Pan Am Sports: Phillip had no intention to cheat

JONATHAN RAMNANANSINGH

PANAM Sports believes TT cyclist Njisane Phillip “had no intention of cheating or having any unfair advantage over his competitors” after testing positive for a prohibited substance following his participation at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

Phillip’s anti-doping violation forced the Olympic Movement of the Americas (Panam Sports) to strip the cyclist of his Individual Sprint silver medal and all other members of TT’s golden Team Sprint squad, which he was also a part of.

According to a press release issued by Panam Sports on Thursday, the regional sporting body made it clear that “the prohibited substance found in the sample provided by Phillip is not considered a performance enhancing substance”.

Although Panam Sports was pleased with the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) decision to uphold their ruling and have the medals returned, they believe “Phillip is an honest athlete that made a mistake and that he is committed to learn from the experience.”

The release confirmed that, “Njisane Phillip did commit, during the Lima 2019 Pan American Games, an anti-doping rule violation contrary to Article 2.1 of Panam Sports Anti-Doping Rules on account of the presence of a prohibited substance in a sample provided by him."

The repercussions of his actions mandated Panam Sports, “To disqualify the results obtained by the athlete during the Lima 2019 Pan American Games and order the forfeiture and return of the gold medal won in the team sprint event and the silver medal won in the individual sprint event, both in the sport of cycling.

“To disqualify the result obtained by the Trinidad and Tobago team in the team sprint event of the sport of cycling held on August 1, 2019 during the Lima 2019 Pan American Games and order the forfeiture and return by all of the team members of the gold medals won in this event.”

It concluded, “Panam Sports would like to express that it will continue its efforts in the fight against any kind of doping in sport and welcomes the response of Phillip with regard to the award, in which he asserts that in spite of the offense, he condemns all kinds of doping in sport.”

Panam Sports believes that regardless of the award by the CAS that confirmed the decision of the Panam Sports Ad Hoc Disciplinary Commission, Phillip had no intention of cheating or having any unfair advantage over his competitors.