Albert Subirats, Fabiola Molina Hit With Doping Suspensions

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, June 22. A pair of high profile athletes have recently been hit with doping suspensions as Venezuela's Albert Subirats and Brazil's Fabiola Molina have both been suspended.

Subirats drew a one-year ban due to "a combination of three filing failures within an eighteen-month period." Subirats had kept the Venezuela Swimming Federation updated on his whereabouts, and had assumed that the VSF had kept FINA updated on his whereabouts. The FINA Doping Panel concluded that Subirats did not have the intention of evading doping tests, and that his continued history of negative doping controls were in his favor.

The FINA Doping Panel, however, ruled that Subirats and the VSF demonstrated a lack of understanding of the proper reporting structure, and that the "ultimate responsibility" falls on "the athlete himself" when it comes to providing updated location information to the testing authorities. Therefore, the FINA Doping Panel gave Subirats the minimum sanction allowed within the rules. Subirats' one-year ban started on May 7, 2011.

Meanwhile, Molina was suspended by the Brazilian Swimming Federation for two months after testing positive for methylhexaneamine in April. Molina is on record stating she accidentally took the substance that was added to the banned list last year. Molina will miss the FINA World Championships next month due to the ban. The ban is now in the hands of FINA for a final decision.

Methylhexaneamine is the same substance that caused Sean Mahoney to be banned for six months last summer around the same time that USA Swimming warned its swimmers and coaches about the substance.

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