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Andre Calvelo Receives Maximum Four-Year Ban after Positive Steroid Test

Brazilian swimmer Andre Calvelo has been given a 4 year suspension after learning of a positive test for a banned substance while at April’s Olympic Trials. That is the maximum suspension that he could receive.

The test was carried out on March 18 this year. It was a surprise test while at the Team Brazil Training Center. Once the positive test was discovered, Calvelo was suspended from the rest of the Brazilian Olympic Trials.

Calvelo tested positive for Drostanolone Propionate, an injectable steroid. The drug is most commonly called Masteron. Masteron increases muscle hardening and growth, and some people say it improves energy levels. The drug used to be given to breast cancer patients but is now off the market.

The drug is a synthetic androgen and anabolic steroid which means it binds to the androgen receptor (AR). Testosterone functions in the same format. 

In court, Calvelo’s defense made the claim that consumption of the drug was involuntary by using the same blender as someone else. The court did not find this claim believable and rejected it. The four year ban was the maximum that he could receive for a first offense. The maximum penalty implies that he could not provide any accidental contamination claim that was convincing to the tribunal that heard the case. 

This four year ban means that the 20-year-old Calvelo will be unable to participate in this year’s Olympic Games, as well as the 2024 Paris Games. At the conclusion of the ban, Calvelo will be 24. Calvelo can still appeal the ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport which is located in Switzerland.

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Here Comes Lezak
3 years ago

I mean if you are going to lie at least put SOME effort into it man

Eugene
3 years ago

Well, according to his Instagram dude is still going to Tokyo 🤡 https://instagram.com/andrecalvelo

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Eugene
3 years ago

Damn. When you look more jacked than Nicolas Santos, you’ve gotta be on PEDs.

PsychoDad
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
3 years ago

Good one. I propose a new drug test for Brasilian swimmers. Line them up, order to take shirt off, and then walk the line to give punishments: 4 years, 1 year, 2 years, you are good, 2 years… etc. [the fourth one that was good must look like I do when I take shirt off]. No need for A and B blood samples. Samples are right in front of your eyes.

Ytho
Reply to  PsychoDad
3 years ago

I mean, those puffy nipples kinda gave it away

HJones
3 years ago

This is probably the most impossibly ridiculous excuse for a PED being in one’s system. How can you have oral cross-contamination with a substance that has less than a 1% bioavailability? Seems like a pretty half-baked defense.

I remember someone once said that the Maria Lenk Trophy “smelled like a pharmacy”. Hopefully this ban will end his career and serve as a warning against those drawn into the “doping culture” of Brazil swimming.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  HJones
3 years ago

I still like Jack’s “cocaine kiss” defense better.

Joel
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
3 years ago

She never ever said that’s what happened. She was just pointing out ways that a person could test positive when they hadn’t doped, and the drug tests can detect minute traces.

Lpman
3 years ago

Those surprise tests are so sneaky. I usually get around them by smashing vials.

Olympian
3 years ago

Curious to find out how an injectable substance ended up in a blender, guess we’ll never know

25Backstroke
Reply to  Olympian
3 years ago

Ate some East German turkey legs

allanjurovich
Reply to  Olympian
3 years ago

Minimum effective dose my dude!! Should have watched Derek with More Plates More Dates.

Same as how nandrolone got into a pork burrito. Everyone knows it’s crap.

At least people like Richardson and Dwyer owned it… although I’m not sure how someone doesn’t understand that TRT pellets would be an exogenous testosterone.

Troyy
Reply to  allanjurovich
3 years ago

I bet if Richardson tested positive for nandrolone she wouldn’t own it.

HJones
Reply to  allanjurovich
3 years ago

How did Dwyer own it?? By being shamed into retirement?? That is a clear instance of cheating, and his excuse was that he didn’t know the pellets were releasing testosterone (look at the details of his appeal, his defense is impossibly stupid). He probably though that being given a “prescription” for TRT would allow him to get a TUE, but if he had a few more brain cells he’d know that isn’t how it works.

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Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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