Athlete ingests banned substance from kissing girlfriend News

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Athlete ingests banned substance from kissing girlfriend

By Daily Sports on July 15, 2017

Olympic gold medallist Gil Roberts has been cleared of failing a drug test, after it was found that he ingested a banned substance by kissing his girlfriend.

American Roberts, 28, who won 4x400m relay gold in Rio, tested positive for probenecid on 24 March.He later told the US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) he had contaminated the substance from his girlfriend.

An arbitrator found in his favour, ruling the athlete was "without fault."Although he was cleared at the hearing on 20 June, the detail from the arbitration has only just been released by Usada.

Roberts, who had been provisionally suspended, has since competed in the 400m at last month's US track and field championships, in which he qualified for August's World Championships in London by finishing second in 44.22 seconds, behind Fred Kerley.

A few weeks prior to the drugs test, Roberts' girlfriend Alex Salazar had been taking medication for a sinus infection, which contained probenecid.

Salazar took the medicine on the day of Roberts' test and the pair kissed shortly after.

"Whenever they were together, they kissed frequently and passionately," said the report from the American Arbitration Association.

Roberts testified that he did not know Salazar was taking the medicine and he was unaware that kissing could lead to him ingesting any banned substance. (BBC)

•Photo shows Gil Roberts.

Source Daily Sports

Posted July 15, 2017