The most weird excuses for failed medication checks as Sinner escapes ban
- Jannik Sinner has escaped a ban despite returning two positive drugs tests
- He blamed the failed tests on his physio’s medication and this was accepted
- Other athletes have also given bizarre excuses for failing tests over the years
The tennis world was rocked this week when it was revealed that leading men’s player Jannik Sinner tested positive for a banned substance twice earlier this year.
Sinner, 23, tested positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol during an event in Indian Wells on March 10 and then failed a test for the same substance eight days later.
But the world No1 has escaped a ban after his explanation for the positive results was accepted following a lengthy, behind-closed-doors investigation.
The explanation provided by Sinner was that a month before travelling to Indian Wells, his fitness coach Umberto Ferrara bought an over-the-counter spray containing the steroid in Italy. Then during the Indian Wells event, Sinner’s physio Giacomo Naldi cut his finger and was advised by Ferrara to use the spray to treat the wound.
Then, according to a statement from the Sinner team: ‘The physiotherapist treated Jannik and his lack of care coupled with various open wounds on Jannik’s body caused the contamination.’
Jannik Sinner (second left) blamed his physio Giacomo Naldi’s (left) medication for his two failed drugs tests earlier this year
Current world No 1, Sinner has escaped a ban and is clear to compete at the upcoming US Open
Nick Kyrgios believes Sinner should have received a suspension following his failed tests
The tribunal heard that Sinner suffers from a skin condition called psoriasiform dermatitis, which can cause irritation and, if scratched, cuts and sores – this was accepted as the reason for the clostebol entering his body via the physio’s finger.
Sinner will be docked 400 ranking points and fined $250,000 (£190,455), but he was found to bear ‘no fault or negligence’ and is free to compete at the US Open when it gets underway on Monday.
Sinner’s explanation has not been accepted by everyone, with fellow tennis star Nick Kyrgios calling for him to be banned after slamming the tribunal panel’s ruling.
But excuses for failed tests is nothing new.
Mail Sport has looked back at some of the most bizarre excuses athletes have put forward over the years.
Borriello’s ‘fatal’ sex session
Former Italian striker Marco Borriello tested positive for cortisone in November 2006 following AC Milan’s 2-1 defeat at Roma.
His girlfriend, Argentine model Belen Rodriguez, took the blame by saying she had passed an infection onto Borriello, who was treating it by putting cream on his private parts.
Rodriguez said: ‘I advised him to use the ointment but forgot it contained cortisone. Our sex session proved fatal.’
Borriello was subsequently suspended until March 2007 and left off Milan’s Champions League squad list for the second half of the season.
The Rossoneri won their seventh European Cup that year without Borriello, beating Liverpool in the final.
Marco Borriello (top) tested positive for cortisone while playing for AC Milan in 2006
Gasquet’s ‘cocaine kiss’
French tennis star Richard Gasquet was climbing the rankings when he tested positive for cocaine at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami in March 2009.
He was handed a provisional 12-month ban, but had this overturned upon appeal.
Gasquet claimed cocaine had got into his system after he kissed a woman who had taken cocaine at a nightclub.
This reason was accepted and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) failed in their bid to hand Gasquet a two-year ban.
Gasquet is now 38 but is still playing. His run of 956 weeks in the top 100 of the ATP rankings came to an end earlier this year.
Richard Gasquet tested positive for cocaine but did not receive a ban as it was accepted that it got into his system after he kissed a woman who had taken cocaine in a nightclub
Gasquet is still competing now at the age of 38, 15 years on from his failed drugs test
Fury’s wild theory
Nine months before dethroning Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015 to become the heavyweight champion of the world, Tyson Fury and his cousin Hughie returned tests containing the banned substance nandrolone.
Charges were not brought against the ‘Gypsy King’ by UK Anti-Doping until June 2016, shortly after Fury had withdrawn from his rematch with Klitschko.
Fury blamed the failed test on eating uncastrated wild boar but later accepted a backdated two-year ban.
He did not fight for the best part of three years anyway after descending deep into a downward spiral of drugs, drink and depression.
Fury returned to the ring in June 2018 and became world champion two years later by defeating Deontay Wilder. He suffered his first professional loss at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk earlier this year, but will get the chance to exact revenge in their rematch in December.
Tyson Fury tested positive for nandrolone nine months before dethroning Wladimir Klitschko
Houlihan’s burrito blunder
American middle distance runner Shelby Houlihan returned a test with trace amounts of nandrolone in it in December 2020.
She defended herself by claiming nandrolone had been detected in her system due to her eating a pork burrito from a food truck the day before the test.
In June 2021, she was handed a four-year ban. She appealed the verdict but it was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Houlihan will be eligible to compete again in January 2025.
Shelby Houlihan (pictured) is currently serving a four-year ban despite blaming her positive test on eating contaminated pork in a burrito she bought from a food truck
China’s tainted hamburgers
WADA confirmed in April that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned drug prior to the delayed Olympics in Tokyo in 2021.
The swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) which is found in heart medication. China’s Anti-Doping Agency (Chinada) accepted that the swimmers had been inadvertently exposed to the drug due to food contamination.
Further information came to light in July that four Chinese athletes, including two swimmers, tested positive for another prohibited substance, metandienone, in late 2022 and early 2023.
According to the New York Times, Chinada concluded following their investigation that the swimmers had ingested the drug by eating tainted hamburgers at a restaurant in Beijing.
WADA confirmed both swimmers were suspended for over a year, but it is understood that one of the swimmers competed for China at the Paris Olympics this summer.
Haiyang Qin (pictured) was one of 23 Chinese swimmers that failed a drugs test in the lead-up to the 2021 Olympics. Chinada later put the failed tests down to eating tainted hamburgers
Robertson’s vaccine mix-up
New Zealand’s long-distance runner Zane Robertson failed a test for Erythropoietin (EPO) in 2022, but insisted it was simply a mix-up.
New Zealand’s anti-doping body said in a statement: ‘Mr Robertson claimed that he had attended a Kenyan medical facility seeking a Covid-19 vaccination but was instead treated for Covid 19, which included the administration of EPO.
‘He also claimed that he had told the attending doctor that he was an athlete and could not be treated with a substance that was on the prohibited list. His evidence was that he had not realised it was a second doctor who administered the medication, so he did not repeat his request not to be treated with a prohibited substance.’
Robertson announced his retirement in February 2023 without revealing that he was under investigation for the failed test.
The following month he was given an eight-year ban – four years for the positive test and an additional four for tampering with the doping control process.
Zane Robertson (right) was handed an eight-year ban after testing positive for EPO
Benn blames too many eggs
The Benn-Eubank family rivalry was set to be renewed in October 2022, only for Conor Benn to test positive for clomifene in the build-up to his grudge match with Chris Eubank Jr.
The fight was called off just 48 hours before it was due to take place, and Benn set about trying to prove his innocence.
Just weeks after the cancelled bout, Benn told The Sun that eating too many chicken eggs could have caused his two positive tests, as he revealed he was consuming 30-34 eggs per day during his training camp.
Benn was cleared to return to the ring by UKAD in July 2023, but the British Boxing Board of Control won their subsequent appeal to have his suspension reimposed.
Benn has fought twice since his failed drugs tests, but both contests have taken place in the US as he has still not been cleared to fight again on British soil.
Conor Benn (pictured) claimed his failed drugs tests could have been due to him eating too many eggs before his grudge match with Chris Eubank Jr
Knighton’s contaminated beef
US sprinter Erriyon Knighton was provisionally suspended in March after testing positive for a metabolite of the anabolic steroid trenbolone.
His Olympic dream appeared to be over, but he was cleared to compete after the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) concluded the drug had got into his system via eating contaminated beef.
Knighton, 20, went on to qualify for the Olympics and finished fourth in the 200m behind Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo and his fellow Americans Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles.
Knighton was exonerated by USADA, but the Athletics Integrity Unit have now filed an appeal against this verdict to CAS.
Erriyon Knighton (pictured) was cleared to compete at the Olympics despite failing a drugs test earlier this year
Liu’s let-off after eye drops scandal
America’s artistic swimming sensation Calista Liu tested positive for dorzolamide in May, and much like Knighton, her Olympics looked to be in jeopardy.
However, she was handed a no-fault violation after it deemed that she was not to blame for the failed test.
Calista Liu (right) was allowed to compete in Paris despite failing a drugs test in May
The US artistic swimming team – including Liu – won a silver medal at the Olympics
Liu claimed the drug had got into her system as her dad’s eye drops contained dorzolamide and she then used the same pillows and bedding as him.
This was accepted and she was allowed to compete in Paris. The 18-year-old won a silver medal in the team event.
