The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) announced on October 2nd that Tacuma Anderson-Richards was determined to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the Canadian Anti-Doping Program (CADP) and received a two-month sanction which commenced on July 8, 2017. The adverse analytical finding that led to the doping violation arose from a test conducted by the CCES at the 2017 Athletics Canada National Championships which took place on July 8, 2017.
Anderson-Richards competed for Team Ontario at the 2017 Canada Summer Games that took place from July 28th to August 13th. While there was no violation of the CADP at the Canada Summer Games, the sanction that was subsequently imposed was in effect during the 2017 Canada Summer Games. Pursuant to the CADP, all of the results for Anderson-Richards must be expunged from our records.
“The results of the anti-doping testing from the Athletics Nationals were not known by the Council, by the athlete, by the Host Society or by Team Ontario at the time of his competition in Winnipeg,” says David Patterson, Canada Games Council President and CEO. “No one acted in a manner that was untoward or in any way that may have violated the CADP by allowing Mr. Anderson Richards to participate. This was a good faith issue resulting from the normal delay associated with conducting results management for anti-doping violations.”
In the event of a doping violation and sanction affecting the Canada Summer Games, sport scoring and provincial/territorial ranking results will be adjusted accordingly, and placings or awards shall be re-awarded as required by the Canada Games Council.
The impacts of Mr. Anderson-Richards’ participation at the Canada Summer Games where he was subsequently determined to be under a CADP sanction are on both the medal count and on flag points. They are as follows (new or changed placements are listed in bold):
Of note, in the Men’s 4X100 Relay, the World Anti Doping Code and the Canadian Anti Doping Code demand that the full team’s results be excluded. This is not the case in team sports, but the code and subsequent precedent are clear that relay events demand a full exclusion. We asked the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport to pursue this question fully with the World Anti Doping Agency and it was clear that full exclusion is the only code-compliant course of action.
