Fresh off winning the opening race of the 2017 cycling season, Roriama rider, 28 year old Alanzo Greaves was slapped with a further three year ban as a result of an appeal to extend his prohibition from the sport.
This was revealed to the media at a special press briefing at the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) Headquarters, High Street on Monday which was addressed by a panel comprising of GOA President K.A. Juman Yassin, sitting member of the Regional Anti-Doping Organisation (RADO) Dr. Karen Pilgrim and Doping Control Officer, Charles Corbin.
According to the GOA President, while there are several other factors that should be discussed, the pertinent issue was the issue was that which relates to the ban of Alanzo Greaves.
Alanzo Greaves
Yassin recalled that “sometime in November, 2015 there was a cycling race and as a result of a doping test, Alanzo failed. That went to the RADO and after the hearing he was found guilty and he was suspended for one year.”
(L-R) RADO Member Dr Karen Pilgrim, GOA President KA Juman Yassin and Doping Control Officer Charles Corbin
However, Yassin explained that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) “felt that the one year suspension was not enough, so as a result, appealed to the court of arbitration.”
Subsequently, the court of Arbitration appointed an English lawyer to look at the matter.
The GOA boss further stated that “The matter was dealt with and he found the penalty that was inflicted should have been higher, as a result he has now been suspended for the full period of four years but three years more to serve because he served one year already and that will now be deducted, that will be effected from the 5th of January 2017 until the 4th of January 2020,” Yassin stated.
However, the information only got into circulation at this meeting; a time after Greaves won the first race of the season and when Yassin “felt it was right and proper to bring it to the attention of the fraternity.”
Adding to the debacle, Yassin made it clear that he was not in any position to say whether Greaves had indeed received notice of this ban or not but was “informed that communication was sent to Greaves.”
Dr. Piligrim explained that the test was a random test conducted where the Anti Doping body selected the cyclists based on their performances in the first four stages of the five stage race with a total of 10 riders being tested.
According to Pilgrim, “We were notified on November 23 that Greaves was found with an adverse Anti -Doping violation on adverse analytical findings and received a written notice on November 28, 2015. He was not informed of the decision of the Results Management Committee until April 2016.”
She added that the “Results Management Committee is one of the important sections of the Anti-Doping effort and the GOA, as the local Anti-Doping organization chosen to delegate that among other things to RADO.”
Consequently, the RADO had made their decision for the one year ban and was not accepted and therefore appealed and now extended to four years.
Corbin informed the room that “the process allowed Greaves to intervene at each stage when he was informed where he did admit where he ingested the substance in his indication that he got this information on day before the actual cycle race on the evening in terms of the written representation by his lawyer.”
However, according to Corbin, Greaves did not challenge the appeal.
“During the state of appeal he did not enter an appearance or challenge the appeal even though he was aware that WADA was going to attempt to make an appeal in respect to an appeal that was meted out by the panel,” Corbin highlighted.
But surprisingly, Corbin added that “he[Greaves] was in accordance with the rules, given 21 days since this award was handed down by the Arbitrator to appeal, he was given 21 days’ notice, this was supposed to be officially handed down to him on January 5 and at no stage during the appeal did he challenge.”
When this publication sought a comment for the father of three, Greaves indicated that he will be seeking advice from his lawyers prior to giving a response.
The Roraima rider made a successful return to competitive cycling in November, just in time to compete in the National Three-Stage, immediately making an impact upon arrival.
Greaves snatched the 20-lap race from team Cocos Hamza Eastman and came second behind Continental rider Geron Williams in stage one eventually finishing fourth overall in the Three-Stage event in a time of four hour 40 minutes and 30 seconds.
