Gold stays despite doping shocker

ITA says Brownlee failed test

MANILA, Philippines — Basketball-crazy Philippines spent all of Friday the 13th grappling with the shocking “positive” result of Justin Brownlee’s doping test in the Hangzhou Asian Games and its possible implication on the gold medal it holds so dear.

The Philippine Olympic Committee was quick to point out that Brownlee can still dispute the result of his “A Sample” and, second, it wouldn’t affect Gilas Pilipinas’ celebrated triumph adversely, per rules.

“The gold remains with us,” POC president and Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham Tolentino said yesterday.

According to Tolentino, the only way the Philippines’ gold medal would be forfeited is if two of Brownlee’s Gilas teammates also tested positive.

He cited Article 11.2 of the Anti-Doping Rule of the International Olympic Committee that states under “Consequences for Team Sports” that “If more than two members of a team in a Team Sport is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation … the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) Anti-Doping Division may impose an appropriate sanction on the team (e.g., loss of points, disqualification from a competition, event or other sanction) as provided in the applicable rules of the relevant International Federation, in addition to any consequences imposed upon the individual athletes committing the anti-doping rule violation.”

Brownlee’s sample, collected Oct. 7 in Hangzhou, returned an “Adverse Analytical Finding for Carboxy-THC, a specified Prohibited Substance,” the International Testing Agency (ITA) reported early yesterday.

The Gilas naturalized player, added the ITA, has been informed of the case and has the “right to request the analysis of the B Sample.”

According to Tolentino, Brownlee has until Oct. 19 to “contest the result of his A Sample through appropriate procedures set by the IOC, 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,” said Tolentino, who added, however, that if the B sample also yields a positive result, a two-year suspension will be imposed.

Aside from Brownlee, Sami Bzai of silver medalist Jordan tested positive for “dehydrochloromethyl-testosterone metabolite,” which fueled the imagination of fans that this was “orchestrated by host China to elevate its bronze-winning quintet to gold.”

Brownlee is in the same boat as Filipina MTB rider Ariana Evangelista, whose “A Sample” returned an “Adverse Analytical Finding for erythropoietin.”