Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, former number one in the WTA ranking, was suspended this Tuesday for four years for two anti-doping rule violations, the ITIA announced.
The 31-year-old athlete, who has already been suspended since October 2022, can appeal the decision, however, if she prevails, she will only be able to return to the courts on October 6, 2026, at an age that will hardly allow her to return to her peak. maximum.
After testing positive for the drug Roxadustat during a urine test at the US Open in August 2022, the Romanian was again targeted by the ITIA, which noted an “adverse result” in the biological passport, based on the evaluation of the profile of Halep by a panel of independent experts.
This group realized that the winner of Roland Garros in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019 “used prohibited substances or methods” during 2022 from a collection and analysis of 51 blood samples.
“The court accepted Halep’s argument that she had taken a contaminated supplement, but determined that the volume that the athlete ingested could not have resulted in the concentration of uvadustat found in the positive sample,” the entity clarified.
The court assumes that it has no reason to doubt the “firm and unanimous opinion” of the three independent experts of the Athletes’ Passport Management Unit (APMU), according to which the use of doping is the only explanation for the irregularities in the Romanian profile.
“After a complex and rigorous hearing process, we welcome the decision of the independent tribunal. The volume of evidence that the tribunal had to consider in both the Roxadustat and ABP proceedings was substantial,” said Karen Moorhouse, chief executive. of ITIA.
Roxadustat is a substance legitimately used to treat anemia, but it is on WADA’s list of banned substances because it is considered a blood doping agent, which increases hemoglobin and red blood cell production.
The panel of expert scientists who analyzed Halep’s case does not have access to the identity of the person whose data they evaluate.
The arguments of the prosecution and defense were resolved together in a total of about eight thousand pages.
Simona Halep has always stated that she never knowingly took any prohibited substance and, more than once, said she felt persecuted in this process.
Source: TSF
