(CAS) Bulletin - Tribunal Arbitral du Sport / TAS

urine tests performed the evenings of 20 (negative
for clenbuterol) and 21 July 2010 (50 pg/mL of
clenbuterol). However, if the aim was to affect the
results of the blood test, it is reasonable to assume
that the plasma transfusion took place before such
blood test, i.e. at some point between 19.00 (20 July)
and 9.00 (21 July), i.e. in a period of 14 hours.
Dr Rabin comes to this conclusion based on the
following elements:
- according to bodybuilders’ blogs, and also the
report of the Athlete’s defence team, the doses of
clenbuterol used for anabolic purposes are 100-
300 ng daily;
- Dr Rabin’s report posits various timeframes for
the withdrawal of the blood, none of which is
immediately after the last dose of clenbuterol;
- Bearing in mind the negative urine samples of
Mr Contador on the evening of 20 July 2010, one
can conclude that the transfusion of plasma must
have taken place between the evening of 20 July
and the urine test of Mr Contador on the evening
of 21 July 2010 (which resulted in a fi nding of 50
pg/mL clenbuterol); WADA considers, however,
that it is much more likely that Mr Contador
transfused the plasma before (and most probable
shortly before) the blood test on the morning of
21 July. The report therefore runs the calculations
for a transfusion occurring both 12 and 24 hours
before the urine test of the evening of 21 July
2010;
- the report assumes that Mr Contador transfused a
perfectly feasible amount of plasma: 200 mL;
- the report assumes that Mr Contador would
have urinated once every three hours between
the transfusion and the relevant test which is an
extremely fair assumption in favour of the Athlete.
In each of the above examples, more favourable
input data could have been used. However, the report
from Dr Rabin seeks to demonstrate that the blood
transfusion theory is scientifi cally plausible even if
conservative factual assumptions are made.
Prof. Jérome Biollaz reviewed both the expert
report of Dr Martín-Jiménez that was attached to
Mr Contador’s answer and the above-mentioned
expert report of Dr Rabin. Prof. Biollaz reports some
inconsistencies in both reports. However, he comes
to the conclusion that an increased variability will
not change the conclusions of Dr Rabin while in Dr
Martín-Jiménez’s report, the conclusions are likely to
change. More importantly, the incorrect adjustment
made for the plasma/blood ratio by Prof. Martín-
Jiménez invalidates his conclusions.
The fi nal expert report on this matter was prepared
by Prof. Martín-Jiménez in connection with the
second written submission of Mr Contador, taking
into consideration the above remarks from Prof.
Biollaz, who confi rmed at the hearing that Prof.
Martín-Jiménez’ second report was more reliable.
Prof. Martín-Jiménez’ position remains that the
blood transfusion theory is impossible as a matter
of pharmacokinetics. These issues will be dealt with
separately below and are based on the following
arguments:
5.3.3.1 The toxic clenbuterol treatment of the
theoretical donor
According to Prof. Martín-Jiménez, WADA’s model
assumes that the theoretical donor underwent a
course of clenbuterol treatment so extreme that it
would be likely to cause toxicity.
Dr Martín-Jiménez explains in his second report that
“ WADA has provided no justifi cation for using the dose in
question, other than the fact it falls within a range of doses
(100 to 300 ug) I examined as part of a blood transfusion
study I undertook in November 2010. That range of dosage
was never intended or proposed as an accurate dosing range
and was not based on any user information. On the contrary
it was used to provide a widely exaggerated margin of values
in the blood transfusion study in order to emphasise the extent
to which it was unlikely that clenbuterol came from a blood
transfusion. WADA implies that the midpoint of the 100 to
300 ug range (i.e. 200 ug) refl ects standard user dosage. In
fact, as is developed below, a dose of 200 ug per day is an
extreme amount of clenbuterol to ingest, particularly without an
escalated dosage protocol ”.
Dr Martín-Jiménez puts forward a report according
to which a dose of 60 – 120 ug per day is described
to be a dose of clenbuterol typically used by athletes
and bodybuilders. By contrast, WADA’s model
assumed the theoretical donor to have taken 200 ug
of clenbuterol for 21 consecutive days. An example
is given of a person having administered a dose of
clenbuterol of 108.75 ug, but still having suffered
“acute clenbuterol intoxication”.
During the hearing, such assumptions were
rebutted by Dr Rabin as he mentioned that a single
dose of clenbuterol is indeed dangerous, but that
doses can increase after several days of clenbuterol
administration. More specifi cally, it was mentioned
that an ingestion of 200 micrograms of clenbuterol at
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