POC assures: Gilas to retain Asiad gold amid Brownlee failed doping test
(UPDATED 1:08 p.m.) MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Bambol Tolentino insisted that Gilas Pilipinas will keep the gold medal it won in the recent Asian Games despite Justin Brownlee’s positive doping test result.
Brownlee, the hero for Gilas in their gold medal run in the 19th Asiad in Hangzhou, China, was found positive for carboxy-THC, a psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, in a test that was administered a day after the Nationals won their first Asiad basketball gold medal in 61 years.
In a short message to reporters, Tolentino said: “The gold remains with us.”
According to the Olympic Council of Asia, if a member of a team was notified of an anti-doping rule violation, the International Testing Agency (ITA) will conduct target testing of the whole team during the Asiad period.
And if more than two members were flagged for doping, they will be imposed an “appropriate sanction on the team.”
The POC president, in a statement also on Friday, said that if two of Brownlee’s Gilas teammates also test positive, “that’s the only time when the Philippines’ gold medal will be forfeited,” citing the consequences stated by the OCA.
Tolentino said that both Brownlee and cyclist Ariana Evangelista, who was also earlier flagged by the ITA, for erythropoietin, are “provisionally suspended until after the result of their B sample — are analyzed in their defense.”
The naturalized basketball player has until October 19 to contest the result of his A sample through procedures set by the International Olympic Committee, the ITA and the World Anti-Doping Agency.
“All Brownlee needs is to prove his innocence in contesting the result if he allows testing his B Sample,” Tolentino said.
While the gold staying in the Philippines for now is good news, Brownlee failing the B-sample would result in a heavy penalty.
And, if the B-sample also yields a positive result, Brownlee would be slapped with a two-year suspension, he added.
The rest of Gilas players were also tested.
Meanwhile, other Jordan players were also tested after guard Sami Bzai was found positive for dehydrochloromethyl-testosterone metabolite.
Gilas and Jordan finished with the gold and silver medals, respectively.
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