Imogen Simmonds Provisionally Suspended for Anti-Doping Rule Violation

[Ajax_Bay]

@TulkasTri

What I don’t get is people in here saying that the ITA made it public once Simmons made it public; otherwise, they wouldn’t have. And yet, in Tomas’ case, the ITA made it public that he was provisionally suspended before Tomas had made anything public.

What’s the difference between the two? Why was the ITA keeping it private in one case and making it public in another?

The ITA kept TRH’s Provisional Suspension ‘private’ for 10 weeks after ‘B’ sample +ve. I expect that this timeline might have been replicated for Simmonds (implying a public statement in mid-April as opposed to 26th February).
It is up to the Results Management Authority (IM or their delegate: ITA; assume colab) when and whether to make public (@rrheisler and I have both pointed out (again) the “may”) I make the assumption that after he DNS’d Boulder and then DNS’d Roth that ‘forced’ the announcement otherwise the ‘news vacuum’ would have been filled with (even more) speculation.

@rrheisler

For those who want to nerd out on procedure: The Process of Anti-Doping Protocols - Slowtwitch News

To help you here, and give insight to possible Simmonds timelines

Date	Event	Comment
27 Apr	IM Texas	In-competition test
unknown	TRH told of AAF
Early Jun	B sample confirms	+ve Clomifene
6 Jun	Provisional suspension by ITA	(not disclosed) We now know this from the sanction notice
14 Jun	70.3 Boulder	DNS in week before
early July	DNS from Roth
6 Aug	ITA assert ADRV - public disclosure	Given “athlete also challenged the imposition of the Provisional Suspension” assume hearing in August, or after consideration, waived right to hearing (no valid defence)
13 Sep	ITA announce sanction

“. . . Athlete accepted the ADRV and agreed with the Consequences determined by the ITA as per the IRONMAN ADR, namely a two-year period of Ineligibility as from 6 June 2024 until 5 June 2026 and disqualification of all his competitive results as from 27 April 2024.”

Simmonds

Date	Event	Comment
8 Dec	Test
?27 Jan	ICS told of AAF
<6 Feb	‘B’ sample confirms +ve
6 Feb	ICS accepts provisional suspension and requests hearing	No races planned till 31 May, perhaps
26 Feb am	Decides to go public	After chasing by newshound
26 Feb pm	ITA asserts ADRV - public disclosure	Also of provisional suspension

Allow me to reflect it was 41 years ago that I got tested at the end of a World Championships in Italy (not triathlon): took me nearly two hours to produce.