WADA explains reasons for different doping bans for Sinner and Spanish figure skater

MADRID (AP) — The World Anti-Doping Agency on Monday offered an explanation for why top-ranked tennis player Jannik Sinner received a much shorter doping ban than the six-year suspension it handed to a Spanish figure skater in a similar doping case.

Spanish media has been calling attention to the lengthy ban handed to local skater Laura Barquero after she tested positive for the anabolic Clostebol, the same substance that earned Sinner a three-month ban after a settlement reached between WADA and the Italian tennis player on Saturday. The deal was criticized by many of his fellow tennis professionals this weekend.

WADA pointed out that while both cases involved the same substance, the specific facts related to Barquero's case were “very different” to Sinner's.

“The fundamental difference between the two cases is that Ms. Barquero’s version of how the substance entered her system was unconvincing in light of the evidence, such that the circumstances remained unknown as far as WADA was concerned," WADA said in an email sent to The Associated Press. "In contrast, in the Sinner case, the evidence clearly confirmed the athlete’s explanation as outlined in the first instance decision.”

Barquero first tested positive for Clostebol during the 2022 Winter Olympics, then again in January 2023 in an out-of-competition test carried out by the International Skating Union. WADA eventually entered into a “case resolution agreement” in which the athlete was suspended for six years. It said the agreement was accepted and signed by WADA, the ISU and the athlete herself.

“If Ms. Barquero did not agree with the proposed sanction, she was not obliged to sign the case resolution agreement and was free to take the case forward for hearing at CAS,” WADA said.

The agency had sought to ban Sinner, a three-time Grand Slam champion, for at least one year. It had challenged a decision last year by the International Tennis Integrity Agency not to suspend Sinner for what the ITIA judged was accidental contamination of the banned anabolic steroid last March.

WADA formally withdrew its appeal saying it accepted the athlete’s explanation for the cause of the violation, and that Sinner did not intend to cheat.

Sinner’s explanation was that trace amounts of Clostebol in his doping sample was due to a massage from a trainer who used the substance after cutting his own finger.

Barquero’s Instagram account republished several stories calling attention to the discrepancy in the punishment given to her and to Sinner. She then posted a video talking about how her lengthy suspension had affected her.

“It’s a disproportionate sanction that meant the end of my career," she said. "I believe it serves as a clear example of the failures of the system. I really don’t know what happened. But I have to assume the consequences, accept the current regulations and face sanctions that sometimes are extremely disproportionate.”

The 23-year-old Barquero said she decided to accept the six-year ban based on “unfair rules” and so she could start moving on with her life.

She said the trace amounts of Clostebol showed up in her results through the contamination of a cream commonly used to treat skin wounds that is sold in Italy without prescription and not intended to improve sporting performance.

“I had the misfortune of accidentally contaminating myself with a cream that a colleague had bought and that was used by people close to me,” she said. "I couldn’t imagine that to test positive all you have to do is touch a person who has used that cream, or touch an object that was in contact with the cream.”

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