West Indies women’s international cricketer Tremayne Smartt was today found guilty of committing an anti-doping rule violation under Article 2.1 of the ICC Anti-Doping Code (the “ICC Code”) and has been suspended from all cricket and cricket-related activities for a period of five months.
Smartt, 26, provided a urine sample as part of the ICC’s random in-competition testing programme after the conclusion of a Twenty20 International between West Indies and Pakistan, held in Georgetown, Guyana on 11 September 2011.
Her sample was subsequently tested by a World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory and was found to contain Furosemide. This is classified as a ‘Specified Substance’ under WADA’s Prohibited List and is prohibited both In-Competition and Out-of-Competition.
An independent anti-doping tribunal, comprising Mr Tim Kerr, QC, (acting as chairman), Dr Anik Sax and Prof. Peter Sever heard the case today in London and made its determination after considering detailed written and oral legal submissions as well as live witness evidence, including from Smartt herself.
The tribunal accepted that Smartt had ingested the ‘Specified Substance’ for therapeutic reasons, specifically to treat swelling in her knee. It also found that Smartt had no intention to enhance her sporting performance or to mask the use of another performance enhancing substance, but that she had failed to satisfy the high levels of personal responsibility implicit upon her as an international cricketer subject to anti-doping rules.