FRENCH Olympic fencing star Ysaora Thibus has dodged a career-wrecking four-year doping ban — because she was KISSING her boyfriend.
Thibus, 32, tested positive for banned muscle-builder ostarine in her system in January 2024, just months before the Paris Olympic Games.
She was later cleared by an International Fencing Federation tribunal weeks before the Paris Olympics, which let her compete there.
Thibus, a silver medalist for France in women’s team foil at the Tokyo Olympics, placed fifth at that event in Paris and 28th in the women’s individual foil.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) challenged the explanation that Thibus was contaminated through kissing with her then partner.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has now dismissed an appeal by the Wada, which asked for her to be banned for four years.
Thibus tested positive for the anabolic substance ostarine in January 2024.
Her partner at the time was Race Imboden, a two-time Olympic fencing bronze medalist for the United States.
Imboden had been using a product containing ostarine without her knowledge, CAS said.
Scientists confirmed it’s possible to ingest trace amounts through kissing if done over a long enough period.
BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK
The court heard that the intake of an ostarine dose taken by Imboden would have left sufficient amounts of the drug in his saliva to contaminate another person he had been kissing.
When news of the positive test broke in 2024, Thibus expressed her ‘total incomprehension, her immense surprise, and her dismay’.
In a statement, she said: “I categorically deny that I have used doping.
“My many negative doping tests are proof of this.
GettyThe couple first met at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games[/caption]“The Olympic Games in Paris are a childhood dream for me and I was shocked to hear this news.
“I will do everything I can to prove my innocence so that I can compete in the tournament that will be the highlight of my career.”
The decision throws back to the infamous “cocaine kiss” saga in 2009.
French tennis ace Richard Gasquet was cleared after claiming a night out and a kiss with a partygoer left him testing positive for cocaine.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Olympic fencer avoids four-year doping ban as her kissing argument holds up in court )
Also on site :
- Morning Report — Texas braces for more flood danger after Hill Country tragedy
- Bangladesh lawyers challenge ex-PM Hasina’s murder trial charges
- Ukraine plagued by ‘palace politics’ and purges – Economist