The Committee for Arbitration of
Sport will hear an appeal on August 30 in the case of Dimitar Kutrovsky against
the International Tennis Federation. Mr. Kutrovsky, who is 24 years old and
originally from Bulgaria, was banned from competing in ITF events for two years
because he tested positive for a banned substance, methylhexaneamine, at a
tournament in February 2012. The ITF’s Independent Doping Tribunal published
its decision on May 15, 2012.
Here’s a
quick summary: Kutrovsky started taking a supplement called “JACK3D” because he
was told that it would increase his energy, and speed up his recovery time
between matches. After Kutrosvsky bought the supplement from GNC, he did not
check with the manufacturers, either on their website or otherwise, to see if
any of the ingredients were banned substances. He did try and check the
ingredients in Jack3d against a published list of banned substances, but
because methylhexaneamine is listed by a different name on the Jack3d
ingredient list, he was unable to find it. The ITF decision noted that the
banned substance list does contain a warning that other substances that were
chemically similar to those on the list would also be considered banned, but
either Kutrovsky didn’t read this or didn’t think it was a problem. Kutrovsky
stated that he never used the substance before matches to enhance his
performance, because he considered it an energy supplement like Red Bull or
Gatorade.
Kutrovsky’s
defense centers on his testimony that he did not intend to enhance his sport
performance through the ingestion of Jack3d, because he did not know that
Jack3d contained a prohibited substance. He claims that an athlete has to be
aware that he is ingesting a prohibited substance in order to be found in
violation of the ITF rules on the subject. The head of the ITF tribunal
disagreed, and after a review of some CAS decisions on the subject, found that
even without specific intent, the player’s lack of knowledge and research
regarding the banned substance in Jack3d was not acceptable and therefore,
found that the mandated penalty of two years suspension was appropriate.
The CAS
appeal will therefore probably center on the same issues: intent and fault.
Kutrovsky believes that his lack of knowledge on the presence of a banned
substance in Jack3d is sufficient to establish that he took the supplement
through no fault or negligence of his own, and therefore that he did not intend
to ingest it or enhance his sport performance.
Here’s a link to the ITF Tribunal’s decision:
