Simona Halep made a double doping error
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Former world number one and winner of two Grand Slam tournaments, Romanian Simona Halep has been suspended for four years for violating the Tennis Anti-Doping Program (TADP). This decision was made in two cases opened in 2022: the 31-year-old athlete is accused of using the banned drug roxadustat, which is a blood doping agent, as well as deliberately entering false information in her biological passport (ABP).
International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), an independent body established by the main tennis organizations – the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), announced about his decision in the doping case of Romanian Simona Halep.
In October 2017, Halep became the world number one and held this position for a total of 64 weeks. She won Roland Garros in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019. Considering the merits of the 31-year-old athlete, her case can be considered the most high-profile since Russian Maria Sharapova was punished in 2016 for using meldonium. It is significant that the investigation into the Halep case took more than 12 months.
On August 29, 2022, in New York at the US Open, the banned drug roxadustat was detected in the urine taken from Simona Halep as a doping test.
This substance is used to treat anemia, but is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) list of prohibited substances because it is considered a blood doping agent, raising hemoglobin and increasing red blood cell production.
Shortly thereafter, irregularities were discovered in the tennis player’s biological passport, documentation that tracks the biological parameters of athletes to identify potential violations of anti-doping rules. The conclusion about the violations was made based on the collection and analysis of 51 blood samples provided by the tennis player as part of the ABP program.
Simona Halep has repeatedly expressed disagreement with accusations of manipulation of the biological passport, and explained the presence of roxadustat in her doping test using a contaminated biological additive. However, the independent ITIA tribunal, which met in London on June 28 and 29 and previously examined approximately 8 thousand pages of various documents, found the tennis player guilty of both counts. At the same time, the key motives for this decision are the concentration of roxadustat in Simona Halep’s doping test and the opinions of independent experts who were heard on the issue of changes in her biological passport.
As punishment, Simona Halep will be suspended from competition for 48 months – from October 7, 2022 to October 6, 2026.
The tennis player herself, who was in seventh place in the ranking at the time of her positive doping test, announced her disagreement with this decision and, in defense of her rights, intends to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS).
The famous French midfielder Paul Pogba is at the center of the most notorious doping scandal in recent years in world football. Pogba, who played very rarely last season due to injuries, tested positive for testosterone. He faces a ban of two to four years, and the player’s representatives claim that he “did not want to break the rules” in any case.
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