ANIS FARHANA ANUAR LIA170012

NUREQHA ALIA FATINI LIA170101

TUTORIAL QUESTIONS: DOPING IN SPORTS

2) What are the various sanctions for doping violation in sport?

A sanction is automatically imposed once an anti-doping rule violation has been

determined, either after a sportsperson has admitted to a violation, has waived the right to a
hearing or as decided by an independent arbitrator after a doping tribunal hearing.

Under world Anti-doping Code (WADC), the result management and hearing process
of anti-doping violations shall be the responsibility of and governed by the procedural rules
of the anti-doping organization which initiated and conducted sample collections. Therefore,
for example each international federation will remain responsible for the adjudication process
for all the tests it has conducted both in and out of competition. Each case is to be looked at
individually, and the athlete support person given the opportunity of establishing a basis for
eliminating or reducing the sanction.

Several consequences may be suffered by a guilty sportsperson under WADC. The

sanctions in the code range from warning to a life ban depending on various matters
including, the type of the anti-doping violation, the circumstances of the individual case
(level or absence of fault or negligence), the substance (or quantity found for certain
substances) in case of the detection of a prohibited substance, and also the repetition of an-
anti doping violation.

The first type of sanction is disqualification. For individual sports, Article 9 of

WADC 2015 provides that “in connection with an In-Competition test, automatically leads to
disqualification of the result obtained in that Competition with all resulting consequences,
including forfeiture of medals, points and prizes.” This can be seen in the case of Raducan v
IOC where R won the gold medal but had been prescribe a flu tablet containing
pseudoephedrine and following the relevant rule of International Gymnastic Federation, R
had to forfeit her medal. Whereas for team sports, any award received by individual players is
cancelled. The rule under Article 9 applies automatically whenever Article 2.1 has been
violated. The application of this rule reflects the concept of strict liability. The rationale
behind automatic disqualification is that sportsperson should not be able to maintain a
position ahead of other athletes in a competition.

The second sanction is ineligibity. Article 10.2 specifies the duration of inegilibity
for different types of violation. For example, for the violation of Article 2.1, the inegilibity
ANIS FARHANA ANUAR LIA170012
NUREQHA ALIA FATINI LIA170101

period shall be four years where the anti-doping rule violation does not involve a specified
substance, unless the sportsperson can establish that the violation was not intentional . This
can be seen in the case of WADA v Norjannah Hafiszah Jamaluddin, Nurul Sarah Abdul
Kadir, Mohamad Noor Imran Hadi, Siti Zubaidah Adabi, Siti Fatimah Mohamad, Yee Yi
Ling, Harun Rasheed & Malaysia Athletic Federation where it was found that all of the
above-named athletes were deemed to have committed an anti-doping violation for having
refused or failed without compelling justification to submit the sample collection after
notification. As a result, five of them were sanctioned with a two-year period of ineligibity.
While the other two were sanctioned with 18-month period and 10-year period of inegibility
respectively.

The next sanction is called provisional or temporary suspension. There are few cases
in which drugs were taken unintentionally, for example a sportsperson used an inhaler not
knowing that the product contained a prohibited substances. Such exceptional circumstances
can be used as a defence, however, how effectively the provisions in the WADC are used in
providing this defence remain subject to a case-by-case basis.

Last but not least, financial consequences and automatic publication. Under article
10.10 of the WADC 2015, anti-doping organisations may, in their own rule, provide for
proportionate recovery of costs or financial sanctions on account of anti-doping rule
violations. However, anti-doping organisations may only impose financial sanctions in cases
where the maximum period of ineligibity otherwise applicable has been imposed. It may only
be imposed where the principle of proportionality is satisfied. In addition, Article 14.3 deals
with the issue of public disclosure. The identity of a sportsperson or other person who are
asserted by an anti-doping organisation to have committed an anti-doping rule violation may
be publicly disclosed with the “results management responsibility” only after notice has been
provided to the athlete or other person. Publication shall be done at a minimum by placing the
required information on the anti-doping organisation’s website and leaving the information
on the website for the duration of more than one month or the duration of any period of
inegilibity.

As a conclusion, the need for international solidarity and cooperation in implementing

effective strategies against doping in sport is vital, and the harmonisation of doping control
policies and sanctions should be focused. It is important for us Malaysian sportspersons to
ANIS FARHANA ANUAR LIA170012
NUREQHA ALIA FATINI LIA170101

show the world that we possess top sportspersons who are able to rise to the top without any
interference of drugs.