Polish swimmer Michal Zawadka has been handed a four-year doping suspension. The suspension, however, was not handed out by FINA, or the Polish anti-doping authority. Instead, Swimming Australia imposed the ban, which is back-dated to November 11th, 2015.
The positive test for Clenbuterol and Methylhexaneamine was taken at the New South Wales State Open Short Course Championships in Sydney, Australia on September 11th. Because Swimming Australia was the authority that administered the test, they were the authority tasked with handing out the suspension.
The control upon the conflict of interest that exists whereby the Australian federation is able to sanction a Polish swimmer is that all suspensions can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Zawadka is primarily a breaststroker, with bests of:
- 50 LCM breast: 28.09
- 100 LCM breast: 1:02.32
Zawadka has raced 7 meets in Australia since 2014, including as a visiting swimmer at the 2014 Australian Short Course Championships. He was the 2014 Australian Champion in the 50 short course meters breaststroke. Zawadka represented KRB Aquatics near Sydney.
Four years is the maximum suspension for a first-time offender. Clenbuterol’s prescribed use is used as a bronchodilator and decongestant that is approved for human use in some countries in Europe and Asia, but is not an ingredient of any therapeutic drug currently approved by the FDA in the United States. This is the substance that American swimmer Jessica Hardy tested positive for at the 2008 Olympic Trials. She received a one year suspension and was removed from the Olympic Team that year.
Methylhexaneamine was also developed as a nasal decongestant, but is now marketed almost exclusively as a dietary supplement. The FDA has linked several deaths to the use of the substance.
Methylhexaneamine has been responsible for several suspensions, including a run of them from 2012-2014. Included among those suspended for its use was another Polish swimmer, Paula Zukowska, in 2012. The Polish Swimming Disciplinary Commission at the time gave her only a 6-month suspension, but FINA extended that to 1 year.
Zawadka is 27-years old.