Sports court upholds sprinter’s 4-year doping ban, rejects ‘recovery gummies’ defense

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The sprinter who claimed his positive test for a performance-enhancer came from eating contaminated “recovery gummies” has lost an appeal against his four-year ban.

Issam Asinga, who set the Under-20 world record at 100 meters in 2023, lost his appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which announced its ruling Thursday.

The 20-year-old Asinga, who represents Suriname, tested positive in July 2023 for a banned substance called GW1516, which was developed to build endurance and burn fat but failed medical trials when it was found to cause cancer during tests on rodents.

Asinga argued that the presence of metabolites was from his ingestion of contaminated Gatorade gummies. He said the gummies were part of a gift bag he received when he traveled to Los Angeles in recognition of being named the Gatorade Athlete of the Year for track and field.

In May 2024, the Athletics Integrity Unit announced the four-year ban and stripped Asinga of his record of 9.89 seconds in the 100 at the South American championships in 2023.

Asinga filed an appeal to CAS. He said he had “never used and would never knowingly use any banned substance, risking a promising career and my entire future.”

CAS announced on Thursday that its panel found, after a hearing in June, “that the athlete had failed to establish that, on the balance of probabilities, it was more likely than not that the gummies he ingested prior to his anti-doping test were contaminated with GW1516.

“Therefore, a reduced sanction for No Fault or Negligence was not applicable,” the court’s statement continued. “The panel also found that the athlete failed to establish that his (anti-doping rule violation) was not intentional.”

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