A recreational boxer (name withheld and given the pseudonym “Ms X”) has been suspended by the Sports Tribunal for two years for the presence and use of the prohibited substance Phentermine – being a non-specified substance prohibited in competition only under the 2024 WADA Prohibited List.
As Ms X is a “Recreational Athlete”, a status defined by the Sports Anti-Doping Rules (SADR) and accepted by the Sport Integrity Commission, the Tribunal has exercised its discretion not to publish her name because, amongst other reasons, the Tribunal considered that the two-year sanction imposed on Ms X under the SADR was disproportionate to her level of fault.
Ms X was provisionally suspended without opposition on 21 February 2025, following an Adverse Analytical Finding from an in-competition test in June 2024. Ms X later admitted the anti-doping rule violations but sought to be heard on sanction.
Ms X established before the Tribunal that her use of Duromine, a weight loss drug which contained the active and banned ingredient Phentermine, was “not intentional” as defined by the SADR. This reduced her sanction from a four-year period of ineligibility down to two years ineligibility. The Tribunal was satisfied that Ms X did not know that Duromine contained the prohibited substance Phentermine which she had obtained legally through an online GP. She had used it over a period of 5-6 months as part of an established weight loss strategy and to maintain good health. The Tribunal further accepted that her use occurred out-of-competition and was unrelated to sport performance.
The Tribunal provided additional commentary on its views about the disproportionate sanction imposed on Ms X by way of comparison with other recent cases before the Tribunal.
The period of ineligibility imposed on Ms X was backdated to commence on 21 February 2025 (the date of the provisional suspension order) and will end on 21 February 2027. In the circumstances of the case, the SADR did not allow for any further reduction in sanction.