Andy has been writing about the governance of sport for over 15 years. Prior to working on the Sports Integrity Initiative, he was the editor of World Sports Law Report for eight years. He has also worked for the Press Association and has written for numerous trade magazines. He has also created, chaired and spoken at numerous conferences on the business of sport, and produced the Sports Law Show for iSportConnect TV.
All posts by Andy Brown
• The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of World Athletics has sanctioned a 17 year old Kenyan 800m runner with a four year ban, after she tested positive for norandosterone. Angela Ndungwa Munguti’s ban will run from 7 October 2018, when she returned an adverse analytical finding (AAF) at the...
The international swimming federation (FINA) has argued that Hiromasa Fujimori recorded an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for methylephedrine at a concentration of 16 micrograms per millilitre, and a typographical error in its Doping Panel Decision meaning that the AAF was reported as 16 picograms per millilitre. However, strangely, the...
Anti-doping is inherently driven by data and evidence. It has to be in order to avoid false positives, which unfortunately sometimes occur (examples here and here). Russia has consistently argued that suggestions that the State was involved in systemic manipulation of the doping control system is one of these...
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) has called for the replacement of the entire management team of the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF), after World Athletics suspended the RusAF reinstatement process. However, RusAF has only accepted resignations from two of five RusAF officials charged by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of...
The Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) will have until 12 December to respond to charges that it failed to cooperate with and obstructed an anti-doping investigation, which has resulted in charges being issued seven people including RusAF’s President and Executive Director. The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of World Athletics announced...
• The international cycling union (UCI) has sanctioned Sergey Shatovkin with a four year ban for possession of a prohibited substance, after he ordered it from Russia to be delivered to his home in Switzerland. ‘The Federal Customs Administration seized the package and immediately notified Antidoping Switzerland, where it...
The international swimming federation (FINA) incorrectly sanctioned Hiromasa Fujimori with a two year ban, because methylephedrine was detected at such a low level in his sample it does not constitute an adverse analytical finding (AAF – or ‘positive test’). A 14 December 2018 urine sample taken from Fujimori recorded...
One of two Doping Control Assistants (DCAs) involved in the attempted collection of a sample from Sun Yang on 4 September 2018 has revealed that he is a construction worker, and has not received any anti-doping training. “I am a builder and I am always busy a work, day...
The Italian athletics federation (FIDAL) has supplied a list of 56 athletes who have agreed for their urine samples to be analysed by Bolzano prosecutors in order to ascertain if Alex Schwazer’s sample was manipulated, as the race walker alleges. It is understood that the samples of the 56...
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has been forced to drop a test evasion charge against Kenyan distance runner Jacob Kibet Chulyo Kendagor, as it could be proven that the person approached by Doping Control Officers (DCOs) was the athlete. Kendagor was provisionally suspended on 9 July by...
The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) reported 16 anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) during 2018/19, representing 0.3% of the 5,344 tests performed, its Annual Report (PDF below) reveals. Of the 16 ADRVs, seven involved a sanction of four years or more; one involved a two year sanction; and...
• Cyrus Rutto has become the second Kenyan distance runner to be sanctioned with a four year ban this month, following analysis of the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP). The athlete argued that his offscores, which were found to indicate doping, were not ‘outliers’ as the International Association of Athletics...
A refusal to lie about the source of a positive test has cost a promising Japanese swimmer his spot at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Hiromasa Fujimori refused to say that his 14 December 2018 adverse analytical finding (AAF) for methylephedrine was caused by a cold medication, which the...
Major changes were made to the Athletes Anti-Doping Rights Act after the Sports Movement intervened in its passage at the recent World Conference on Doping in Sport, The Sports Integrity Initiative can reveal. They include removal of a recommendation that sporting officials face the same consequences as an athlete...
• Canadian Jumping athlete Nicole Walker has denied ever using illicit drugs, after being provisionally suspended after returning an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for a metabolite of cocaine at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games. ‘I was shocked and devastated to hear about these results’, wrote Walker on Instagram...
