Doping & Drugs ·
Meldonium’s First Months on WADA’s Prohibited List
In early 2016, adverse findings were reported across several countries as uncertainty persisted over how long the drug remained in the body. Maria Sharapova received a two-year suspension, which she said she would appeal.
On January 1, 2016, meldonium became prohibited under World Anti-Doping Agency rules, both in and out of competition. By March 11, WADA was reporting 99 adverse analytical findings for the drug since the ban took effect. Among the athletes who had tested positive was Maria Sharapova, who announced at a Los Angeles news conference in March that she had failed a test at the Australian Open. She said she had taken meldonium for 10 years for health issues and had not known it was banned.
The change had been announced months earlier. WADA’s executive committee adopted the 2016 Prohibited List on September 16, 2015; the agency sent it to stakeholders and posted it online on September 29. Meldonium had spent 2015 on WADA’s monitoring program. In explaining its decision, the agency cited a review of scientific information, evidence of widespread use among athletes and claims of performance enhancement, including claims by the drug’s manufacturer.
The findings reached beyond tennis and Russia. An Associated Press report on March 11 identified cases involving athletes from Ukraine, Georgia and Sweden as well as Russian competitors. But the figure of 99 was a count of findings reported by that date, not a final annual total or a list of adjudicated violations. WADA spokesman Ben Nichols, who supplied the number, did not identify the athletes behind it.
There was also a scientific complication. In a notice dated April 11, WADA said clear information about how long meldonium remained in the body was still lacking. Preliminary research suggested that low concentrations could persist for weeks or months. An athlete who established that they had taken it before January 1 might therefore have grounds for a finding of no fault or negligence if they could not reasonably have anticipated its continued presence. WADA recommended that some cases be stayed while studies continued, but said results management should proceed when an athlete admitted taking meldonium on or after January 1, or when other evidence established that timing.
Sharapova’s case brought a separate assessment of her conduct. On June 8, a three-person tribunal appointed by the International Tennis Federation imposed a two-year suspension after her positive test on January 26, the day she lost to Serena Williams in the Australian Open quarterfinals. The ban was backdated to that day, and her Melbourne results were disqualified; she also lost the ranking points and prize money she had earned there.
The tribunal found that Sharapova had not declared meldonium on seven doping-control forms submitted between October 2014 and January 2016. It also found that only her father and manager knew she was taking it at the time. The panel concluded that her pattern of use—on match days and during intensive training—was intended to enhance performance, and called her concealment of the drug a serious breach of her duty to comply with the rules.
Sharapova disputed the severity of the punishment and emphasized the distinction between performance-related use and an intentional rules violation. “While the tribunal concluded correctly that I did not intentionally violate the anti-doping rules, I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension,” she said after the decision. She said she would appeal the suspension to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.