The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced that South African athlete Fanie Lombaard, a unilateral lower-limb amputee, has been suspended for one year following an anti-doping rule violation.
Lombaard tested positive for Probenecid based on a urine sample provided on January 27, 2011, after he had won gold in the Men’s Discus F42 at the IPC world championships in New Zealand.
The substance is included in the 2011 Prohibited List and consequently prohibited under the IPC Anti-Doping Code, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC).
A hearing found that the prohibited substance had been prescribed to Lombaard by a family physician for a medical reason. However, the athlete did not have a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) to explain the drug’s use, nor did he retrospectively apply to obtain a TUE.
As a result, Lombaard has been stripped of the Men’s Discus F42 gold medal and Belgium’s Gino de Keersmaeker, who originally claimed silver in New Zealand, will be awarded the gold medal. Great Britain’s Aled Davies will be promoted from bronze to silver, and Greece’s Marinos Fylachtos will take the bronze.
