Disqualified trainer
2021-11-17Information on checking medicines
2022-03-14Press release
18 January 2022
Vilnius
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected an appeal by rower Ieva Adomaviciute against her disqualification for using a banned substance. The highest and final judicial authority in sport upheld the sanctions imposed by the independent Anti-Doping Rule Violation Hearing Panel.
- Adomaviciute is disqualified for two years for using the banned substance higenamine. The amount of higenamine detected was twice the limit at which laboratories must report a positive doping control test. Higenamine is a natural stimulant found either in stimulant supplements or in supplements intended for weight loss.
The period of Ineligibility of the rower started on 15 September 2020, when the provisional suspension following the positive doping test started. This decision annulled all of the rower's competition results since the sample was taken. In addition, Adomaviciūtė lost her right to compete at the Tokyo Olympics. The rower's disqualification will expire on 15 September 2022.
"The International Court of Arbitration for Sport has re-examined the case. The Court can decide to uphold the sanctions already imposed, it can reduce them and it can annul the sanctions imposed on the athlete. New evidence can be submitted to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, not only evidence that was previously submitted before the disqualification. The athlete took advantage of this and submitted new versions to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on how the higenamine could have entered her system," said Rūta Banytė, Director of the Lithuanian Anti-Doping Agency. - The Lithuanian Anti-Doping Agency cooperated in good faith with the athlete and her representatives, just as it did with the commission in Lithuania during her case. The Agency agreed to a written procedure in the court proceedings.
This significantly reduces the costs for athletes who appeal. For these reasons, we have also agreed to a single arbitrator." The Anti-Doping Review Panel's decision to impose sanctions was based on the World Anti-Doping Code, the Anti-Doping Rules and CAS case law. The athlete did not identify the source of the prohibited substance in her system, although the Agency assisted the athlete to the extent it was able to do so in the investigation of how and where the hygenamine could have entered the rower's system.
"The onus is on the athlete to identify the source. Neither under the World Anti-Doping Code nor under the jurisprudence of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport is the statement "I don't know how the substance got into my system" considered as a justifiable argument by most athletes. Only if the athlete proves that the substance came from food or supplements, then the extent of the athlete's negligence and fault is determined. These circumstances may determine the length of the disqualification, but not the fact of the disqualification itself," says Banyte."
