In what was headline news in India, three swimmers (and 11 athletes total) in India who had been appealing doping suspensions have been hit with two-year bans, FINA announced today. The bans of Richa Mishra, Amar Muralidharan, and Jyotsana Pansare became effective on November 5th, 2012 and will run until 2014.
11 athletes total tested positive for methylhexaneamine, with Muralidharan’s test coming at the 64th National Aquatic Championships on August 26th, 2010. The lot of them went through an exhaustive appeals process, however, that claimed irregularities in the handling and chain-of-custody of the samples. the testing procedures, and the likelihood of so many athletes simultaneously testing positive for the same substance. Muralidharan and Pansare were the most vocal of these appeals, and it was ruled that these discrepancies did not affect the final results fo the testing.
Mishra is the most high-profile of these swimmers. Since the initial test, he won 16 medals (11 golds) at the National Games in February of 2011, a new record, and 5 gold medals at the National Swimming Championships in 2012. All of those titles will be lost. Mishra is the National Record holder in several events, including long course bests of 4:25 in the 400 free and 2:23 in the 200 IM (in long course)
The cruel irony is that if the athletes had accepted the positive tests initially, they would likely be returned to competition by this point.
Methylhexaneamine is a vasoconstrictor often used in nasal decongestants.
