Martin Grab, a Swiss cultural icon in the traditional wrestling discipline of Schwigen, has been sanctioned with a two year ban after reporting an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for tamoxifen in April last year. ‘On the Prohibited List, tamoxifen is in the group of hormonal and metabolic modulators’, read a statement from Anti-Doping Switzerland confirming the sanction. ‘This substance is used to fight breast cancer. The misuse of tamoxifen may include reducing the undesirable side effects of treatments for anabolic steroids’.

In July, Anti-Doping Switzerland confirmed that it had opened proceedings against Grab, after he confirmed the AAF in a statement. Grab argued that he didn’t intentionally take the substance and requested analysis of his B sample. In August, Anti-Doping Switzerland announced that the B sample confirmed the A sample result – an AAF for tamoxifen.

Last week, the Austrian anti-doping commission (ÖADR) sanctioned footballer Simo Saric with a four year ban, for use of trenbolone, testosterone enanthate, clomiphene and tamoxifen. This perhaps illustrates how tamoxifen can be used as part of Post Cycle Therapy (PCT) following use of steroids.