Weightlifting - Ruby Malvina suspended after testing positive for Metenolone |06 July 2023
RUBY MALVINA … Tested positive for Metenolone (Photo: Roland Duval)
Female weightlifter Ruby Malvina has been provisionally suspended with immediate effect since July 3, 2023 after testing positive for a prohibited substance, namely Metenolone.
The doping control test was carried out at the recently-held African Championships in Tunis, Tunisia where the International Testing Agency (ITA) was delegated the task of implementing anti-doping programme by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).
Malvina won three bronze medals in the women’s 64kg category at the African Weightlifting Championships in Tunis, Tunisia, after finishing third behind two lifters from the host country.
Her total of 187kg after snatching 80kg and lifting 107kg in clean and jerk placed her third behind Jawaher Gesmi who snatched 86kg and lifted 107kg in clean and jerk for a total of 193kg to finish second in the group, and winner Chaima Rhamouni who snatched 90kg and lifted 109kg in clean and jerk for a total of 199kg.
Metenolone has the ability to increase strength without significantly increasing muscular bulk, which is useful for athletes who aren't bodybuilders, while it promotes increased muscular endurance and recuperation.
The ban is Malvina’s second in less than ten years after being banned for four years by the IWF in 2015 following a test which returned positive for the banned performance enhancing drug – stanozolol.
She has until July 10 to apply for a ‘B’ sample.
In a press conference yesterday at the Olympic House, Roche Caïman, chairman of the Seychelles Weightlifting Association (SWA) Robert Rose said the news came as a huge blow since Malvina was one of the potential lifters to shine at the upcoming Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG).
He said the news has also affected the moral of the team preparing for the Games, especially after losing Romantha Larue through injury.
Mr Rose, who was being accompanied by vice-chairman Terrence Dixie, noted that it is every lifter’s personal responsibility to ensure that whatever supplement they take are in accordance with the sport’s rules and regulations, while the federation is there to advise them when it comes to taking any supplement or other related products.
He said the current offence carries a substantial ban period varying from four years to life.
Mr Rose further explained that the incident tarnishes the image of Seychelles weightlifting as the SWA now has some explanations to do before the IWF.
Explaining the pattern of doping control, Mr Rose said as soon as an athlete steps on the podium at any high level competition, he or she instantly gets on the radar of the ITA.
Regarding allegations made against the SWA that some coaches have been offering steroids (drugs) to athletes, Mr Rose categorically denied it, noting that it costs the association, through tax-payers money about US $150 per test, and it is therefore ridiculous to cheat and pay such an amount to carry out tests on the same athletes, knowing that they will test positive.
The International Testing Agency (ITA) is an international organisation constituted as a not-for-profit foundation, based in Lausanne, Switzerland. Its mission is to manage anti-doping programmes, independent from sporting or political powers, for international federations (IFs), major event organisers (MEOs) and all other anti-doping organisations requesting support.
In 2015, when she was banned for the first time, Malvina had been a standout performer with three gold medals at the 9th Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG) held in Reunion and she followed that up with great performances at the All-Africa Games and at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in India.
She claimed two gold medals in clean and jerk (109kg) and Olympic total (189kg) as well as one silver medal in snatch (80kg) to become the first Seychellois athlete to win two gold medals in the same year at the All-Africa Games.
At the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship in Pune, Malvina won the gold medal in the 58kg category with a total lift of 197kg (85kg in snatch and 112kg in clean and jerk).
She had to relinquish all the medals won at these two events after testing positive for banned substances.
Her third positive result came in an out-of-competition test when samples were taken here and sent to South Africa to be analysed.
Stanozolol, commonly sold under the name Winstrol (oral) and Winstrol Depot (intramuscular), is a synthetic anabolic steroid derived from dihydrotestosterone. It was developed by Winthrop Laboratories (Sterling Drug) in 1962, and has been approved for human use by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) – a federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
Malvina is the fifth Seychellois lifter to test positive for banned substances. Charles Simeon was banned for two years in 2009 when he failed a doping test in Kenya at the African Championships, a competition where he was recognised as the best junior lifter. Brenda Lozaique was banned for two years for using performance enhancing drugs at the Olympic qualifiers in South Africa in 2011 and a second male weightlifter tested positive for banned substances during the ninth Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG) in Reunion in 2015.
News of the positive test had already reached Seychelles since 2015, but it officially broke out during the first CIJ (Conseil International des Jeux) meeting in Mauritius in preparation for the 2019 IOIG in Mauritius.
Although the name of the athlete was not revealed, it was announced that he would be stripped of his three silver medals when all the procedures had been completed.
In 2017, Ian Rose, Ruby Malvina’s brother, received a four-year ban for violating an anti-doping control rule, according to the Regional Anti-doping Organisation of the Indian Ocean
The Regional Anti-doping Organisation of the Indian Ocean (Orad) wrote in a press release that Rose who was 35 years old at the time, took an out-of-competition doping test on March 16, 2016 but did not complete it.
Rose has regrettably passed away.
Roland Duval