Issamade Asinga's Appeal Rejected: Four-Year Doping Ban Stands

Surinamese sprinter Issamade Asinga has lost his appeal concerning a four-year doping ban, which he attributed to contaminated Gatorade gummies he received as a prize. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld the World Athletics sanction on Thursday, confirming the 20-year-old will remain ineligible until May 2024, with credit given for time served since August 2023 under a provisional suspension.

Asinga tested positive for metabolites linked to the banned substance GW1516 during an out-of-competition control in July 2023, leading to his suspension by the World Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU). The athlete, born in Atlanta, argued that the result came from Gatorade gummies awarded to him upon being named the brand's 2023 U.S. national boys track and field player of the year, asserting he consumed them a week before the test.

The sanction was initially imposed by a World Athletics disciplinary tribunal in May 2024 and has been affirmed by CAS after a public virtual hearing in June. CAS concluded that Asinga failed to prove that it was more probable than not that the ingested gummies were contaminated with GW1516. Additionally, CAS found that Asinga did not demonstrate his violation was unintentional, precluding any reduced sanction for No Fault or Negligence.