I am not sure the facts support this claim: “You have someone still leading a lab, who provided false testimony”
Letsrun claims that “Jarrion Lawson‘s legal team was able to show that Christiane Ayotte, the head of the WADA-accredited doping control lab at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique in Laval, Quebec, lied while testifying during his case.” (1)
However, the CAS decision in that case that that the article is based on reads, concerning Ayotte’s testimony: the panel who heard the case was not “entirely persuaded by her evidence.” “Thus, while the panel agrees (with respect) with many of the points made in the Appealed Decision, it is not prepared to rely on Professor Ayotte’s evidence to the same effect found below.” (2)
Letsrun claims that Ayotte lied, and you are claiming that she gave false testimony. That means that she made a false statement knowingly. Is there evidence for that? The Letsrun article’s author does not himself know what Ayotte said or did not say during her testimony. John Gault, the author, wrote that “I do not have her exact statement to quote from,” which means he is relying on reports of her testimony from the CAS decision. That decision does not say whether she lied or not or whether she gave false testimony or not. I am not sure if you have better, more relevant sources.(3)
Letsrun’s claim that anyone “was able to show” that Ayotte “lied” seems like exaggeration, especially since Letsrun, literally, does not know what she said, and the report of what she said falls well short of indicating a lie, or even an accidentally false statement. Anyone relying on Letsrun’s portrayal of her testimony is relying on sources that should be checked, in my opinion.
I myself do not know Ayotte in any way. Is she, or is her lab, beyond reproach or not? I don’t know. But I have seen this claim, that she lied, a lot, and I have not seen any evidence for it.
Andrew Moss
(1) https://www.letsrun.com/...stimony-against-him/
(2) https://www.athleticsintegrity.org/...IAAF_FINAL-AWARD.pdf
(3) https://www.letsrun.com/...d=9944162&page=1
Here is a link to a searchable PDF version of the CAS decision; that, of course, raises questions about your review of it ;).
https://www.doping.nl/media/kb/6463/CAS%202019_A_6313%20Jarrion%20Lawson%20vs%20IAAF%20(OS).pdf
Under “B. The Scientific Debates”:
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Nor was the Panel entirely persuaded by Professor’s Ayotte’s evidence. Before the Tribunal below, she testified that Trenbolone and metabolite levels measured in her laboratory were always low and therefore intentional cheaters could not be separated from athletes measured at levels of picograms consistent with food contaminated by hormones.
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She said that athletes with high levels were rarely seen after the 1990s. But in fact, her lab records showed that some levels measured were large and that the Athlete’s level was below 18 out of the 21 reported since 2013. Moreover, the data she produced for this appeal showed that, indeed, many urine samples in 2018/19 for athletes in America (where Trenbolone is legal as a muscle promoter in cattle) were positive for Trenbolone metabolities at low levels ( of less than 2 ng/ml).
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letsrun was literally quoting the CAS.
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She made a statement of material fact, that was demonstrably false. Is it necessarily lying? No. Is it false testimony? For an expert witness testifying on their subject of expertise and so germane to the decision, in a way that would substantially alters a reasonable person’s opinion of the truth, absolutely. Either she made the statement knowing it was untrue, had failed to properly diligence her remarks, or had such an anachronistic data point on a critical fact.
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Given that this is civil arbitration, whether she had a duty to provide potentially exculpatory data (i.e., the 2018-2019 Trenbolone metabolite data) is questionable. However, it supports a narrative of at least biased behavior (what you expect from a drug-testing lab).
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I think it’s a significant indictment that the CAS would question the evidence provided by an expert witness so involved in the field.
A couple years ago, my buddy gave me wild pig sausages from his hunting trip. Still in the freezer; I’ll have to ask if it was from a boar. Anyone want some?