The world champion drowns in a doping case: “It is a shock and an absurdity” Sports

It looked like this would be a normal exercise Wednesday, when around 6 am doping controllers knocked on Ieva Adomavičiūtė’s door.

At that time, he participated in a training camp near Galvė Lake in Trakai.

The early visit was not surprising, because in the special ADAMS system, athletes often mark where they will be in the morning; it is more difficult to name the place of the day.

I.Adomavičiūtė submitted samples on August 19 and was preparing for other competitions.

Milda Valčiukaitė, a 194 cm tall rowing partner from Kaunas, was locked up in the summer for back pain, so I. Adomavičiūtė tried to enter the European Championship by transferring to a single boat and competing with Lina Šaltyte-Masilionienė .

On September 15, I.Adomavičiūtė separated for 10 seconds. faster than the main competitor, and after the start he headed to the shop in Trakai, when he noticed that a letter from the Lithuanian Anti-Doping Agency had dropped.

“I thought it was a mistake. It can’t be. But it was written there that he had violated the anti-doping rules,” recalled I. Domavičiūtė.

What is hygiene?

The Lithuanian Anti-Doping Agency reported that the data came from a Polish laboratory where a urine sample provided by a rower a month ago was analyzed.

It was found to contain hygiene, a substance blacklisted by the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2017 that acts as a stimulant. It can give energy to athletes, it is also used to lose weight.

However, I. Adomavičiūtė stated that he did not even know what hygiene was.

“I can give my hand to cut, I did not buy any product in which the substance was prohibited,” said I. Domavičiūtė. – Because this substance is herbal, it is often found in teas, weight loss products used in Chinese medicine.

But I still can’t say exactly where it came from. I tried to remember everything I had drunk or consumed. I listed all the food supplements that I had and could possibly take that year. None of the supplements contained that substance. It’s hard for me to explain. “

The T-shirt said he immediately offered to go to the Lithuanian Anti-Doping Agency and explain what he could. He invited a sports doctor, Mantvydas Šilkūnas, and began to examine the food supplements used.

Joining her in Trakai was her brother Aurimas Adomavičius and another member of the Lithuanian men’s quadruple Martynas Džiugys.

They saw my reaction. They were sleepless nights. We both check and search to find those things. I still believed in the European Championship that something went wrong.

It was not even thought that everything would take so long and the whole situation would turn into a big misunderstanding, ”said I. Adomavičiūtė.

According to I.Adomavičiūtė, they sent supplements and food products to laboratories in Poland and Germany for testing, although each test cost 350 euros.

“We ship 7-8 products, including green tea,” said the rower. – I had to remember all the tea I drank. Without green tea, he didn’t seem to drink anything else.

If he had used something forbidden, he would admit it right away because it could reduce the punishment. Stupid, but I didn’t know what to confess because I don’t know how it happened. “

I.Adomavičiūtė emphasized that there were no grounds for using the prohibited substance; there were no major competitions at that time and the diet was last followed in 2019; she doesn’t have to fit into a certain weight category.

Remember Asian food

I. Adomavičiūtė asked the lawyer Salomėja Zaksaitė for help, who began to explain in more depth.

Together, they tried to put together a sequence of events again and remember what the rower drank and ate the week before the test.

The biochemical specificity of hygiene shows that hygiene is eliminated from the body after 7 to 10 days, so it was unfortunate to recreate the products consumed from August 10 to 19.

The lawyer’s closing speech states that before the test, I. Domavičiūtė played sports at the Šventoji camp, where he dined at an Asian food cafe, and before the test he could eat Thai pasta in Trakai on Mondays and Tuesdays.

S.Zaksaitė, a lawyer for the sportsman’s interests, claimed that hygiene was hidden under various Asian plant names, including lotus root or wild ginger.

“Consequently, there is a good chance that the substance entered your body due to the ingested food,” said S. Zaksaitė.

Later it turned out that the concentration of higenamine in the body of I. Adomavičiūtė reached 23.03 ng / ml.

This is about twice the Hygiene concentration allowed by the International Anti-Doping Agency (10 ng / ml), but 11 times lower than that found in 2017 on the body of Russian fighter Anzor Boltukayev.

“It just came to our knowledge then. Biochemists said that it gives me absolutely no advantage. It is a pity that two years are threatened by such a thing,” said I. Domavičiūtė.

Went to games for the second time

I.Adomavičiūtė has yet to start at the Olympics.

A decade ago, she and M. Valčiukaitė shone with gold at world and European youth competitions, but then their duo parted ways for a long time.

I. Adomavičiūtė decided to accept one of the six offers and moved to sports and studied at Washington State University, graduated with a degree in business administration and in 2015 and 2016 became the world champion of a competition boat juveniles (under 23 years).

The rower is currently studying sports industry management at Mykolas Romeris University. The director of the program suggested requesting legal assistance from S.Zaksait quien, who, in addition to practical activities, is also one of the speakers of this program.

I.Adomavičiūtė tried to reach the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, but then L.Šaltytė-Masilionienė left to represent the country in the individual competition, and I.Adomavičiūtė publicly considered that her fiance, now husband Mantas Masilionis, a former Lithuanian rowing team, had unlocked the Olympic goal for the opponent.

At the time, M. Valčiukaitė was carrying the trophy while rowing with Donata Vištartaite-Queen, who is five years older.

Although D.Karienė decided to retire from sports due to fatigue and exhaustion after winning the bronze medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the youth duo rejoined.

I.Adomavičiūtė, who returned from the USA, contributed to M.Valčiukaitė and this team also became one of the strongest in the world: they won bronze at the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow, and at the same year he achieved the greatest achievement of his career in Bulgaria – gold in the world championship.

Although 2019 was not a success: fifth place in the European Championship and ninth in the World Championship, he secured a ticket for Lithuania for the doubles boat competition in Tokyo.

“I thought that in these Olympics, 100 percent. I will participate, – II Domavičiūtė spoke. – How stupid should I be to risk losing my participation in the Olympics for the second time? That has been my goal for eight years” .

I will not complain about the verdict

The T-shirt said it did not hide anything from anti-doping specialists and the president of the Lithuanian Rowing Federation, Dainius Pavilionis, from whom it felt support in a particularly difficult case.

In any event, the verdict in the case did not belong to the rowers, but to the Lithuanian Anti-Doping Violation Commission.

A commission of two lawyers and a doctor delayed the decision for a long time, and the rowing camp was hopeful that the usual two-year disqualification would be alleviated at least, perhaps up to six months, leaving the opportunity to start in the Games. Olympic.

However, on Monday I.Adomavičiūtė received a letter that she would be disqualified for two years.

You will not be able to compete until September 15, 2022.

The Athlete will still have the right to file a complaint, but a real change in the case would only be possible in Sport Refereeing.

But a follow-up to the case in Lausanne, Switzerland, would cost at least $ 18,000. euros.

After five tense months before sentencing, I. Adomavičiūtė no longer planned to wave his oars.

“Every time I talk about this, I get tears,” he said. “I can’t believe it could have happened to me.”