For those of you who are surprised about Fuentes being able to start
his suspension on March of this past year and no forseeable USAC
enforcement of prize money issues, I give you this reminder.
Court of Arbitration of Sport criticizes USA Cycling
The North American Court of Arbitration in Sport has issued its full
decision in the case of T-Mobile rider Amber Neben, who was suspended
for six months after testing positive for anabolic steroid metabolite
19-norandrosterone. Neben's suspension was reduced from the possible
two years because the Court's hearing panel found she had not doped
deliberately but was likely the victim of a contaminated supplement.
The decision is severely critical of USA Cycling's attitude to
supplement use by athletes.
Referring to testimony from several USA Cycling officials, the Court's
decision reads, "the Panel is disturbed by the testimony from the USA
Cycling witnesses and officials. It is obvious that the organization
has acted in complete disregard of its athletes, in particular those
below the elite level. There appears to be little or no attempt at
communicating the dangers of contaminated supplements to the thousands
of USA Cycling athletes."
Testimony heard by the panel came from USA Cycling officials including
CEO Gerard Bisceglia, who said he "was not aware of the risks or
dangers involved in taking supplements" and "was not aware that any
USA Cycling officials had been handing out supplements."
Neben controlled positive in a test conducted on May 31 this year at
the Montreal World Cup. In her defence, Neben said she had also been
tested nine days before her positive control and three and four days
after. All three of those tests were negative. Neben claimed her
positive test was probably a result of a contaminated supplement, but
was unable to provide samples any supplements that showed
contamination. In particular, supplements supplied to USA Cycling
riders by sponsor Hammer Nutrition all tested negative.
The panel hearing the case concluded that Neben had not been guilty of
intentional doping, but that some sanction had to be applied under the
'strict liability' rules which cover doping offences. As well as a
six-month suspension starting July 13, 2003 Neben's sanction includes
a requirement to perform educational work with USA Cycling, to teach
other athletes about the dangers of contaminated supplements.