Decision on Three Doping Cases
The International World Games Association (IWGA) has made public the Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) from The World Games 2022 Birmingham, AL, USA.
The following decisions have been taken by the responsible authorities of IWGA and ITA related to these positive cases in competitions.
Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) - Case 1:
- Name of the athlete: Ms Madalyn Baxter, Lacrosse player from Canada
- Prohibited Substance taken: Canrenone, classified under Class S5 Diuretics and Masking Agents
- As per Article 9 of the IWGA Anti-Doping Rules (ADR), all the Athlete’s individual results obtained at The World Games 2022 Birmingham, AL, USA, are hereby disqualified with all resulting Consequences, including forfeiture of all medals, diplomas, points and prizes. This includes the Athlete’s Gold medal obtained at the Outdoors Sixes Women Finals, which is to be returned. The results of the Canadian Lacrosse team are not subject to disqualification. World Lacrosse is responsible to determine the applicable Consequences that may be imposed under the World Lacrosse Anti-Doping Rules, including the decision whether the Athlete is subject to a Suspension.
Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) - Case 2:
- Name of the athlete: Ms Sveva Melillo, Muaythai athlete from Italy
- Probhibited Substance taken: Canrenone, classified under Class S5 Diuretics and Masking Agents
- As per Article 9 of the IWGA ADR, all the Athlete’s individual results obtained at The World Games 2022 Birmingham, AL, USA, are hereby disqualified with all resulting Consequences, including forfeiture of all medals, diplomas, points and prizes. This includes the disqualification of the Athlete’s Gold Medal at the Muaythai Finals in the Women’s -54kg category. There are no further consequences for the Athlete under the IWGA ADR. IFMA shall determine the applicable Consequences that may be imposed under the IFMA Anti-Doping Rules, including the decision whether the Athlete is subject to a Suspension.
Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) - Case 3:
- Name of the athlete: Ms. Francesca Parrello, Powerlifting athlete from Italy
- Prohibited Substance taken: Methandriol metabolite 17α-methyl-5β-androstane-3a,17β-diol, classified under S1.1 Anabolic Androgenic Steroids
- As per Article 9 of the IWGA ADR, all the Athlete’s individual results obtained at The World Games 2022 Birmingham, AL, USA, are hereby disqualified with all resulting Consequences, including forfeiture of all medals, diplomas, points and prizes. This includes the disqualification of the Athlete’s Bronze Medal at the Equipped Heavyweight Women event. There are no further consequences for the Athlete under the IWGA ADR. IPF shall determine the applicable Consequences that may be imposed under the IPF Anti-Doping Rules, including the decision whether the Athlete is subject to a Suspension.
Because individual medals of TWG 2022 are affected, these decisions have the following impact on the competition:
Sveva Melillo (Italy), competing in the Muaythai 54kg Women event, will be disqualified and withdrawn of the gold medal won at the 2022 TWG.
Francesca Parrello (Italy), competing in the Powerlifting Heavyweight Women event is disqualified and withdrawn of the bronze medal.
The athletes concerned did not appeal. The ruling is therefore legally valid.
For Muaythai 54kg Women event, this results in the following new classification:
Gold Medalist: Ashley Thiner (USA)
Silver Medalist; Laura Burgos (MEX)
Bronze Medalist: Yolanda Schmidt (AUS)
For Powerlifting Heavyweight Women event this results in the following new ranking:
Bronze Medalist: Cicera Tavares (BRA)
Commented IWGA Executive Committee member Volker Bernardi, who is responsible within the Board for Medical and Anti-Doping matters: “The IWGA Anti-Doping operations at The World Games 2022 in co-operation with the International Testing Agency are a successful prove of TWG being a clean multi-sport event at the very highest performance level. The World Games are clean Games. The results of our Testing operations showing three positives out of 332 total tests between 6 and 17 July 2022 is a true record of success. IWGA acknowledges particularly the work together in a high competence Medical and Anti-Doping team in Birmingham including the ITA team, the IWGA Medical and Anti-Doping Committees and their respective on-site units, as also confirmed by the WADA Independent Observer report earlier”.
The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association, organised with the support of the International Olympic Committee. The World Games 2022 was held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 7-17 July 2022. 3,600 athletes from 34 sports and 100 countries took part in the Games. The 12th edition of The World Games will be held in Chengdu, CHN in 2025.
