Tara Moore Faces Four-Year Ban for Doping: Court of Arbitration for Sport Overturns Initial Ruling
British tennis player Tara Moore has been hit with a four-year ban after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reversed a previous decision that had cleared her of doping charges. The 32-year-old, who was once the top-ranked women’s doubles player in Britain, initially received a favorable ruling from an independent tribunal in December 2023. This tribunal determined that her positive test for banned substances was due to contaminated meat, asserting that she bore "no fault or negligence."
However, in a recent appeal by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), CAS found that Moore was unable to demonstrate that the nandrolone concentration in her sample could be attributed to meat contamination. As a result, her ban is effective immediately, although it will be reduced by the 19 months she has already spent under provisional suspension.
Moore tested positive for nandrolone and boldenone during a tournament in Bogota, Colombia, in April 2022. Following her provisional suspension in May 2022, she described the ensuing 19 months as a period of "lost time and emotional distress," significantly affecting her reputation in the sport. After the tribunal’s initial ruling in her favor, she returned to competition in April 2024.
Since then, Moore has participated mainly on the ITF World Tour and managed to secure main draw entries at prestigious events such as Wimbledon, the US Open, and this year’s Australian Open. However, following a hearing in March, CAS concluded that Moore did not provide sufficient evidence to support her case.
According to CAS, "After reviewing the scientific and legal evidence, the majority of the CAS Panel considered that the player did not succeed in proving that the concentration of nandrolone in her sample was consistent with the ingestion of contaminated meat." The panel ultimately determined that she failed to establish that the Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) was unintentional, leading to the decision to uphold the ITIA’s appeal and overturn the independent tribunal’s ruling.
ITIA chief executive Karen Moorhouse emphasized the organization’s commitment to integrity in sports, stating, "Our bar for appealing a first-instance decision is high, and the decision is not taken lightly." She noted that independent scientific advice indicated that Moore did not adequately explain the high levels of nandrolone found in her sample.
Currently ranked 864th in singles and 187th in doubles, Tara Moore will not be eligible to compete again until the start of the 2028 season. The CAS ruling is final and binding, with only a rare procedural appeal to Swiss courts remaining as a possible option.
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