FINA Imposes 4-Year Ban On Slovenia’s Tanja Smid For Positive Test

At the end of March, Slovenian national record holder Tanja Smid announced that she tested positive for a banned substance at the Serbian Open Championships earlier this year.

At the time, Smid admitted to doing “stupid and reckless things to take drops for weight loss,” and she announced her retirement as a result of the positive test.

FINA announced today that the Solvenian Anti-Doping Organization has imposed a sanction of 4 years’ ineligibility on Smid, starting on March 18, 2015.

FINA has also released the category of the substance Smid tested positive for: the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) GW 1516, hormone and metabolic modulators.

The substance (Wikipedia link here) was originally developed as a drug candidate for metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, but adverse side effects in the animal testing stage led researchers to abandon the project. In 2007, GW 1516  was shown to dramatically improve physical performance. It has been on the WADA’s prohibited list since 2009.

Smid, who has been hampered by shoulder injuries over the last few years, earned a silver medal in the 200 breaststroke at the 2010 European Short Course Championships. She was one of 12 swimmers that represented Slovenia at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, where she placed 33rd in the 200 breaststroke.

The 26-year old is the country’s National Record holder in the 200 breaststroke in both long course and short course meters, including a 2:27.73 in the long course version at the 2010 European Championships.

At the Serbian Championships where she tested positive, Smid won both the 100 breaststroke (1:10.11) and 200 breaststroke (2:29.18), both in times well short of her personal bests. A week later at a meet in Kranj, Slovenia, she swam a 2:26.93 in the 200 breaststroke in long course, which was eight-tenths faster than her national record in that event. That record is now unlikely to be ratified as a result of the prior positive test.