Admin l Friday, September 17, 2021
LUSANNE, Switzerland – The Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS ADD) has ruled in the appeal filed by Latvian biathlete Andrejs Rastorgujevs. According to CAS, the Request for Arbitration filed by the International Biathlon Union on 3 May 2021 is partially upheld.
“Andrejs Rastorgujevs is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to Article 2.4 of the IBU ADR (three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period). Andrejs Rastorgujevs is sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of eighteen (18) months. The period of ineligibility shall commence on 11 March 2021, which is the start date of the provisional suspension imposed on Andrejs Rastorgujevs.
“All competitive results obtained by Andrejs Rastorgujevs from 1 July 2020 until the date on which the CAS ADD decision enters into force are disqualified, with all resulting consequences including forfeiture of medals, points and prizes”, CAS said.
Following an investigation, on 11 March 2021, the International Biathlon Union (IBU) Biathlon Integrity Unit charged Andrejs Rastorgujevs (the Athlete) with three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period pursuant to Article 2.4 of the 2021 IBU Anti-Doping Rules and referred the matter to the CAS ADD for adjudication.
The CAS Arbitrator in charge of this matter noted that a first Whereabouts Failure had been confirmed against the Athlete in October 2019 and that a second had been confirmed in June 2020. The CAS ADD proceedings centred on whether a third Whereabouts Failure had been correctly confirmed against the Athlete.
Having considered the submissions and evidence put before him, the Sole Arbitrator concluded that the Athlete had provided incomplete information that did not comply with all the requirements of Article I.3.1 of the International Testing and Investigation Standard (ISTI) and which was not sufficient to locate him for testing during the month of September 2020, and that, therefore, the International Testing Agency (ITA) had correctly recorded the third Filing Failure against the Athlete. As a consequence, the
Sole Arbitrator determined that the Athlete had committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to Article 2.4 of the IBU ADR (three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period). Turning to the sanction, the Sole Arbitrator determined that, due to the lower degree of fault by the Athlete with respect to the third Filing Failure, a reduction of the maximum period of ineligibility of 24 months provided for in the IBU Anti-Doping Rules was appropriate. Accordingly, the Sole Arbitrator imposed a period of ineligibility of 18 months.
The CAS ADD award may be appealed to the CAS Appeals Arbitration Division within 21 days from receipt of the notification of the final award.
