Jul 28, 2021 2 min read

Daily Combine: Sprinter Alex Wilson back on outer

Alex Wilson, a Swiss Olympic qualified sprinter, is out of the Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ('CAS') reinstated his provisional suspension despite an earlier reprieve from the Disciplinary Chamber of Swiss Olympic.

CAS's Ad-Hoc Division said that the Disciplinary Chamber of Swiss Olympic should not have lifted the provisional suspension as their decision was not in line with the rules of Anti-doping Switzerland.

The lead-in

The back and forth for the Jamaican born Swiss athlete started on 15 March 2021 when an adverse analytical finding for the prohibited substance trenbolone was recorded against him in an out-of-competition doping test.

As a result, on 28 April 2021, Anti-Doping Switzerland immediately imposed a provisional suspension on Wilson. Wilson appealed to the Disciplinary Chamber of Swiss Olympic, who subsequently lifted the provisional suspension on 2 July 2021, allowing his entry into the 100 and 200-metre events.

However, on 22 July World Athletics, later joined by WADA on 24 July, filed an application with the CAS AHD to have the provisional suspension reinstated immediately.

CAS AHD held a hearing on Sunday before a Panel presided over by the Hon. Dr Annabelle Bennett, the former Australian Federal Court Judge.

'Contaminated meat'

Wilson has claimed the source of the prohibited substance is the ingestion of contaminated meat consumed in the United States in March 2021.

The CAS AHD Panel said the Disciplinary Chamber of Swiss Olympic incorrectly applied the test that "the positive finding could have been caused by the consumption of contaminated beef."

"... the test is to determine whether it is likely or probable that the positive finding was caused by the consumption of contaminated beef," the Panel stated in reference to the rules of Anti-Doping Switzerland.

Accordingly, the Panel was satisfied that the original decision to impose a provisional suspension against Wilson on 28 April was valid, and it was reinstated.

The substantial disciplinary proceedings are still to be determined by Swiss Olympic at a later date.

"The present CAS decision does not prejudge in any way the decision which will be rendered by Swiss Olympic later on, once the disciplinary proceedings will have been completed," the Court said in a statement.

Media Release CAS (28 July 2021)

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