Related cases:
CAS 2017_A_5099 Artur Taymazov vs IOC
December 4, 2017
IOC 2016 IOC vs Artur Taymazov (Beijing Olympiad)
March 31, 2017
Mr Artur Taymazov is a Uzbek Athlete competing in the Men’s freestyle 120kg Wrestling event at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
In 2018, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to perform further analyses on certain samples collected during the 2012 Olympic Games. These additional analyses were performed with analytical methods which were not available in 2012.
Prevously in 2016 reanalysis of the Athlete’s samples provided at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games revealed the presence of the prohibited substances Stanozolol and Dehydrochlomethyltestosterone (Turinabol). Consequently the IOC Disciplinary Commission decided on 31 March 2017 to disqualify the Athlete and his results obtained at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Hereafter in December 2018 the International Testing Agency (ITA), on behalf of the IOC, reported a new anti-doping rule violation against the Athlete after his 2012 A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (Turinabol). After notification the Athlete filed a statement in his defence and he was heard for the IOC Disciplinary Commission.
The Athlete did not accept the test results and denied the intentional use of the substance. He asserted that he bears No Fault or Negligence or No Significant Fault or Negligence and that his results from the London 2012 Olympic Games should not be disqualified.
The Athlete argued that the current positive test result was caused by the same ingestion of the substance pre-dating the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games which also resulted in the presence of the substance in his 2008 samples. He alleged with evidence that the Turinabol found in his sample remains detectable for long periods of time. He found that he already was sanctioned for the presence of Turinabol in his 2008 samples and he should no be sanctioned again for the same violation (ne bis idem).
The IOC Disciplinary Commission finds that the Athlete didn’t challenge the results of the analysis of his 2012 samples and that the presence of the prohibited substance in these samples establish that he committed an anti-doping rule violation. Consequently this violation leads automatically to the disqualification of the results of the Athlete.
The Commission rejects the Athlete’s assertion of ne bis in idem as neither the violation nor the applicable rules are the same. The Commission deems that the Athlete failed to bring any concrete elements which would support his hypothesis that the substance found in his sample collected in 2012 would have the same origin as the one found in the sample collected in 2008.
The Commission concludes that the Athlete failed to submit any element which would substantiate circumstances warranting an exception in his favour. On the contrary, the fact that the Athlete was caught retroactively in the re-analysis process using doping substances in 2008 and again 2012 rather indicates that the Athlete may have in the meantime remained undetected in other occasions in which no re-analysis was performed. This certainly does not constitute a context in which consequences provided for in the anti-doping rules should not be applied based on “exceptional circumstances”.
Therefore the IOC Disciplinary Commission decided on 17 July 2019 that the Athlete, Artur Taymazov:
1.) is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London in 2012 (presence of Prohibited Substances or their Metabolites or Markers in the Athlete’s bodily specimen),
2.) is disqualified from the events in which he participated upon the occasion of the 2012 Olympic Games, namely, the Men’s freestyle 120kg Wrestling event, and
3.) has the medal, diploma, and pin obtained in the Men’s freestyle 120kg Wrestling event withdrawn and is ordered to return them.
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 Uzbekistan shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
6.) The decision enters into force immediately.
