The fastest sprinter in Switzerland will be banned for four years, which for the 31-year-old is probably the same as the end of his career. The anabolic substance trenbolone was detected in the athlete’s urine. He now has the opportunity to appeal to the sports arbitration court TAS.
He was the best sprinter in the country, now he’s been banned from all tracks for four years: Alex Wilson.
It is the most spectacular doping case in Swiss athletics and it has taken on a special dynamic because the athlete is fighting against a suspension with all means. He employed lawyers in Switzerland, scientific experts and even a private detective. CH-Media quoted a source in April as claiming it cost nearly a million francs.
The burden of proof lies entirely with Alex Wilson, as required by the rules in the anti-doping fight. During an out-of-competition check on March 15, 2021, the anabolic trenbolone was detected in the urine. In such cases, the athlete will be penalized for doping if he fails to prove conclusively that the substance entered the body through no fault of his own.
Fabulous times after the positive test
Wilson initially claimed he had eaten meat spiked with trenbolone in large quantities, prompting the Swiss Sports Disciplinary Body to lift a provisional ban. The sprinter was therefore able to start at a small meeting in the US state of Georgia in preparation for the Olympics.
There he ran real fabulous times, over 100 m he was even held for a short time as the European record holder with 9.84 seconds. Wilson is a very good sprinter, winning bronze at the 2018 European Championships in the 200m and holding the national records of 10.08 in the 100m and 19.98 in the 200m. But a European record?
9.84 – Alex Wilson’s supposed European record.
Experts immediately questioned the results, and they were later removed from the leaderboards because of various technical deficiencies at the meeting. The fact that Wilson’s team passed on the times and sparked a brief euphoria about the athlete was not a masterpiece of communication. The team knew that doping proceedings against the sprinter had long been in progress. Ten days later, the CAS ruled that lifting the provisional ban was illegal – Wilson’s Olympic dream burst.
The next show followed. Wilson went on to say in good faith that he had provided proof that trenbolone entered his body through contaminated meat. He had been to a restaurant twice in a row and ate 850 grams of beef each time. That sounds a bit strange for an athlete who once said his coach forbade him red meat, he only eats chicken.
However, the Canadian expert Christiane Ayotte also showed that even with such high beef consumption, the trenbolone values measured in Wilson’s urine can never arise. In addition, his receipts came from a restaurant that only uses organic beef from farms that do not use hormones in fattening.
Suddenly there should be evidence of sabotage
It then remained quiet around the sprinter for some time, until CH Media announced in April that Wilson had changed his defense strategy. Now he claimed there was evidence he had been sabotaged. Someone gave him the substance on purpose and without his knowledge in early March 2021. A detective found evidence of this. In addition, an analysis of the athlete’s whiskers was presented, which is intended to prove that the anabolic steroid entered the body accidentally or only once.
Sabotage is often cited in doping proceedings when the athlete runs out of arguments. The German journalist Hans-Joachim Seppelt proved in a TV documentary in July 2021 that anabolic steroids can be transmitted by touching the hand, neck or arm. However, Seppelt could not prove whether this actually happens regularly.
Analyzes of hair samples are also popular with dopers. As a rule, however, they have no probative value. Because even if Wilson had just started a doping cycle in March 2021 and had only taken the drug once before the positive sample, it would be doping.
What is amazing is that the team of Wilson’s defense attorneys also includes Matthias Kamber, who was at the forefront of anti-doping in Switzerland for 30 years. Not only is he trying to support Wilson’s crude defensive scenarios, but he has opposed the «NZZ on Sunday» also proposed a rule change in the fight against doping.
Control laboratories should no longer automatically report positive samples for the smallest concentrations of substances. The reporting limit should be based on the minimum value that laboratories must demonstrate in order to be accredited. This would help all those scammers who dope in ever more subtle ways to trick the labs. And it would be pointless to freeze urine samples in order to thaw them and re-examine them with advances in analytics. But with it, dozens of medalists at title fights years later were exposed as dopers.
A second trial is imminent
Wilson now has the opportunity to appeal to the CAS. But he could soon be faced with a second trial. Ernst König, who led the investigations into the Trenbolone case as director of Swiss Sport Integrity, confirmed to the NZZ that there were indications of further violations of the doping rules. Among other things, it is about contacts with a coach who has been banned for life and with Eric Lira, a naturopath accused by the FBI of being a doping supplier.
Lira faces a 10-year jail sentence and there is evidence that Wilson has been treated by him – but of course the sprinter claims it wasn’t about doping. The Athletics Integrity Unit AIU, which among other things leads the doping fight for World Athletics, is also involved in the Lira case. According to König, discussions are currently taking place about how the investigation against Wilson will continue.
The case may remain with Swiss Sport Intergrity, but perhaps the AIU will take over the Wilson file. Either way, the Basler faces an even tougher sanction. Because with the judgment of the disciplinary chamber, only the positive trenbolone sample was subject to sanctions.