ITF Finds Martina Hingis Guilty of Doping, Banned for Two Years
Posted by Aaress Lawless on Jan 4, 2008 | Print | Email | Bookmark | Free Subscription
The International Tennis Federation has found former world number one Martina Hingis guilty of doping, banning the now-retired Swiss star from competition for two years.
Her 2007 results from Wimbledon, San Diego, Los Angeles, the US Open, and Beijing have since been disqualified, and Hingis is required to return all prize money earned from these tournaments.
On November 1, 2007, Martina Hingis called a press conference to announce her immediate retirement from the Tour, reveal the fact that she had tested positive for cocaine in her system during the 2007 Wimbledon, but also plead her innocence.
Following a two-day hearing in December 2007, an independent Anti-Doping Tribunal found that a sample provided by Hingis on June 29, 2007 at Wimbledon had tested positive for a metabolite of cocaine.
Cocaine and its metabolites are Prohibited Substances under WADA’s 2007 List of Prohibited Substances and are therefore also prohibited under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme.
The Tribunal rejected the suggestion made on behalf of Hingis that there were doubts about the identity and/or integrity of the sample attributed to her.
It therefore found that she had committed a Doping Offence under Article C.1 of the Programme (presence of a Prohibited Substance in player’s sample).
The Tribunal also rejected Hingis’ plea of No (or No Significant) Fault or Negligence, on the basis that no mitigation was possible as it had not been shown how the cocaine entered her system.
It therefore ruled, in accordance with the sanctions prescribed by the World Anti-Doping Code, that Hingis be suspended from participation for a period of two years, commencing on October 1, 2007 and that her results from The Wimbledon Championships and subsequent events should be disqualified, with the resulting forfeiture of the ranking points and repayment of the prize money (totalling a sum of $129,481) that she won at those events.
The Tribunal’s written decision with reasons is available as a PDF file here.
Hingis or any party wishing to appeal the decision will have three weeks to do so from receipt of the written decision.
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Will.I.Am | Jan 4, 2008 | Reply
Wow! They have a large body of evidence agaisnt her. Martina really doesn’t have a defense here. It’ll be interesting to see if she will appeal in the next 3 weeks. Maybe she’ll admit to her drug abuse problem. That would be the best thing to do.
Aaress | Jan 4, 2008 | Reply
I agree.
I’ve not had a chance to read the ruling in its entirety, but from what I’ve read so far, the ITF was remarkably thorough in their investigation, making this an extremely tough case to appeal.
Kurt | Jan 4, 2008 | Reply
Ditto.
It must have been a thorough investigation because the ITF would never want to tarnish the reputation of such a great champion like Hingis without a great deal of evidence. What’s kind of weird to me is that cocaine is not a performance-enhancing drug. It seems, however, that that doesn’t matter in the ITF’s rules and the case is still labeled under the Anti-Doping policy. I don’t think she’ll ever try to make a comeback after this. I wonder if this horrible ending to her career will affect her Hall of Fame chances. Will a bad decision in 2007 affect her 15 Grand Slam title career?
PaulaV | Jan 4, 2008 | Reply
It’s horrible to read about such gifted athletes who turn to drugs. For any athelte to compromise their health for the sake of winning is such a sad reflection of professional tennis today, and the pressures therein.
In terms of the availability of these drugs, you can argue that they were simply not available many decades ago, so the temptation didn’t exist back then. Or, you can argue that the stakes are much higher in tennis today, causing greed to rear it’s ugly head, which feeds the pressure, causing players to “cheat” their way to victory. What good is a victory at Wimbledon if you’re left with a chronic heart condition, or worse? I don’t think players get that.
On a positive note, I am very glad that the powers that be are taking tough stand on this issue, and also serves as a warning to others who may be thinking about going down this dark path.
Alice | Jan 6, 2008 | Reply
Punitive sanctions wont work. There needs to be a paradigm shift in sporting cultural. The vanity has usurped The Glory.