Maria Sharapova Banned Two Years for Doping

Maria Sharapova has been banned for two years by the International Tennis Federation following her positive test for meldonium at the Australian Open in January. The ITF issued a 33-page decision on the matter, in which it seemingly accepted Sharapova's defense that she was not taking the drug for performance-enhancing reasons but for valid medical issues, and also accepted her defense that she was not aware that the drug was a recent addition to the banned substances list. Nevertheless, she was found culpable and banned for two years:

"The player's case is that she did not know that the active ingredient of Mildronate, a medication which she had regularly been using for over 10 years, had been added to the Prohibited List from 1 January 2016 and she did not intentionally contravene the anti-doping rules in using Mildronate at the Australian Open. The ITF accepts that she did not know that Mildronate contained a Prohibited Substance but argues that in taking the medication she knowingly and manifestly disregarded the risk of contravening the anti-doping rules, and thus committed an intentional violation."

Sharapova was first prescribed Mildronate, which contained the ultimately banned substance meldonium, in 2006 by a Dr. Anatoly Skalny along with 17 other medications to boost her immune system due to recurring "cold-related and inflammatory diseases." According to the decision, she continued to use it even after she stopped seeing Dr. Skalny in 2012 in favor of a new nutritionist. By the time she ended her treatment with Dr. Skalny, he had prescribed a list of 30 medications for her, but she continued using only three, and Mildronate was one of them.

She never disclosed that she was taking the medication to her nutritionist, nor any of the physicians she consulted from the time she stopped seeing Dr. Skalny. Sharapova said she didn't disclose it because none of them asked what medications she was taking.

This paragraph halfway through the decision seems to get at the heart of the matter:

"The underlying factual puzzle in this case is how an elite player in the position of Ms Sharapova, with the assistance of a professional team including the very best sporting and medical advice obtainable, could ever have placed herself in the position of taking a Prohibited Substance, as is admitted, before each of the five matches she played at the Australian Open. The case advanced for the player in her written submissions did not explain why, even if Ms Sharapova was not personally aware of the inclusion of Meldonium on the 2016 Prohibited List, her team did not warn her. Mr. Eisenbud's first witness statement, at paragraph 20, gave the clear impression that if any member of her team had discovered that Meldonium had been added to the 2016 Prohibited List then the player would have ceased to use Mildronate. He characterises this as an administrative error, for which he takes the blame, but without explaining how it happened. It only emerged in evidence at the hearing that no member of Ms Sharapova's team, apart from Mr. Eisenbud, actually knew that she was taking Mildronate."

There is a lot of inferring going on throughout the decision and if wrongdoing could be inferred, the ITF ruled that way. The decision goes to great lengths to show that she was prescribed the medication by a medical doctor for medical reasons, but then wonders aloud why she never informed anyone she was taking it, or why she never disclosed her use on doping control forms at events like Wimbledon and the Australian Open.

The banning will be retroactively applied to to January 26, 2016, when Sharapova first tested positive. She will also forfeit the prize money and ranking points she earned at the Australian Open.

[ITF]

You can read the whole decision below:

Sharapova Decision