Wickmayer Suspended for One Year?!
Belgian twenty-year-old 2009 U.S. Open semifinalist, Yanina Wickmayer, was recently suspended for one year for failing to indicate three times in 2009 where she would be so that they could schedule random out-of-competition tests. Wickmayer has not tested
positive for drugs, but (simply) not been available to be tested. Wickmayer has said she will appeal the suspension.
Clearly, it seems more than a little disturbing that a professional athlete could somehow be unable to report her whereabouts on three separate occasions. Once Wickmayer’s appeal has been heard, we will know Wickmayer’s explanation regarding why she didn’t list her “whereabouts.” Nonetheless, a one year suspension is much too severe a penalty for someone who has not actually failed a drug test. Twenty-nine-year-old Belgian tennis player, Xavier Malisse, was also suspended for a year for “three Whereabouts Failures - comprising two Filing Failures and one Missed Test - in 2009.”
Although Wickmayer did not fulfill her obligation to provide the required information regarding her schedule on three occasions, the real problem is with the anti-doping system. Was Yanina warned after failing to provide the information the first time? What about the second time? The potential severity of the penalties should be evident to a player after failing to provide information one time so that it doesn’t ever happen a second or third time and thereby result in a player who has not failed a drug test being suspended for an entire year. A suspension of that length could seriously derail or end a player’s career.
Clearly, it seems more than a little disturbing that a professional athlete could somehow be unable to report her whereabouts on three separate occasions. Once Wickmayer’s appeal has been heard, we will know Wickmayer’s explanation regarding why she didn’t list her “whereabouts.” Nonetheless, a one year suspension is much too severe a penalty for someone who has not actually failed a drug test. Twenty-nine-year-old Belgian tennis player, Xavier Malisse, was also suspended for a year for “three Whereabouts Failures - comprising two Filing Failures and one Missed Test - in 2009.”
Although Wickmayer did not fulfill her obligation to provide the required information regarding her schedule on three occasions, the real problem is with the anti-doping system. Was Yanina warned after failing to provide the information the first time? What about the second time? The potential severity of the penalties should be evident to a player after failing to provide information one time so that it doesn’t ever happen a second or third time and thereby result in a player who has not failed a drug test being suspended for an entire year. A suspension of that length could seriously derail or end a player’s career.
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