Gianluigi Rosa suspended for anti-doping violation

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has suspended Italian Para ice hockey player Gianluigi Rosa for two years for committing an anti-doping violation.

The three-time Paralympian returned an adverse analytical finding for furosemide in a urine sample provided on 17 March 2018 following an in-competition test after the Italy-South Korea bronze medal match at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.

This substance is included on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) 2018 Prohibited List under the category S5 - Diuretics and Masking Agents and is prohibited both in and out-of-competition.

As a result of his violation, Rosa will be ineligible for competition for two years from 27 April 2018, the date of notification, until 26 April 2020.

All his results obtained from 17 March 2018, the date of the test, and onwards will be disqualified including forfeiture of any medals, points, records and prizes. There is no impact on the team result; Italy finished fourth in the Para ice hockey competition at PyeongChang 2018.

The IPC would like to remind all athletes 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.