The International Canoe Federation has welcomed the ruling of the Court of Arbitration of Sport, supporting the ICF’s four-year ban on Moldovan canoeist and Olympic bronze medallist, Serghei Tarnovschi, after he returned a positive drug test.
Tarnovschi will now look to have Tarnovschi’s Olympic medal removed. His results will be deleted as per the CAS decision.
An out-of-competition test carried out on Tarnovschi on July 8, 2016, returned an adverse analytical finding for GHRP-2, a growth hormone-releasing peptide, a prohibited substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s List of Prohibited Substances and Methods.
Tarnovschi argued that the presence of GHRP-2 in his body was due to the ingestion of a contaminated nutritional supplement and lodged an appeal, which has now been dismissed by CAS.
In its ruling the court confirmed the ICF’s original decision that Tarnovschi had not proven the absence of intent "simply by proffering the above theory without any corroborating evidence".
"CAS has dismissed the appeal filed by the athlete and confirmed the ICF’s decision of 30 January 2017 imposing a period of ineligibility of four years on the athlete and the disqualification of all results obtained from 8 July 2016 onwards, including the bronze medal won in the Men’s Canoe C1 1000-meter competition at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games," the finding said.
ICF Secretary General, Simon Toulson, said the ruling was a victory for clean athletes and the ICF’s fight to keep canoeing clean.
"It is always disappointing to suspend athletes in our sport, but this decision is in line with the ICF’s continued hardline on doping cheats in our sport," Mr Toulson said.
"It is another message to athletes wishing to cheat in our sport that they are not welcome, and when caught will be dealt with to the maximum of our ability.
"We have hundreds of elite athletes all over the world who strive legally every day to make themselves as competitive as possible.
"The original ruling of the ICF, confirmed overnight by the CAS, should send a message to drug cheats and clean athletes alike; there is no place in international canoeing for anyone who thinks they can cheat the system."
For more information, please contact:
ICF
Tel: +41 (0) 21 612 0290
Email: media@canoeicf.com
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