CAS decision concerning Norwegian Cross-Country Skier Therese Johaug


The Court of Arbitration for Sport has decided to ban the athlete for 18 months in the case against the Norwegian cross-country skier Therese Johaug.

 

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld the appeal filed by the International Skiing Federation (FIS), has set aside the decision issued by the Adjudication Committee of the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sport on 10. February 2017 and has issued a new decision in which Ms. Johaug is suspended for a period of 18 months commencing on 18 October 2016. On 6 March 2017, the International Ski Federation (FIS) filed an appeal at the CAS requesting that the period of ineligibility imposed on Ms Johaug be reasonably extended, to between 16-20 months.

One of three

Johaug is one of three athletes who has been banned for 18 months. Paralympic Sledge-Hockey player Igor Stella and soccer-player Marco Conte, both from Italy, have both been banned for 18 months for the same substance. 21 athlete has been banned for 18 months or longer for testing postive for Clostebol. In total 38 has been banned for Clostebol.

13 months

The athlete used the medicine Trofodermin to treat sore lips and did not see neither the doping warning nor understood Clostebol was a prohibited substance. The Norwegian Confederation for Sport suspended the athlete for 13 months. The suspension was backdated to October 18 2016 when the athlete was provisionally suspended. She can return to competition on November 18, 2017. Norwegian and English text here: www.idrettsforbundet.no/tema/lov-og-forskrifter/informasjon-om-therese-johaug-saken/

30 sanctions

In the Anti-Doping Database we have registered 30 athletes who has been sanctioned for testing positive for the prohibited substance. 11 of the 30 athletes has been banned for two years. And in total 24 athletes has received a one year or longer suspension after testing positive for Clostebol. Nine Italian athletes has been sanctioned for using the prohibited substance. Five of these were cyclists.

72 cross-country skiers

As many as 72 athletes in the sport of cross-country skiing has been banned for testing positive for a prohibited substance. 26 of these were Russian athletes, while 14 were Finnish skiers. 11 skiers from Austria has been banned for using this substance. 63 athletes has been banned for or longer. EPO is the most commonly used substance in the sport of cross-country skiing with 13 cases registered in the Anti-Doping Database.

Clostebol

Clostebol, usually as the ester clostebol acetate, is a synthetic anabolic androgenic steroid. Clostebol is the 4-chloro derivative of the natural hormone testosterone. It is a weak anabolic Steroid used often by Germans during their Olympic glory days. Version of testosterone that is chlorinated so as to prevent conversion to DHT while also rendering the chemical incapable of conversion to estrogen. Although these are both desirable to body builders, the chemical never became popular in the US probably due to availability and the weak nature as compared with testosterone. (Source: Wikipedia)

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