Thanks to Brazilian correspondent D’Artagnan Dias for contributing to this report
Today, it was announced that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has extended the ban of Brazilian star backstroker Fabiola Molina from 2-months to 6-months, with credit earned for the first two already served.
Molina was first banned by the Brazilian Federation (CBDA) for two months after testing positive for Methylhexaneamine at Brazil’s World Championship Trials in the spring. The two-month ban itself did not elapse into the World Championships, but she lost all of her qualifying times and thus did not compete in Shanghai.
Now, after appeal by FINA, she will begin serving the final four months of her ban, which is set to expire on April 20th (she was entered in the Austin Grand Prix, but didn’t ultimately swim). This means that she will return in time for the Maria Lenk Trophy, which is the final portion of Brazil’s Olympic Trials’ meets.
Molina was represented in front of the CAS by Howard Jacobs, the same attorney who represented Cesar Cielo in his now-infamous case from the summer. It’s not clear how this case differed from that of Cielo and the others, aside from the type of stimulant and perhaps not having demonstrated the same level of care in having supplements tested as Cielo did.
Molina is currently training at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida.