The Star (Jamaica)

Crowne wants no sanctions for contaminat­ion

- DANIEL WHEELER STAR Writer

Sports Lawyer Dr Emir Crowne says that the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) Code should be revised to issue no sanctions to athletes whose adverse findings are a result of contaminat­ed products.

In Article 10.5.1.2 of the WADA Code, product contaminat­ion is addressed in relation to the reduction in sanctions for adverse findings of athletes based on there being “no significan­t fault or negligence” on their part. The code now gives athletes a reprimand if the athlete can establish that the adverse finding came from a contaminat­ed substance. But

Crowne says that no discipline is necessary for athletes if they are able to prove such a situation occurred.

“The code needs to be revised to recognise that in a contaminat­edproducts case, there should be no sanctions. You don’t receive a reprimand. You receive no sanction at all if the panel truly believes that the product was contaminat­ed,” he said.

Crowne referenced a previous case in which he represente­d Trinidadia­n beach volleyball player Fabien Whitfield, who tested positive for testostero­ne and at least one other steroid in 2016. Whitfield, in his defence, said that he was the victim of contaminat­ed horse meat. Crowne said it would have been costly for Whitfield to have gotten such substances.

COULDN’T AFFORD BEEF

“His family was so poor that they couldn’t afford beef, so they ate horse meat, like racetrack horses that were killed after their life span as a racehorse,” he said. “They found a cocktail of seven steroids in his system. Do you know how expensive it would be if he was actually using steroids? That would be US$1,000 (around J$140,000) a month.

“Either he was secretly doing that or he ate contaminat­ed horse meat because his family’s only source of protein was dead racetrack horses.”

In 2017, the Court of Arbitratio­n for Sport upheld the four-year ban given to Whitfield by the Federation Internatio­nale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport’s world governing body. Crowne says that this was unjust.

“It is materially unfair that in a situation like that, he gets a four-year ban for something like that, when you have state-run doping schemes getting away. And so I think more emphasis has to be placed on the idea that contaminat­ion occurs in the real world,” he said.

Crowne said that substance testing is not equitable for athletes from developing countries.

“It is not a realistic standard for athletes from certain countries, and the [WADA] code is geared towards athletes from developed countries,” he said.

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