Swimmer Cesar Cielo appears before tribunal in doping case - Olympics
The Brazilian swimmer, Cesar Cielo, recently appeared before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) tribunal in order to plead not guilty in the use of a banned diuretic that was found in his blood stream on July 20th.
The 24-year-old athlete is not the only swimmer who was summoned before the court for use of diuretics. Three other Brazilian team-mates also tested positive for the banned substance. The results of the tests had come out in May but the athletes were not
given anything more severe than a warning from the Brazilian authorities.
However, it is now necessary that Cielo clears himself in front of the CAS tribunal if he hopes to take part in the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The swimmer’s case is being advocated by Howard Jacobs, who is well known in the field performance boosters and sports.
The swimmer’s stance on the matter is that the diuretic was found in the tests because of the contaminated food that he had eaten. In light of modern doping methods, FINA, the governing body has taken stricter measures to prevent athletes making use of banned
drugs. These include testing the blood of the athletes, along with taking urine samples.
The executive director of FINA, Cornel Marculescu, made the following statement: “Always the issue is that when you take a supplement, you must be sure that you have done everything (to check it is safe)."
Until the athletes are cleared of doping charges, all their results from the time that they took the drugs will be considered annulled. Not only that, all four swimmers will also be suspended from taking part in any competition. This puts qualifying for
the London 2012 Olympics Games in jeopardy for the athletes.
The decision on the matter of Cielo will come from the court on Friday and the fate of his three team-mates will also be declared then. In order to avoid unwanted contamination, the athletes are instructed to take care what they eat prior to the championships
and sports events in general.
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