Kicker Vencill’s Ban Reduced from Four Years to Two

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Nov. 20. THE United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced Thursday that a three-member panel of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirmed that Kicker Vencill of Aliso Viejo, Calif., a member of the Irvine Novaquatics Swim Club, committed a doping violation involving the prohibited substance 19-norandrosterone. The CAS Panel also modified Vencill’s suspension length.

The CAS Panel reduced the suspension from four years to two years, as requested by USADA, in accordance with the new anti-doping rules of the Federation Internationale De Natation (FINA), the international federation for the sport of swimming. Those rules were adopted by FINA in July 2003 to be in compliance with the provisions of the World Anti-Doping Code. Vencill’s two-year suspension begins on May 22, 2003, and includes all FINA and USA Swimming sanctioned competition.

Vencill, 25, tested positive at an out-of-competition test in Tustin, Calif. on Jan. 21, 2003 for miniscule amounts of 19-norandrosterone, which is a metabolite of a prohibited anabolic agent under FINA rules. In June 2003, an American Arbitration Association/North American Court of Arbitration for Sport panel suspended Vencill for four years from all sanctioned competition. Following the AAA/NCAS ruling, Vencill filed the appeal with CAS.

Vencill has continued to maintain his innocence, suggesting the norandrosterone may have been a contaminant in a legal supplement he took.

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