USADA announced today that an arbitrator from the American Arbitration Association (AAA) has rendered a decision in the case of cycling athlete, Ana Milena Fagua Raquira, of Tunja, Colombia, and has determined that Fagua Raquira should receive a four-year sanction for her rule violation. Fagua Raquira, 24, provided a urine sample on July 19, 2015, at the Willow Springs Road Race in Willow Springs, Ill., as a part of the RaceClean Program that works to fight doping at both the elite and amateur levels of cycling.

Her sample tested positive for the presence of an exogenous Androgenic Anabolic Steroid (AAS) and/or its metabolites, which was confirmed by Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) analysis. Every urine sample that USADA collects is scrutinized under an Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) program that examines levels of multiple steroid biomarkers of doping. Specific samples that exhibit atypical qualities are then targeted for more sophisticated IRMS analyses, which can reveal the presence of synthetic AAS use.

The use of any exogenous AAS is prohibited at all times under the USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) National Anti-Doping Policies (USOC NADP), and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Anti-Doping Rules, all of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code (the Code) and the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List.

Fagua Raquira’s four-year period of ineligibility began on October 9, 2015, the date her provisional suspension was imposed. As a result of the doping violation, Fagua Raquira’s results from the Willow Springs Road Race on July 19, 2015, have been disqualified.

• This media release was originally published on the US Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) on 1 September 2016. To access the original, please click here.