The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has announced that weightlifter and functional fitness athlete Charis Chan will receive a four year sanction after testing positive for a prohibited substance at the 2015 American Open. Chan’s sanction is based on a ruling that was made by an arbitrator from the American Arbitration Association (AAA).
According to USADA, Chan’s urine sample from the competition in Reno, Nevada, tested “tested positive for the presence of epitrenbolone, which is a metabolite of trenbolone. Trenbolone and its metabolites are in the class of Anabolic Agents and prohibited at all times under the USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing, the United States Olympic Committee National Anti-Doping Policies, and the International Weightlifting Federation Anti-Doping Policy, all of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code and the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List.”
In the AAA ruling, which is linked in the USADA announcement, Chan’s defense claims she ate contaminated ground beef in the week leading up to the 2015 American Open. Epitrenbolone is not a banned substance by the US Food & Drug Agency (USFDA) and, Chan’s defense claims, may have been in her meat.
The AAA made the counter argument that in the last five years, USADA “has conducted over 34,800 urine samples, all of which were tested for anabolic steroids such as trenbolone, and only one athlete other than Respondent tested positive for trenbolone of its metabolite. That other athlete did not allege that meat contamination was the source of the trenbolone and received the maximum sanction permitted absent aggravating circumstances under the 2009 WADA Code.”
An excerpt of the arbitrator’s decision outlining consequences for Chan is below:
Chan’s four-year sanction began on December 29, 2015, the date her provisional suspension was imposed. As a result of the doping violation, Chan’s competitive results from the 2015 American Open, where she competed on December 4, 2015; are null and void. This includes her American record snatch of 86KG (189lb) in the 53KG category.
In April of 2016, the CrossFit Games officially suspended Chan from competition for the 2016 season based on the potential of a failed drug test at the 2015 American Open competition.
Based on this development, the new 53KG woman’s American Record in the snatch would belong to Cortney Batchelor, who snatched the same weight of 86KG (189lb) at the 2016 USA Weightlifting (USAW) Olympic Trials in May of 2016 in Salt Lake City.
The 2015 American Open Place finishers for the 53KG category are now as follows:
Gold: Melanie Roach
Silver: Shantai Dickerson
Bronze: Kaija Bramwell
Featured image: @charischan on Instagram
