Mr. Wilfredo Martinez is a former Cuban Athlete competing in the Men’s long jump event at the Beijng 2008 Olympic Games.
In 2016, the IOC decided to perform further analyses on certain samples collected during the 2008 Olympic Games. These additional analyses were performed with analytical methods which were not available in 2008.
In May 2016 the International Olympic Committee reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Athlete after his 2008 A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance acetazolamide.
The Cuban National Olympic Committee informed the IOC that the Athlete left Cuba illegally in 2011. In June 2016 the IAAF reported to the IOC that the Athlete moved to Spain and was affiliated to the club C.A. Playas de Castellón.
After notification the Athlete filed a statement in his defence and waived his right to be heard.
The Athlete accepted the test results and submitted that he was shocked when he received the notification about the positive test results. He stated that he had been subject to several anti-doping tests after the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 during competitions around the world and that none of them ever returned positive.
The Athlete explained that he had been aware of his obligations as professional athlete all along his career. He submitted that he had always followed the recommandations received from the doctors of the Athletics Cuban national team. He contended that he was not in the position to provide the Disciplinary Commission with the name of the medications used at the time because all his belongings had been seized by the Cuban state security when he left Cuba in 2011.
The Athlete also explained that he tore a muscle 30 days before the beginning of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 and had to “attend recreational (sic) procedures every day”, during which he was given medication against inflammation and cramps.
Considering the test results and the Athlete’s explanations, the Disciplinary Commission simply observes that in these proceedings, the Athlete has only raised uncontrolled hypothesis.
The Athlete did not concretely establish the source of the positive findings. In any event, the Disciplinary Commission finds that the Athlete has so far failed to bring forth any concrete element, which would support a finding excluding that he did not simply used the substance for doping (in this case masking) purposes.
Therefore the IOC Disciplinary Commission decides on 19 October 2016 that the Athlete, Wilfredo Martinez:
1.) is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008 (presence of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen),
2.) is disqualified from all the events in which he participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, namely, at the Men’s long jump event,
3.) has the diploma obtained in the Men’s long jump event withdrawn and is ordered to return the same.
4.) The IAAF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned event accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
5.) The Comité Olimpico Cubano shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
6.) The Comité Olimpico Cubano shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the diploma awarded in connection with the Men’s long jump event to the Athlete.
7.) This decision enters into force immediately.
