Brazilian swimmer Gabriel Da Silva Santos is free to return to competition with immediate effect after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled on Friday that he bore no fault or negligence for a failed dope test in May.
Santos, 23, tested positive for the prohibited anabolic agent Clostebol in an out-of-competition test last year and was banned for one year, starting on July 20, by the International Swimming Federation (FINA).
A FINA Doping Panel concluded at the time that Santos had been cross-contaminated because he had shared bathroom towels and products with a family member who had been using Clostebol under medical prescription.
CAS said in a statement that it "unanimously found that in the circumstances of this case, no fault or negligence should be attributed to the athlete for the Anti-Doping Rule Violation". (Read statement https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Media_Release_6482.pdf)
"Accordingly, the one-year period of ineligibility imposed by the FINA Doping Panel on Gabriel Da Silva Santos has been eliminated and is no longer in force," it added.
(Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
