The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Witold Bańka has revealed on the Twitter over his deep concern on Nasser clearance that WADA would analyse the case and appeal if needed.
“As it relates to Salwa Eid Naser and the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal decision on her case I am concerned,” said Bańka.
“WADA will analyse it carefully and exercise its right to appeal if necessary.”
It comes after the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal dismissed the charges against the women’s 400 metres world champion, who was facing a two-year ban from the sport which would have seen her miss the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The 22-year-old has escaped a ban after a drugs tester, Enrique Martinez, knocked on a storage cupboard door rather than Naser’s apartment after numbering on the flat left him confused.
However, the Disciplinary Tribunal has ruled the alleged violation in April 2019 should not stand, which means Naser has not missed three tests inside the 12-month window.
Filing failures are always backdated to the start of the quarter, so in Naser’s case January 1, 2019.
Martinez was looking for Flat 11 in Naser’s building and found two doors close to one another.
The left hand door had the number 11 at its side and the right hand door had the number 954 and an intercom, with the number 12 underneath.
This caused confusion as the numbers 11 and 12 actually referred to car parking spaces and were not apartment numbers.
Naser’s apartment 11 was behind the right hand door marked 954, and the left hand door marked 11 was in fact a storage unit containing nothing but gas cannisters.
Martinez knocked every five minutes for the required hour, but received no response.
Martinez should not be blamed, the Tribunal ruled, as the door numbering is “extremely confusing”.
However, concerns from the Tribunal were raised over Naser’s inability to use the ADAMS system which allows athletes to enter whereabouts details and other information, so they can be drugs-tested at random.
Martinez did try to phone Naser, but the Tribunal heard her details were not up to date and there was no number which worked.
The Tribunal heard she has “never been able to submit her own whereabouts information, let alone successfully log in” and the Bahrain Athletics Association has assigned a member of staff to do so for her.
It was agreed that Naser “did not help herself” in many regards due to the lack of information she had submitted, particularly as she had been warned about missed tests before.
“This was a case very much on the borderline and we hope the athlete will learn from the experience and heed the AIU’s warnings,” the Tribunal said.
DiscernSport