I’LL FIGHT BAN
FRASER-HOLMES GETS 12 MONTHS
DEVASTATED swimmer Thomas Fraser-Holmes will appeal the 12-month ban handed down by FINA’s doping panel yesterday that could cause him to miss the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Fraser-Holmes’s lawyer Tim Fuller will start lodge paperwork with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) today, asking the body to set aside the decision by swimming’s world governing body to ban the Gold Coast Olympian for a year after he missed three drug tests.
While Fraser-Holmes’s third strike – he missed a test after arriving home late from a dinner at his mother’s house – has been widely publicised, his legal team fought his ban and will base their appeal on his second strike which occurred while the Whereabouts app was not working.
Athletes are required to nominate their whereabouts for an hour-long period each day during which they will be available for random drug tests carried out by agents from FINA or the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority.
Fuller said Fraser-Holmes attempted to log into the offic change ial Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) app on his phone several times over a period of about a week late last year to his whereabouts from the Gold Coast to Canberra after travelling to the capital to trial new coaches following his decision to leave Miami mentor Denis Cotterell.
“He had a period of around five to eight days where he was unable to log on to ADAMS and it was only discovered later through Swimming Australia assisting and through various communications with FINA that there was a component of that system that was turned off, so you couldn’t log on to it,” Fuller said.
“So he was every day, trying to log his whereabouts. He ended up informing Swimming Australia of his difficulties.
“He contacted FINA and in the end they still were not aware that he was in Canberra, he was still recorded as being on the Gold Coast and they still recorded a breach against him.
“It’s a really, really strict interpretation of negligence and we feel that the doping tribunal has erred and that’s why we will be appealing to the CAS.”
Fraser-Holmes estimates he has been drug tested about 200 times in his career. He has never failed a test or attempted to evade a test and is a passionate advocate for clean sport. “The policy was put in place to catch athletes that are trying to circumvent the drug testing authorities and the rules,” Fuller said.
“At no time has (Fraser Holmes) ever failed a drug test, he’s never competed dirty, he’s always been a clean athlete and he’s never had any intention or any motive to try and evade drug tests.
“They just got him on a technical breach, an interpretation of their rules.
“If the system is not working, to then say the athlete is negligent is just an incredible bow to draw.”