"Contaminated food supplement" reason of Halep's positive doping test
WTA
Cristian Jura, who serves as a judge at the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS), spoke about Simona Halep's positive doping test.
Halep tested positive for roxadustat at the 2022 US Open. After the announcement of her positive test was made, the Romanian player stated that she started 'the biggest fight in her life.' The former WTA World No. 1 wants to clear her name.
It seems that things are going well for Halep, at least according to the latest update from Cristian Jura, who is a Romanian judge at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Jura spoke to ProSport and revealed that Halep was able to identify how the banned substance entered her body, which is an important step in clearing her name.
"It seems that the method by which Roxadustat entered the athlete’s body has been identified, namely by ingesting a contaminated food supplement."
"A 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."
Jura also explained how Halep's suspension can still be lifted. She has to prove how the banned substance entered her body and also that it didn't have any effect on her performance.
"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."
