At Cavaliero & Associates, we focus today on an achievement in a doping case that underscores the pivotal role of interdisciplinary collaboration between law and science. Our team led the defence of a professional athlete facing a two-year suspension for the presence of diuretics.
– The defence of an athlete achieved a significant outcome from the doping sanction the athlete was facing after a joint effort of doctors, scientists, and lawyers.
– Cavaliero & Associates led the legal defence.
A professional athlete faced a two-year period of ineligibility for an anti-doping rule violation stemming from the presence of a small amount of diuretics (specified substance included in WADA’s Prohibited List) in his urine sample. The defence team, led by Cavaliero & Associates, achieved a significant reduction in the athlete’s period of ineligibility to just eight months.
Although the specific product that contained the prohibited substance could not be identified, the defence team did manage to discard other scenarios through the combination of investigative, scientific, and legal work. As a result, the deciding body was sufficiently satisfied to establish that the origin of the prohibited substance was a contaminated product. The reduction of the sanction was crucial for the athlete to be able to resume his professional career.
The firm collaborated with doping experts and medical professionals who analysed the products and medications that the athlete had ingested before the doping control, as well as hair samples of the athlete. While this did not lead to identifying the exact source, it was sufficient to discard potential scenarios different from contamination.