The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced that Kenyan powerlifter Gabriel Magu Wanjiku has received a reprimand for an Anti-Doping Rule Violation after taking cough medicine that contained a prohibited substance. Wanjiku returned an adverse analytical finding for terbutaline in a urine sample provided on 29 July 2016 after an out-of-competition test in Nairobi, Kenya. This substance is included on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) 2016 Prohibited List under the category S3 Beta-2 Agonists and is prohibited at all times, both in and out of competition, as a Specified Substance.

The IPC Hearing Body was satisfied with the athlete’s account that the substance had entered his system after he had taken a single dose of cough medicine for clinical reasons. The Hearing Body accepted the use was not linked to any sport related intention and therefore the athlete received a reprimand based on No Significant Fault or Negligence for a Specified Substance.

The principle of strict liability applies to anti-doping matters. Therefore, each athlete is strictly liable for the substances found in his or her sample, and that an anti-doping rule violation occurs whenever a prohibited substance (or its metabolites or markers) is found in his or her bodily specimen, whether or not the athlete intentionally or unintentionally used a prohibited substance or was negligent or otherwise at fault.

As a signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC), the IPC remains committed to a doping free sporting environment at all levels. The IPC, together with the International Federations and the National Paralympic Committees, established the IPC Anti-Doping Code to prevent doping in sport for Paralympic athletes, in the spirit of fair play. The IPC Anti-Doping Code is in conformity with the general principles of the WADC.

• This media release was originally published by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) on 12 September 2016. To access the original, please click here.