Simona Halep reportedly halfway towards clearing her name

JanMijer

Rookie
Simona Halep reportedly halfway towards clearing her name

Tennis365 / by James Richardson / December 06, 2022 at 04:32AM


Cristian Jura, a Romanian judge serving with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, has revealed that Simona Halep has taken a key step in having her doping suspension lifted.

It appears that Halep has identified the source of the Roxadustat that she test positive for among the supplements she had been using.
Crucially the substance was reportedly found to be in the supplement without proper labelling.

While Roxadustat is a prescription medicine, its formula has been published and there are no shortage of unscrupulous chemists willing to produce the drug that has been shown to increase peak oxygen uptake.

“It seems that the method by which Roxadustat entered the athlete’s body has been identified, namely by ingesting a contaminated food supplement,” Jura said, according to ProSport.
“Contaminated product is a product that contains a prohibited substance, without this being specified on the product label or in information accessible through a reasonable search on the Internet.

“The athlete is still at this moment between the lifting of the suspension, i.e. the removal of any sanctions, and the 4-year suspension from sports activity.

The suspension can be reduced or even canceled if the two conditions stipulated by the World Anti-Doping Code are cumulatively met: to establish very clearly the way in which the substance entered the body and the athlete’s lack of intention to take the prohibited substance to improve sports performance.

One of the conditions was met, it was clearly established how the substance got into the athlete’s body. The athlete must also prove the lack of guilt and negligence. That is, the athlete or other person must prove that Simona did not know or suspect and could not reasonably have known or suspected, even by exercising the most careful caution, that she used or was administered prohibited substances or that he used prohibited methods,” he also said.

Simona Halep could see her provisional suspension lifted after a hearing before the International Tennis Integrity Agency.
However, the former World No 1 would need to provide compelling evidence that she accidentally ingested the banned substance.

Jura added: “Procedurally, there are several stages. First, there’s a preliminary hearing before the International Tennis Integrity Agency.
“At this stage it is possible to lift the athlete’s provisional suspension, taking into account the evidence that she ingested a contaminated supplement.

“But I would make an important clarification.
“Just as it is possible to lift the provisional suspension, so it can be maintained, very much depends on the evidence.”

 

Fabresque

Legend
TL;DR apparently they found the product she ingested which contained the drug. Said product did not explicitly state that it contained the drug, meaning that it was a “contaminated product”.

Now they have to prove that Halep actually ingested this thing, which will see her provisional suspension lifted.
 

Fabresque

Legend
I just read John Millman’s perspective on this. With the use of TUE’s in tennis, it really doesn’t make any sense for Simona to illegally dope. She could’ve legally ingested this crap if she just filled out the proper paperwork, so it doesn’t make sense for her to illegally do it.
 

Rosstour

G.O.A.T.
I just read John Millman’s perspective on this. With the use of TUE’s in tennis, it really doesn’t make any sense for Simona to illegally dope. She could’ve legally ingested this crap if she just filled out the proper paperwork, so it doesn’t make sense for her to illegally do it.

So there was probably more going on

Has any player ever been busted for EPO? Don't think so.
 

Silverbullet96

Hall of Fame
I wonder if there has been a Tennis player who tested positive, that don't claim they ingested the prohibited substance on accident.

I just read John Millman’s perspective on this. With the use of TUE’s in tennis, it really doesn’t make any sense for Simona to illegally dope. She could’ve legally ingested this crap if she just filled out the proper paperwork, so it doesn’t make sense for her to illegally do it.

But doesn't she have to have a disability or condition to ingest this legally ?
 

Fabresque

Legend
I wonder if there has been a Tennis player who tested positive, that don't claim they ingested the prohibited substance on accident.



But doesn't she have to have a disability or condition to ingest this legally ?
Yes, but it was reported her nose surgery was to correct breathing problems, so why not just ask for a TUE to take this thing? She can definitely claim a disability and take it legally, which just furthers the point that it was an unintentional ingestion.
 

jindra

Hall of Fame
Yes, but it was reported her nose surgery was to correct breathing problems, so why not just ask for a TUE to take this thing? She can definitely claim a disability and take it legally, which just furthers the point that it was an unintentional ingestion.

A TUE for a PED because she had nose surgery?! You're hitting the edibles a little too hard, son.
 

merwy

G.O.A.T.
I just read John Millman’s perspective on this. With the use of TUE’s in tennis, it really doesn’t make any sense for Simona to illegally dope. She could’ve legally ingested this crap if she just filled out the proper paperwork, so it doesn’t make sense for her to illegally do it.
Filled out the proper paperwork? For basically EPO? Man that’s some hefty paperwork she would need to fill out
 

Tshooter

G.O.A.T.
Filled out the proper paperwork? For basically EPO? Man that’s some hefty paperwork she would need to fill out

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socallefty

G.O.A.T.
Interesting. So a very rich player or state-sponsored organization could potentially fund a private supplement company to put illegal PEDs in products that they market without them appearing on the label, have athletes use it and then claim they ingested the drugs from an improperly labeled supplement. All they would have to do is make it difficult for the drug testing agencies to find out that they are involved with the company making the supplement.
 

puppybutts

Hall of Fame
am curious to know what supplement she was taking that the company manufacturing them can accidentally sprinkle in some Roxadustat
 

norcal

Legend
Good thing she didn't have lunch at Errani's house, you know with all of her mom's meds rolling off the counter into the minestrone!

Thankfully there's an impartial Romanian judge looking into it, lmao.
 

Silverbullet96

Hall of Fame
Yes, but it was reported her nose surgery was to correct breathing problems, so why not just ask for a TUE to take this thing? She can definitely claim a disability and take it legally, which just furthers the point that it was an unintentional ingestion.

We don't know that this drug would have helped her breathing problems.
 

JanMijer

Rookie
I think it's so unfair that they ban a clean player like Daria Kasatkina in Wimbledon but they let a doper play.
 
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