Media Release
on the termination of the doping proceeding before the CAS ADD regarding Nadezhda Sergeeva, RUS.

On 24 February 2018, the Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS ADD) that was created for the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games disqualified the Russian bobsleigh athlete Nadezhda Sergeeva, who participated as Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR), following her positive out-of-competition test for Trimetazidine, a non-specified substance (Metabolic Modulator prohibited under S4.5.5.4 of the 2018 WADA Prohibited List), as requested by the IOC. It also imposed a provisional suspension as requested by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF), pending a final decision on her violation.


Immediately after the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games, the IBSF applied to the CAS ADD to impose a period of ineligibility on the Athlete also for the period after the Olympic Games. During the course of the CAS ADD proceedings between Nadezhda Sergeeva and the IBSF, the Athlete accepted both the Adverse Analytical Finding and the provisional suspension. The Athlete demonstrated however that the Adverse Analytical Finding of the very low concentration of the prohibited substance (as quantified by the Olympic doping laboratory in Seoul) was likely to have been caused by an unsuspicious contaminated supplement which she had obtained from an official and supposedly reliable source and which had been prescribed by the team doctor. The likely contamination of the supplement was supported inter alia by the findings of an independent WADA-accredited laboratory which had been mandated by the IBSF to double-check the findings of the laboratory mandated by the Athlete.


On 5 October 2018, the provisional suspension was lifted by the CAS ADD in accordance with IBSF Rule 7.9.3.1, as it was undisputed between the parties to the procedure that the Athlete’s ADRV likely resulted from a contaminated product. Meanwhile, the Athlete also accepted the period of ineligibility of 8 months requested by the IBSF. Based on this agreement, the file was removed from the docket of the CAS ADD. The period of provisional suspension already served by the Athlete shall be deducted from the otherwise applicable period of ineligibility and therefore ends on midnight of 22 October 2018.


The CAS ADD is adjudicating all alleged anti-doping rule violations, which have been disclosed at the Olympic Games, as a first instance. Its decisions are subject to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

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Lausanne, 11 October 2018