Trinidad and Tobago has been stripped of two of its medals won in cycling at 2019 Lima Games in Peru in July/August because of claims of a failed drug test.
The Panam Sports organisation indicated that the Men’s Team Sprint gold and Men’s Individual Sprint medals have been since reallocated after positive doping result. The latest development means that in the Men's Individual and Team Sprint event, the gold medal has been awarded to Colombia, the silver to Mexico and the bronze to Peru, while Nicholas Paul keeps his Men's Individual Pursuit gold medal.
T&T's total medal count has now been reduced from 13 to 11 overall.
The T&T sprint team comprised - Njisane Phillip, Nicholas Paul, Kwesi Browne and Keron Bramble.
According to a release on its website on Boxing Day, the Panam Games stated that "Changes to the Official Medal Table of the Lima 2019 Pan American Games have been made after the Executive Committee accepted the disqualifications resulting from the positive doping cases discovered in Lima."
The news release continued: "After a long and thorough process analyzing the doping cases discovered at Lima 2019, the Panam Sports Executive Committee approved the decisions and disqualifications proposed by the Disciplinary Commission, leading to a series of changes in the Medal Table of the Games held in July and August. These decisions were taken at the recent Executive Committee meeting in Fort Lauderdale, United States.
Argentina went from sixth to fifth place in the general classification while host country Peru also benefited from these changes, adding two bronzes to its surprising medal total of 41 to achieve its historic ninth-place finish.
“We have been very careful with the issue of doping at the Pan American Games of Lima 2019, respecting all the corresponding protocols and processes. After our Executive Committee meeting, we have officially approved the decisions of the Disciplinary Commission and the respective disqualifications of the athletes involved, and this has generated the changes we are reporting today. With this, we close the medal table of our Games,” said Panam Sports Secretary-General, Ivar Sisniega.
It should be noted that there were 15 positive doping cases at Lima 2019 from a total of 1,905 samples taken (1,652 urine and 253 blood) from athletes during the Pan American Games.
Panam Sports revealed that in the pursuit of its commitment to protecting the clean athlete and to drug-free sport, it instituted a robust Anti-Doping Programme for the Lima 2019 Pan American Games which resulted in 15 positive doping cases after a total of 1,905 samples taken (1,652 urine and 253 blood) from athletes during the Pan American Games."
This latest news means that T&T drops to 17th on the 31-nation medal table with one gold, seven silver and three bronze medals. T&T was represented by 89 athletes and 50 officials in 18 sporting disciplines.
Meanwhile, in a release from the T&T Cycling Federation yesterday it stated that: "We understand of the report circulated on social media on the doping allegations and the stripping of medal places of the Team Sprint and Individual Sprint at the Pan American Games that was held in Lima, August 2019. The TTCF has not received any correspondence officially on this matter. It would be able to make an official statement as soon as the Federation gets the official facts from the relevant authorities."
However, when contacted by Guardian Media Sports Brian Lewis, president of the T&T Olympic Committee (TTOC) for which the Games fall under said he cannot comment on the issue due to a confidentiality clause and referred us to the organisation's lawyer Tyrone Marcus.
When contacted Marcus referred us to his media release which stated: "Re: Pan Am Sports media release dated December 26, 2019. Within the past twenty-four hours, various media reports have been circulating with respect to the purported disqualification of the Trinidad and Tobago men's sprint gold-medal-winning cycling team that competed at the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru.
Reports have also suggested that one of Trinidad and Tobago's cyclists has been stripped of an individual medal won at the same event. The source of the media reports appears to be a media release issued on December 26, 2019, by Pan Am Sports (formerly known as the 'Pan American Sports Organization (PASO).
I use this opportunity, as the legal representative for one of the cyclists on the Trinidad and Tobago team, to state that the assertion of and ensuing consequences of an anti-doping rule violation has been legally contested and is currently under judicial consideration before an arbitral body. A key ingredient of this arbitral process is the inherent confidentiality provision that has been crafted to protect against premature disclosure of any information that may form part of the judicial proceedings."
The release continued, "It is unfortunate that Pan Am Sports, a reputed umbrella sporting body, has failed to respect such a fundamental feature of dispute resolution, which has been entrenched in many global rules and regulations to promote fairness, equity and sporting justice. In light of the conduct of Pan Am Sports, the appropriate intervention will be made to salvage a process that has now been severely compromised.
In view of the foregoing, my future comments will be understandably limited in order to respect and comply with the rules governing the assertion made against the local athlete and/or team."
The clauses read: 3.3 Confidentiality
The Results Management phase is confidential. ADOs are encouraged to strictly limit access to, and disclosure of, information collected or processed during this phase solely on a need-to-know basis. Premature breaches of confidentiality could have serious consequences and result in significant legal claims being made by the Person(s) affected.
In September, the Panam Sports organisation revealed the names of athletes that failed seven drug tests in the sports of (Basketball, judo, bowling, handball, baseball and cycling) which resulted in three medals lost and four in which no medals were lost because the athletes and teams involved did not win any medals. However, in one of the cases, cyclist Kacia Fonseca da silva of Brazil lost the bronze medal that he won in the men’s sprint event.
However, Thursday's release by the organisers did not name the T&T cyclist(s) that it alleges to have made the breach.