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Long distance swimmers lose appeal
Posted: Wednesday March 01, 2000 01:59 PM
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- Two swimmers have lost an appeal against bans imposed over positive nandrolone tests, which they claimed were the result of eating the meat of uncastrated boars, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said Wednesday. Long-distance swimmers David Meca-Medina of Spain and Igor Majcen of Slovenia were suspended for four years in August by FINA, swimming's world governnig body. Both tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone, which has produced a recent spate of positive results in top athletes in several sports, at a World Cup event in Brazil in January 1999. The swimmers argued that the positive result was due to food they ate at their hotel in Salvador de Bahia. "They asserted that they both ate during five consecutive days prior to the race a local dish [sarapatell] containing pork meat, livers, kidneys ad intestines," CAS said in a statement. They said the dish was made of meat from the flesh of uncastrated boars and contained nandrolone. Both sides filed expert opinions and the three-arbitrator panel heard "several expert opinions" on the issue. The arbitrators decided the scientific evidence "was not sufficient to establish to the standard required by the FINA rules that the presence of nandrolone metabolites ... was due to the conjunction" of two conditions: that the swimmers ate a dish made with uncastrated boar meat, and that such boars produce nandrolone naturally. Officials have been puzzled by a sudden surge in positive tests for nandrolone, which has been available for decades and is easily detectable in standard urine controls. Many believe the increase is the result of athletes' taking supplements which, they may or may not know, contain nandrolone. The International Amateur Athletic Federation in February agreed to study the possible effect of food supplements on those who failed the nandrolone tests. But pending the results, it is retaining its penalties for athletes testing positive for the banned steroid.
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