After months of exchanging allegations inside the courtroom, the long-awaited judgment has finally arrived. Post the final hearing, the plaintiff had to swallow a bitter pill. The track and field long-distance runner will need to abide by the eighteen-month ban as punishment for the consumption of a controlled substance.

On 29 May 2023, Egyptian athlete Ahmed Saber Mohamed Bakry received a formal warning from the Athletics Integrity Unit of World Athletics. The committee had found Dexamethasone in the athlete’s system. Bakry had some valid arguments in his defense, but the die was cast when the Disciplinary Tribunal did not find it in his favor.

Ahmed Saber Mohamed Bakry faces 18-month doping ban

The Athletics Integrity Unit or AIU announced the Tribunal’s findings in an X post that read, “The AIU has banned Ahmed Saber Mohamed Bakry (Egypt) for 18 months, until 27 April 2024, for the Presence of a Prohibited Substance (Dexamethasone). DQ results 20 November 2021 to 19 May 2023”. Surprisingly, the World Anti-Doping Association Therapeutic Use Exemption Committee overturned their decision and revoked Bakry’s r-TUE on October 31, 2022.

This sudden revocation opened a can of worms and brought the issue before Nick de Marco KC of the Disciplinary Tribunal. For de Marco, the main deciding factor was the motive. He wanted to know if the athlete had committed the ADRV intentionally or whether he had plausible deniability. Bakry could claim the latter because of his limited experience with the doping laws.  The arbitrator heard both parties and considered a variety of factors for fixing the duration of ineligibility.

Factors determining ineligibility deliberations

Nick de Marco concluded an eighteen-month ban was appropriate. Ahmed Saber Mohamed Bakry was not an elite athlete, and he lacked the necessary educational qualifications for a better understanding of the complicated anti-doping laws. For the arbitrator, these were just causes for the reduction. The Tribunal also reduced the duration of the ban after considering the significant delays during the trial. He also took into account that Ahmed Saber Mohamed Bakry’s athletic journey did not conform to the Doping Control laws. Thus, World Athletics was forced to reduce the period of ineligibility by 6 months and 20 days.

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The Disciplinary Tribunal thereby promulgated the sentence on 31 October 2023. The ban ended on 19 May 2023, but even then, his results from the races on 20 November 2021 and 19 May 2023 were still disqualified. The Tribunal has also upheld the AIU’s decision to suspend Ethiopian athlete Zerfe Wondemagegn for the use of testosterone to impact his performance. These strict rules regarding the use and abuse of prohibited substances are for the sake of maintaining the sanctity of the sport.

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