Luis Carlos Martins Goncalves, a Portuguese B2 athlete, who won two gold medals at the IPC Athletics European Championships in June 2012, has been suspended for two years for an Anti-Doping Rule Violation.
See IPC press release below.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced that an athlete
returned an adverse analytical finding for Methylhexaneamine in a urine
sample provided on 27 June 2012 during the IPC Athletics European
Championships in Stadskanaal, Netherlands.
Methylhexaneamine is included on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) 2012
Prohibited List under the Stimulants category and is consequently prohibited
under the IPC Anti-Doping Code.
Martins Goncalves waived his right to a hearing and accepted to have
committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation.
In accordance with the IPC Anti-Doping Code, Luis Carlos Martins Goncalves
will serve a two year suspension for the offence beginning on 27June 2012;
the date from which the sample was collected. All results obtained from the
date of the competition on 27 June 2012 and onwards, will be disqualified
with all the resulting consequences including forfeiture of any medals,
points and prizes. A financial sanction of ?1,500 was also imposed on the
athlete.
As a result Martins Goncalves has been stripped of the European titles he
won in the 200m and 400m T12 events in Stadskanaal. This means that in the
200m Russia's Fedor Trikolich, who originally took silver, will now receive
the gold medal and Spain's Gerard Desgarrega Puigdevall will be awarded the
silver.
In the 400m Turkey's Semih Deniz will receive the gold and Portugal's
Rodolfo Alves the silver.
Martin Goncalves has had his qualification slot for the London 2012
Paralympic Games revoked and therefore will not be able to compete at the
Games.
The IPC would like to highlight the risk of supplement use and remind
athletes that they are strictly liable for the substances found in their
samples.
As a signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC), the IPC remains
committed to a doping free sporting environment at all levels. The IPC,
together with the International Federations and the National Paralympic
Committees, established the IPC Anti-Doping Code to prevent doping in sport
for Paralympic athletes, in the spirit of fair play.
