Well, this pharmacist knew exactly that the spray contains Clostebol and has a doping warning label on it. He told the physio about it.
Yet they brought this thing to tournament. Deliberate act.
There are some factual errors and missing key details here. If you are up for a civil debate like we are in court and you represent WADA and wants 1-2 or 4 years ban. I will explain why Jannik Sinner has a strong case. let's correct the facts first.
Quoted from ITIA's document on Sinner's case:
Line 38: Pharmacist (or Ferrarar) recommend Naldi (physio) to use Trofodermin for his cut. There is discrepancy between pharmacist and physio whether a warning was given (as everyone wants to protect their *ss) but for strict liability, let’s say pharmacist did.
Line 39: Canister of spray was removed from package. Physio admits he did not check the contents of the spray or see the label. So this is physio mistake. Mr. Naldi states that he had no knowledge that the spray contained Clostebol. (he is after-all not a pharmacist).
A lot of people think Sinner story is ridiculous mainly because his contamination is a massage from his trainer. This is emphasized again and again by Kyrios and co. I actually think it is probably the strongest point of his case.
Let's say Vokazu represents WADA and this is his argument. It is impossible that this pharmacist does not know clostebol is a doping agent, and this a "deliberate" act. In fact, pharmD DOES know. But that is not the point of an argument. as a healthcare professional, if I were to testify in court, to me it is very plausible for a trained healthcare professional to make mistakes. To put this in perspective, have you ever experienced or know anyone who experienced medical errors? it is more common than you think.
Do you think we don't label drugs in the hospital, and we don't pass exams to administer these drugs? Silly mistakes (or sentinel events) happen all the time. People die from them. A physio is unlikely to have the knowledge of transdermal of cross contamination of infinitesimal small amount. (He doesn't even know if the unlabeled tube contains clostebol). A pharmacist might know about these new studies about cross contamination, or he might NOT know. He gave Sinner's trainer that OTC, not Sinner himself. Pharmacist probably thinks he has fulfilled his responsibility. It is like a doctor made no mistakes directly to his patient, but a nurse when receiving an unclear order from a doctor, can still harm the patient (because nursing does not have complex medical knowledge).
You can choose the best doctor (or pharmacist/trainer) but you can't guarantee that doctor won't make mistakes. Can you possibly blame yourself for picking certain hospitals or medical teams? I work in a quaternary medical center, and most M&M cases are all easily preventable events.
Honestly, at-fault athletes presented so many stories that involved non-professionals. Stories are like accidentally kissing, having sex, eating from my mom's food, using lip balms. No one really ever use team member's argument as it hits too close to anti-doping most sacred rule, strict liability. But actually to medical professionals, it is actually quite plausible. Plausibility is probably the most subjective thing in law - but I would argue most important thing if you want to win a case.
Jannik Sinner who probably doesn't even receive high school education probably won't understand the concept of sentinel event or the Swiss cheese model of accidental causation, but a very darn good JD will able to use them and win Mr. Sinner's his case in front of CAS.
(and I don't even need to evoke the fact that the quantitative amounts in both 8-day apart positive tests are really not scientifically enough to have any advantage.)
It is not coincidental that WADA came up with an offer after receiving Sinner's legal team defense arguments.
(if anyone even read till this line, then you probably did read at least half of the 33 paged Jannik Sinner's legal proceedings)
