Belarusian Dancer Suspended for Two Years after Anti-Doping Rule Violation

14 Jan 2011

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced that the Belarusian Wheelchair Dance Sport athlete Ihar Kisialiou has been suspended for two years for an Anti-Doping Rule Violation.

Kisialiou returned an adverse analytical finding for THC (11-nor-9-carboxy-delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol) metabolite(s) of Carboxy-THC in a urine sample provided on 6 November 2010 after the first day of the IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport World Championships in Hannover, Germany.

Such substances are included in the 2010 Prohibited List and consequently prohibited under the IPC Anti-Doping Code, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC).

Upon notification, Ihar Kisialiou informed the IPC that he did not have a Therapeutic Use Exemption to explain the adverse analytical finding, that he accepted the Anti-Doping Rule Violation and his period of suspension.

In accordance to the IPC Anti-Doping Code, Ihar Kisialiou will serve a two year suspension for the offence dating from 18 December 2010, the date of the provisional suspension. All results obtained from 6 November 2010 will be disqualified with all the resulting consequences including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes.

As a result, he and his dance partner will be stripped of the two gold medals they won in Hannover at the IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport World Championships in Combi Standard Class 2 and Combi Latin Class 2.

According to the IPC Anti-Doping Code, it is each athlete's personal duty to ensure that no prohibited substances enter his or her body. Furthermore, each athlete is responsible for any prohibited substances found in their bodily specimen, regardless of how it entered their body.

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 (January 2004) to prevent in the spirit of fair play, doping in sport for Paralympic athletes. The IPC Anti-Doping Code is in conformity with the general principles of the WADC.