Bulgarian world champion suspended for four years for anti-doping violation in Doha

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced that Bulgarian field athlete Stela Eneva has been suspended for four years for an Anti-Doping Rule violation and consequently will no longer be competing at the upcoming Rio Paralympic Games.

Eneva returned an adverse analytical finding for Oxandrolone in a urine sample provided on 23 October 2015 after she had won gold with a world record throw in the women’s shot put F57 at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

This substance is included on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) 2015 Prohibited List under the category S1.1a Exogenous Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS) and is prohibited at all times, both in and out of competition.

As a result of her violation, Eneva will be ineligible from competition for four years from 4 December 2015, the date she was notified and provisionally suspended, until 3 December 2019.

All Eneva’s results obtained from the date of the test and onwards will be disqualified including forfeiture of any medals, points, records and prizes. This includes the world title she won and world record she set in the women’s shot put F57 on 23 October and the world silver medal she claimed in the women’s discus F57 on 27 October.

As a result of her disqualification in the shot put, Mexico’s Angles Ortiz Hernandez, who finished originally with silver, will receive the gold medal. Silver will now go to Germany’s Ilke Wyludda and bronze to Algeria’s Nassima Saifi. The silver medal she won in discus will now be awarded to Ireland’s Orla Barry, whilst the bronze will go to Algeria’s Safia Djelal.

The principle of strict liability applies to anti-doping matters. Therefore, each athlete is strictly liable for the substances found in his or her sample, and that an anti-doping rule violation occurs whenever a prohibited substance (or its metabolites or markers) is found in his or her bodily specimen, whether or not the athlete intentionally or unintentionally used a prohibited substance or was negligent or otherwise at fault.

As a signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC), the IPC remains committed to a doping free sporting environment at all levels. The IPC, together with the International Federations and the National Paralympic Committees, established the IPC Anti-Doping Code to prevent doping in sport for Paralympic athletes, in the spirit of fair play. The IPC Anti-Doping Code is in conformity with the general principles of the WADC.