Cielo in focus ahead of worlds
Source: Agencies |
July 6, 2011, Wednesday
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SWIMMING'S governing body is aiming for a quick resolution to Cesar Cielo's doping case, just 20 days before the Olympic gold medalist is due to compete at the world championships.
FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculescu said that its lawyers are now studying a Brazilian ruling which last week gave Cielo just a warning after he failed a doping test. "We do have the decision of the panel in Brazil and we have to look at it," Marculescu said. "We are trying to do it as quick as possible."
Under anti-doping rules, the Switzerland-based governing body has 21 days to launch an appeal challenging the verdict at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. World sport's highest court of appeal sometimes has previously given decisions within hours or days of a hearing, allowing its panel to deliver a detailed verdict several weeks later.
Cielo, who is one of Brazil's most feted sports stars, and three teammates tested positive for the banned substance furosemide in May at a meeting in Rio de Janeiro.
Furosemide is a diuretic often used to help lose weight, but is also a masking agent which hides the presence of other drugs.
Brazil's swim federation accepted the four swimmers' explanation that they consumed the drug in a contaminated batch of a supplement they regularly used.
Cielo and teammates Nicholas Santos, Henrique Barbosa and Vinicius Waked were given warnings that cleared them to compete at the worlds in Shanghai later this month. Waked previously served a two-month ban for testing positive for the stimulant isometheptene.
The 24-year-old Cielo would be one of Brazil's best medal hopes. His 50-meter freestyle victory at the 2008 Olympics was one of only three golds won by his country in Beijing.
Marculescu said Cielo's participation in the worlds would "depends on the details" of the ruling from Brazil.
"Supplements is a delicate issue," said Marculescu, adding that FINA advised athletes "all the time" not to take them. "You never know what you take. Some pharmacies are putting substances together in a capsule and it's a risk."
Marculescu noted that Cielo could compete in Shanghai and be judged later - a similar scenario to that facing Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador, whose national federation accepted he was not to blame for ingesting clenbuterol while winning the 2010 Tour de France.
FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculescu said that its lawyers are now studying a Brazilian ruling which last week gave Cielo just a warning after he failed a doping test. "We do have the decision of the panel in Brazil and we have to look at it," Marculescu said. "We are trying to do it as quick as possible."
Under anti-doping rules, the Switzerland-based governing body has 21 days to launch an appeal challenging the verdict at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. World sport's highest court of appeal sometimes has previously given decisions within hours or days of a hearing, allowing its panel to deliver a detailed verdict several weeks later.
Cielo, who is one of Brazil's most feted sports stars, and three teammates tested positive for the banned substance furosemide in May at a meeting in Rio de Janeiro.
Furosemide is a diuretic often used to help lose weight, but is also a masking agent which hides the presence of other drugs.
Brazil's swim federation accepted the four swimmers' explanation that they consumed the drug in a contaminated batch of a supplement they regularly used.
Cielo and teammates Nicholas Santos, Henrique Barbosa and Vinicius Waked were given warnings that cleared them to compete at the worlds in Shanghai later this month. Waked previously served a two-month ban for testing positive for the stimulant isometheptene.
The 24-year-old Cielo would be one of Brazil's best medal hopes. His 50-meter freestyle victory at the 2008 Olympics was one of only three golds won by his country in Beijing.
Marculescu said Cielo's participation in the worlds would "depends on the details" of the ruling from Brazil.
"Supplements is a delicate issue," said Marculescu, adding that FINA advised athletes "all the time" not to take them. "You never know what you take. Some pharmacies are putting substances together in a capsule and it's a risk."
Marculescu noted that Cielo could compete in Shanghai and be judged later - a similar scenario to that facing Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador, whose national federation accepted he was not to blame for ingesting clenbuterol while winning the 2010 Tour de France.
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