It’s the most wonderful time of the year. . .if you’re a tennis player fighting a doping charge. Richard Gasquet was vindicated today by the Court of Arbitration of Sport, the tribunal throwing out a joint ITF/WADA appeal of the original tribunal’s decision to accept Gasquet’s “I kissed a girl” excuse.
Some excerpts from the CAS statement (via NYTimes)
“The player has been exonerated from any fault or negligence and the CAS has dismissed the appeals filed by the ITF (International Tennis Federation) and WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency).”
“The panel based its ruling on the evidence provided by the experts called by both the player and the ITF, who agreed that the amount of cocaine metabolite was so minute that it must have reflected incidental exposure, rather than use in the amounts commonly taken by social users of cocaine.”
“It was also established that the player was clearly not a regular cocaine user, even in very small amounts. As a consequence, the possibility of contamination became the most plausible explanation justifying the presence of cocaine metabolite in the player’s urine.”
“On a balance of probability, the CAS panel concluded that it was more likely than not that the player’s contamination with cocaine resulted, as Gasquet always asserted, from kissing a woman in a nightclub in Miami on the day before the anti-doping test and that the player had met the required standards of proof with respect to the way of ingestion.
“The parties’ experts agreed that the minute amount of cocaine could have been transferred in this manner. The arbitrators added that it was impossible for the player, even when exercising the utmost caution, to know that in kissing a woman who he had met in a totally unsuspicious environment, he could be contaminated with cocaine.”
The Frenchman’s coach, Eric Deblicker, told Eurosport that the case has been weighing on Gasquet for the last few weeks:
”This is a huge relief, mostly for Richard and for the people close to him,” Deblicker said. ”The most important thing now is to see him enjoying on the court.” (via NYTimes)
So Richard can now continue his career free and clear but will it make a difference? He’s had spotty results since his provisional return to the tour this August, including three first round exits and three quarterfinal or better appearances. It would be great if the conclusion of this stressful experience relaxed the internal pressure that’s plagued him in the past, and if the close call with career death kindled the child prodigy’s passion for the game. He’ll get his chance to shine soon enough. Gasquet’s playing in Brisbane and Sydney before hitting the Australian Open, where he’s never made it past the fourth round.
Loading ...Tags: ATP, Australian Open, doping, gasquet, ITF, WADA
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I’m glad he’s back, but that was one lame excuse!
At one time, I had high hopes for Richard. When he is playing well, he is incredibly exciting. But he doesn’t have the mental toughness to win a major. I think he has less of a chance than Monfils and Tsonga, and they’re no great shakes in the consistency department either. Sometimes I wonder if he even likes playing tennis, or if he feels like he has to because he’s been the next great thing for French tennis since he was a child.
players i hope will win a major after TMF will hit the 25 GS mark (not necessarily in that order):
Roddick
Davydenko
Nalbandian
Gasquet
Cilic
Gulbis
Haas
Youzhny
Wawrinka
Baghdatis
Dudi Sela
Good news. It’s been v v tough time already for Reeshard for such a stupid small amount of cocaine.
I’m surprised Marat has never been in similar trouble – surely he’s been to too many suspicious places. Not fond of kissing perhaps.
LOL Jess!
XD
I’ll never understand how you can get away away with cocaïne, pretending you got it through kissing…
Did the ITF actually talk to a real scientist about this ? Frankly, this is so unlikely it is ridiculous. (although in quantum physics, anything’s possible =)
It looks incredibly much like thoses lies Agassi used and describes in his book. It’s lame.
players i hope will win a major after TMF will hit the 25 GS mark (not necessarily in that order): Roddick Davydenko Nalbandian Gasquet Cilic Gulbis Haas Youzhny Wawrinka Baghdatis Dudi Sela
Wasn’t the amount of cocaine in his system equal to that of a grain of salt?
HOW the hell to you get that amount into your system if you are deliberately consuming cocaine?
I’ll just have to quote my good friend Sherlock Holmes when he said:
“When you have eliminated all that is impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
Glad Reeshard is back. Glad the charges have been dropped against Malisse and Wickmayer.
In your face ITF/WADA! Hooray for the athletes!
I suppose they’re now going to have to find something else to do with their time, other than harassing the players.
Justice and reason prevailed.
Hi LP!
I just finished “A Study in Scarlet” so that Holmes quote is very fresh in my mind (it’s my first time reading the SH mysteries.) I have to say that it’s PERFECT for this situation (and wouldn’t this be the best case for Holmes? I picture him pacing around a Miami nightclub with his magnifying glass!)
I understand that WADA is working hard to keep sport clean in the face of ever more sophisticated doping. But what annoys me is that they set up an independent tribunal for the Gasquet case and then appealed its decision. That doesn’t inspire much confidence in their own process, does it?
Great decision and absolutely the correct one, having read the full report.
Both sides agreed Gasquet could not have taken this intentionally as the amount was too small and it was recently consumed. His hair test confirmed he is not a habitual cocaine user while the girl’s test showed that she is one.
It’s completely disgusting that the ITF agrees he had no intention to consume cocaine but still thinks he should be banned for a year.
And this is nothing like the Agassi case where the amount was I’m sure more and no testing was done at all – if if had been done it would have shown he was a regular drug user.
Congrats to Richard and best of luck in the new season!
Tres bien, cher Richard, you flashy brilliant player who’s accomplished an existential French rien in your career. I wish you well. But you’ve accomplished Not Too Much.
So Richard, an entertaining and brilliant player gets off. Martina Hingis, the greatest woman player of her generation gets reamed and destroyed. I will never, ever let this go. I will fight the power and the tennis poohbahs forever about this. Scandalous, shameless, futile, evil. Sexist.
So, Richard, step us and show us some tennis, SVP.