Tennis Player Suspended for Doping: The Case of Goncalo Oliveira
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced this Friday the four-year suspension of professional tennis player Goncalo Oliveira, who represents Venezuela. The sanction comes after testing positive for methamphetamine in an anti-doping control.
The positive was detected in November 2024, during his participation in the ATP Challenger event in Manzanillo, Mexico. Both sample A and sample B of the player yielded positive results for the prohibited substance.
The tennis player born in Portugal denied having consumed the drug and presented his defense before an independent tribunal. However, the tribunal determined that Oliveira could not prove that the presence of the substance was involuntary.
Considering the time he has been provisionally suspended, Oliveira will be able to compete professionally again from January 16, 2029.
In August 2020, Oliveira reached his best doubles ranking, placing 77th worldwide.
This case is reminiscent of other incidents where athletes have argued that a kiss was the cause of a positive doping test.
In July, French Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus was exonerated from a doping accusation after judges accepted that she had been contaminated with the anabolic substance Ostarine in 2024, by kissing her American partner for nine days. Thibus was subsequently acquitted by a court of the International Fencing Federation weeks before the Paris Olympics, allowing her to compete.
In 2009, Richard Gasquet avoided a lengthy doping suspension when the International Tennis Federation tribunal panel ruled that he had unintentionally consumed cocaine by kissing a woman in a nightclub.
