Tennis Player Suspended for Doping: Claims Kiss as Cause
Professional tennis player Goncalo Oliveira, who represents Venezuela, has been suspended for four years by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) after testing positive for methamphetamine. Oliveira’s provisional suspension occurred in January, following a test conducted in November 2024 during an ATP Challenger event in Manzanillo, Mexico. Both sample A and sample B contained the prohibited substance. The player, born in Portugal, denied having consumed the drug and presented his argument before an independent court. However, the court determined that Oliveira could not prove that the presence of the drug was involuntary. Due to the provisional suspension, Oliveira will receive credit for the time served, which means he will be able to compete professionally again on January 16, 2029. In August 2020, Oliveira reached the number 77 position in the world doubles ranking, the highest of his career. This case is reminiscent of similar situations in the world of sports.Ysaora Thibus, a French Olympic fencer, was exonerated in July by the Court of Arbitration for Sport from a doping accusation after the judges accepted that she was contaminated with the anabolic substance Ostarine in 2024, through kisses with her American partner for nine days. Weeks before the Paris Olympics, she was exonerated by a court of the International Fencing Federation, which allowed her to compete.
In 2009, Richard Gasquet avoided a lengthy doping suspension when the International Tennis Federation tribunal ruled that he had inadvertently consumed cocaine by kissing a woman in a nightclub.
