Brazilian swimmer Rafaela Trevisan Raurich has been given a provisional suspension by the Brazilian Anti-Doping authority ABCD after testing positive for a banned substance.
Raurich tested positive for six banned substances at the 2024 Brazilian Olympic Trials in May:
- Testosterone
- Epitestosterone
- 5a-Androstanodiol
- Etiocholanolone
- Androsterone
- 5b-Androstanediol
Raurich competes for Curitibano team in Brazil and was a member of the NCAA Division II National Championship team Nova Southeastern University in the spring in the United States.
There she won the NCAA Division II title in the 100 fly (53.16) and 200 fly (1:56.17) while also placing 5th in the 200 free (1:48.15) and 11th in the 100 free (50.46), giving her 60 individual points. She also swam on the title-winning 800 free relay, runner-up 200 medley relay, runner-up 400 medley relay.
Nova Southeastern won the title by 25.5 points ahead of runners-up Colorado Mesa. That was the team’s second-straight title after they won in 2023 before Raurich joined the team.
While NCAA competition isn’t subject to World Anti-Doping Code rules (the NCAA has its own anti-doping policies, which have recently been criticized by WADA), Raurich no longer appears on Nova Southeastern’s roster. She was listed as a sophomore last year after transferring from Drury, where she swam in the 2021-2022 season. At Drury in 2022, she finished 3rd in the 200 fly at the NCAA D2 Championships (1:58.98).
At the Brazilian Olympic Trials, she finished 6th in the 200 fly in 2:17.28, her best finish at the meet. She was given a provisional suspension by the ABCD in June, and is still under provisional suspension.
No drug cheating.
Six substances is jokes
Steroid use like this is more common than you would think at the D2 / D3 and mid major level.
We had a couple guys on our team taking pro hormones and while they finished at the top of conference and one made it to nationals, I don’t think whatever unknown damage they did was worth it.
Definitely picked that up from airplane aircon
or the food…
How does out of competition testing work when athletes train outside of their home country? Obviously the high level American NCAA athletes are being tested by USADA. But for international swimmers, it doesn’t seem practical for their home agency to send testers to the US. Do they depend on ITA/WA for OOC testing? Do they outsource to USADA? This would be an issue for any athlete training outside of their home nation so I would hope there’s a standard practice.
I have not heard of any testing done at the NCAA level since Covid, other than coaches requesting a drug test due to reported drug use of the non-PED variety. Would be interesting to hear if any testing was actually done to any swimmers not on the US National team.
It’s been well before Covid since the last meaningful NCAA test has taken place in swimming…
This stuff gets so complicated and is constantly changing, so I’m going to poke around and see if my info is up to date, but generally yes: they can use ITA to test in other countries, and those athletes can be subject to USADA testing.
USADA documentation says that they can test foreign athletes who are present in the United States, though those seem to be less common than testing American athletes based on the database. Raurich was never tested by USADA, according to their database.
All those substances just to place 6th at trials? 🤔
Free bro he aint do nothing 😭🙏
Dang Mesa got robbed hardcore