Triathlon: Gemmell has suspension reduced

Kris Gemmell. Photo / Dean Purcell.

The Sports Tribunal has reduced the suspension imposed on former New Zealand triathlon representative Kris Gemmell for a whereabouts anti-doping violation from 18 months to a year.

In a decision from December 1, 2014, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) allowed an appeal by Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ) against a Sports Tribunal decision from February 12, 2014 finding an allegation that Gemmell committed a whereabouts violation had not been established on the facts.

CAS decided a whereabouts violation had been established, in that Gemmell had three missed tests and/or filing failures within 18 months. CAS suspended him for 15 months, commencing from the date of the tribunal's decision in February.

This month, Gemmell applied for a reduction in his suspension, in light of new 2015 rules. On January 1, 2015, new anti-doping rules came into force around when a whereabouts violation is committed.

Before this, for an athlete to commit a whereabouts anti-doping violation, there had to be a combination of three missed tests and/or filing failures all occurring within an 18-month period. The 2015 rules reduced the 18 month-period to 12 months.

While Gemmell's failures for which he had been sanctioned all occurred within an 18-month period, they fell outside a 12-month period.

Therefore, if his failures had occurred within the same relative time frame but after January 1, 2015, he would not have committed a whereabouts anti-doping violation.

The tribunal felt it had jurisdiction under the relevant rule to decide the application and decided a reduction in the suspension was appropriate.

The tribunal noted that while today Gemmell's conduct would not result in a whereabouts violation, he had been found to have committed an anti-doping violation of the whereabouts rule as it existed at the time.

The tribunal stated: "What the tribunal has to decide is whether it is appropriate to modify the sanction which CAS saw fit to impose for that violation on the basis that the WADA sporting community has decided that the earlier rule was too onerous. An athlete today who replicated Gemmell's circumstances would commit no violation and face no sanction."

In the tribunal's view the fact that the WADA sporting community has decided the rule under which Gemmell is presently subject to a 15-month period of ineligibility was too onerous does justify some reduction in that period of ineligibility.

Gemmell's period of ineligibility commenced on February 12, 2014. The tribunal is satisfied that with the overlay of the DFSNZ appeal to CAS that Gemmell has suffered detriment in pursuing career opportunities since the date the violation charges were laid. He has also suffered the stress, publicity and cost consequences of three hearings. As the tribunal has noted the fact of a violation remains.

Weighing all the factors, the tribunal decided it was appropriate to reduce the suspension to a 12-month period equivalent to the minimum period that could have been imposed under the old rules and ordered Gemmell's suspension to expire at midnight on February 12, 2015.

Kiwi golfer Ben Campbell told the Herald last week that Gemmell would caddy for him during a series of tournaments throughout Australasia during the next two months. Gemmell first caddied for Campbell at the New Zealand Open in 2011.