Husband Implicated In Jele's Four-Year Ban
Calistus Kolantsho | Monday October 15, 2018 12:46
A three-member panel at the Sport Resolutions, Specialist Independence Dispute Service ruled that the athlete be banned for four years, effective October 14, 2017, which means she has already served one year of the sentence.
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) under the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) brought the matter before the panel.
The panel comprised of Jeffrey Benz (chairperson), Christopher Quinlan and Dr Anik Sax.
The panel ruled that the athlete’s results, from the date of the first anti-doping rule violation, on October 14, 2017, until the date of her provisional suspension on December 1, 2017 shall be disqualified, with resulting consequences, including the forfeiture of medals, titles, awards, prizes or appearance money.
According to the judgement, on October 14, 2017, Jele underwent an out-of-competition doping control test in Gaborone and provided a sample.
“This matter concerns the presence of the exogenous anabolic androgenic steroid metandienone in a urine sample collected from the athlete out of competition for which she was charged with violations of the IAAF Anti-Doping Rules,” read the judgement.
The sample was analysed by the WADA accredited laboratory in Cologne, Germany and revealed the presence of a metabolite of metandienone, which is a banned substance.
According to the findings of the case, Jele’s husband, Ofentse had submitted an affidavit to the AIU in which he stated that two months ago, and upon recommendation by a bodybuilder friend, purchased capsules called ‘Dianabol’ from a pharmacy in Gaborone.
He explained in the affidavit that he had mixed the capsules in a pre-workout water bottle. He did not thoroughly cleanse it after use.
“The athlete (Lydia) would occasionally sip from the water bottle when they trained together at the track or at the gym. Ofentse stated that the athlete was unaware that he had purchased and used ‘Dianabol’ and requested that the matter be kept confidential,” the judgement said.
Jele wrote to the AIU in December 10, 2017 that she did not wish for B Sample to be analysed.
“It has come to my knowledge after the results notification that my husband has been using Dianabol around the same time that I was tested in October 2017. As you are aware, I have declared all my supplements to the testing authority following their request after notification except the supplement that was used by my husband,” reads Jele’s affidavit.
She said as an athlete, she fully understood that she should be accountable for anything that entered her body.
The panel established that the athlete’s explanation rested on her account and the testimony of her husband.
“When her case is analysed and with care, the athlete’s evidence simply did not establish that her explanation was more probable than not. For example, there were a number of inconsistencies on important aspects of the explanation as between the accounts,” the judgement said.