British tennis player’s ban lifted as contaminated meat to blame for failed doping test

Shahida Jacobs 23 Dec 2023 1:37 PM

Tara Moore in action

Great Britain’s Tara Moore is free to play tennis again after she was cleared of any wrongdoing following her positive doping test in April 2022.

It brings to an end a lengthy battle for Moore as she was first provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) in May 2022.

Barbara Gatica was also banned after returning a positive sample and she has also been cleared, but the Chilean “remains suspended from tennis due to separate Tennis Anti-Corruption Program offences”.

The initial suspensions came after they tested positive for the anabolic steroids boldenone and nandrolone while competing at a WTA event in Colombia in April.

The news came just days after Moore finished runner-up in the women’s doubles at the WTA 250 Copa Colsanitas alongside her American partner Emina Bektas.

She immediately requested that the B sample also be tested and protested her innocence, stating: “I have never knowingly taken a banned substance in my career.

“I am investigating how the positive result could have occurred. I look forward to proving that I am a clean athlete. I am deeply saddened by the provisional suspension and hope to be back on the court as soon as possible.”

And now she has been cleared of any wrongdoing after the ITIA confirmed that an independent tribunal found that Moore and Gatica “bore no fault or negligence for their adverse analytical findings and are therefore not subject to a period of ineligibility” with contaminated meat the reason for the positive tests.

A statement from the ITIA added: “A hearing was convened remotely by Sport Resolutions on 14 and 15 December 2023, following which the independent tribunal determined that contaminated meat consumed by each player in the days before sample collection was the source of the prohibited substance(s) found in the players’ samples and, therefore, that both players bore No Fault or Negligence for their violations.

“Accordingly, no period of ineligibility was imposed on either player, and the provisional suspensions imposed on each player under the TADP have been immediately lifted – although Gatica remains suspended from tennis due to separate Tennis Anti-Corruption Program offences.

“The ITIA has issued, and will continue to issue, information concerning the risks of meat contamination in certain parts of the world to all players.”

Moore was ranked as highly as No 77 in the women’s doubles just before she was suspended, but she has since dropped out of the rankings due to her provisional suspension.

Earlier in 2023, Moore criticised the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) for offering to help former world No 1 Simona Halep in her battle against a doping ban.

Halep has been banned after failing a drugs test during the 2022 US Open and the PTPA has offered assistance, but none was forthcoming for Moore and Gatica.

“Their silence tells you everything,” Moore wrote.

She also sarcastically thanked the PTPA, adding: “Thanks PTPA for helping myself and Barbara Gatica too.”