Mr Vasyl Fedoryshyn is an Ukrainian Athlete competing in the Men’s 55-60 kg Freestyle wrestling event at the Beijing 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 July 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 dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol). After notification the Athlete filed a statement with arguments in his defence and he was heard for the IOC Disciplinary Commission.
In his submissions the Athlete denied the intentional use of prohibited substances in his career. He revoked his acceptace of the Adverse Analytical Finding and challenged the anti-doping violation on the basis of various arguments.
Considering the Athlete’s arguments the IOC Disciplinary Commission finds that the documentation provided to the Athlete was sufficient and it establish the identity of the samples, which served as basis to the analysis performed in the Lausanne Laboratory.
The Commission holds that the requested DNA analysis is not part of the regular process and at no time and place were the samples stored or handled in any context in which a manipulation of the kind, which occurred in Sochi, would be, even remotely, plausible.
The Commission finds that none of the Athlete’s arguments is putting in question the validity of the analysis results of the Athlete’s sample and of the corresponding finding consisting in the establishment of an anti-doping rule violation.
The Disciplinary Commission notes that athletes have long been warned against the use of supplements. As such, the fact that turinabol may have been ingested as part of a supplement is not likely to constitute an element exonerating the Athlete from having been at fault for using a Prohibited Substance. In this respect, the Disciplinary Commission observes that supplements do not, as a rule, contain turinabol and that accidental contamination of a legitimate supplement by this substance appears to be very unlikely.
The Commission concludes that the Athlete has committed an anti-doping rule violation consistent with the intentional use of a prohibited substance specifically ingested to deliberately improve performance. The fact that the metabolite of a doping substance, which is a traditional doping substance, was found, supports this consideration.
The Disciplinary Commission, which has now handled multiple cases arising out of the re-analysis of samples collection on the occasion of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, observes that the presence of metabolites of this particular substance has been established in a remarkably high number of cases. This constitutes an indication that said substance has been in widespread use by athletes, who were doping at that time.
Therefore the IOC Disciplinary Commission decides on 31 March 2017 that the Athlete, Vasyl Fedoryshyn:
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 and/or use, of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen),
2.) is disqualified from the events in which he participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, namely, the Men’s 55-60 kg Freestyle wrestling event in which he ranked 2nd and for which he was awarded a silver medal, and
3.) has the silver medal, the diploma and the medallist pin obtained in the Men’s 55-60 kg Freestyle wrestling withdrawn and is ordered to return same.
4.) The UWW is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned event accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
5.) The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
6.) The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the silver medal, the diploma and the medallist pin awarded in connection with the Men’s 55-60 kg Freestyle wrestling event to the Athlete.
7.) This decision enters into force immediately.
