an updated summary of the status of anti-doping testing and analytical methodologies for wastewater. The available literature on wastewater-based analyses of drugs prohibited in sports is reviewed. Publications surrounding sporting activities or competitions and others relevant to sports doping are selected. We debate between potential strategies and major limitations of using wastewater monitoring in anti-doping. Knowledge gaps and research directions, specifically on metabolites, stability, sensitivity, and ethical and legal considerations, are discussed. Choosing different wastewater sampling sites allows target sub-population that involved competing athletes and potentially reveal sport-specific or athlete-level-specific behaviour. Sampling from on-board toilets or athlete villages could target international-level athletes, sampling from the dormitories of national training centres allows monitoring of national-level athletes on a daily basis, and sampling from sports stadiums provides a full picture of drug use in the general population during an event. Confounding occurs as (i) the presence of non-athlete composition and the difficulty of analyses to be completely selective to the athlete population; and (ii) the identification of compounds prescribed legitimately with Therapeutic Use Exemptions, only banned in-competition, and naturally occurring. The practicalities of the approach are contextualised in monitoring the non-threshold substances such as anabolic agents, selective androgen receptor modulators, metabolic modulators, and hypoxia-inducible factor activators.

Dopingautoriteit Annual Report 2022 (Netherlands) / Anti-doping Authority Netherlands (Dopingautoriteit). - Capelle aan den IJssel : Dopingautoriteit, 2023

Contents:

Chapter 1 – Education
Chapter 2 – Doping control
Chapter 3 – Intelligence & Investigations
Chapter 4 – Disciplinary Proceedings
Chapter 5 – Legal Affairs
Chapter 6 – Scientific research
Chapter 7 – Knowledge management
Chapter 8 – Therapeutic Use Exemptions
Chapter 9 – International Affairs
Chapter 10 – People & organisation
--------------------------
Annex 1 - Financial overview
Annex 2 - Members of Advisory Board and Committees
Annex 3 - Personnel
Annex 4 - Overview of presentations and scientific publications
Annex 5 - Secondary positions
Annex 6 – Abbreviations
Annex 7 – Result management

In November 2022 the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), on behalf of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), reported multiple anti-doping rule violations against the Polish tennis player Kamil Majchrzak.

In this case the presence had been established of the prohibited substances: LGD-4033 (Ligandrol), SARM S-22 (Ostarine) and GW0742 in the Athlete's A and B samples collected in:

• Sofia, 26 September 2022;
• Tokyo, 6 October 2022;
• Seoul, 12 October 2022; and
• Poland, 9 November 2022.

Following notification the Athlete admitted the violation, waived his right for a hearing, accepted a provisional suspension and the sanction proposed by the ITIA.

The Athlete denied that the violation was intentional and assumed that one of the prescribed supplement he had used could be the source of these banned substances. He asserted with evidence that he properly had researched the ingredients of his supplements before using.

Thereupon analysis of the supplement INTRA in a Laboratory revealed the presence of prohibited contaminants. Furthermore the Montreal Laboratory confirmed that the test results were consistent with the Athlete's use of this supplement at the material time.

In view of the evidence the ITIA accepts that the Athlete has demonstrated that the violation was not intentional as a result of his use of a contaminated supplement. Considering the Athlete's conduct in this case the ITIA determines that he acted with No Significant Fault or Negligence.

Therefore the ITIA decides on 16 June 2023 to impose a 13 month period of ineligibility on the Athlete, starting on the date of the provisional suspension, i.e. on 30 November 2022.

In August 2022 the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) reported an anti-doping rule violation against the equestrian Athlete Ben Asselin after his sample tested positive for the prohibited substances Amfetamine and Dexamphetamine (d-amphetamine, dextroamphetamine).

Following notification a provisional suspension was accepted by the Athlete. He filed a statement in his defence and he was heard for the Tribunal of the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada.

The Athlete (28) suffers from sustained attention, impulsivity, hyperactivity and executive functions. A scheduled testing for ADHD in November 2021 was postponed while he used his Vyvans self-medication a few days before testing in June 2022.

After the positive test the Athlete received a prescription for his Vyvans medication in August 2022 while he was formally diagnosed with ADHD in September 2022. In October 2022 he filed an application for both a retroactive and prospective TUE.

Thereupon in January 2023 the Athlete's prospective TUE for the use of his medication was granted. However his retroactive TUE was denied because at the time of the use of the medication there had been no diagnosis of a medical condition.

The Athlete admitted the violation and denied the intentional use of the substance. He requested for a reduced sanction due to his medication was used out-of-competition as treatment for his ADHD and unrelated to sport performance.

CCES contended that the Athlete at the material time had used a prohibited substance without an official diagnosis for ADHD and without a valid TUE. Only after the sample collection there was issued a medical prescription, an official diagnosis and a TUE application.

In view of the evidence the Sole Arbitrator finds that the Athlete's violation was not intentional and that the substance was used as treatment for his ADHD. Although at that time he had no formal diagnosis, he made an honest mistake and he admitted his failure.

Therefore the SDRCC Tribunal decides on 16 June 2022 to impose a 14 month period of ineligibility on the Athlete, starting on the date of his provisional suspension, i.e. on 16 August 2022.

In September 2022 the South African Institute for Drugfree Sport (SAIDS) reported an anti-doping rule violation against the minor judoka after his sample tested positive for the prohibited substances Prednisolone and Prednisone.

Following notification a provisional suspension was ordered. Meanwhile the Athlete continued to participate into multiple rowing competitions between October 2022 and March 2023. The Athlete filed a statement in his defence and he was heard for the SAIDS Independent Doping Hearing Panel.

The minor Athlete admitted the violation and accepted the test result. He explained that he had used Prednisone tablets as treatment for his condition provided by his mother. He requested the Panel not to disqualify his results obtained in the rowing competitions.

SAIDS finds that the violation was not intentional and seeked for the imposition of a sanction of 6 months on the minor Athlete. Further SAIDS wanted disqualification of all the Athlete's competititve results obtained since the sample collection.

The Panel agrees that the Athlete's violation was not intentional, yet deems that the minor Athlete had acted with some degree of negligence regarding the medication he had used. The Panel determines that there are no grounds for fairness regarding the disqualification of his competitive results.

The Panel establishes that the Athlete and his mother knew, or at the very least ought to have known, that there was a risk of disqualification of his results obtained at the rowing competitions. Yet, he continued regardless and did not, at all, consider that would be fair in the circumstances.

Therefore the Panel decides on 14 June 2023 to impose a 12 month period of ineligibility on the Athlete, starting on the date of the decision. Finally the Panel decides to disqualify all the Athlete's results obtained at the judo and rowing competitions from 26 june 2022 to the date of this decision.