South African Stripped of World Title Following Anti-Doping Rule Violation

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced that the South African athlete Fanie Lombaard has been suspended for one year and fined €1,500 following an Anti-Doping Rule Violation.

Lombaard returned an adverse analytical finding for Probenecid in a urine sample provided on 27 January 2011 after he had won gold in the Men’s Discus F42 at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The substance is included in the 2011 Prohibited List and consequently prohibited under the IPC Anti-Doping Code, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC).

A hearing into the case revealed that the prohibited substance had been prescribed to Lombaard by a family physician for a medical reason. However, the athlete did not have a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) to explain the adverse analytical finding, nor did he retrospectively apply to obtain a TUE.

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.

In accordance to the IPC Anti-Doping Code, Fanie Lombaard will serve a one year suspension for the offence dating from 27 January 2011, the date the sample was taken. All results obtained from 27 January 2011 will be disqualified with all the resulting consequences including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes. He must also pay a fine of €1,500.

As a result, Lombaard has been stripped of the Men’s Discus F42 gold medal he won in Christchurch at the IPC Athletics World Championships. This means that Belgium’s Gino de Keersmaeker who originally claimed silver in New Zealand will be awarded the gold medal. Great Britain’s Aled Davies will be promoted from bronze to silver and Greece’s Marinos Fylachtos will take the bronze.

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.