SAINT SUNDAY. The president of Panam Sports, the Chilean Neven Ilic, led the award ceremony for the gold medal to the judoka Ana Rosa, at the Gender Equity in Sport seminar held in the events hall of the Olympic Hostel.
Panam Sports made Rosa official champion of the minus 57 kilos category of the judo tournament of the Pan American Games held in Lima, Peru in 2019.
The Brazilian Rafaela Silva, who beat Rosa in the final of the specialty, tested positive for the consumption of prohibited substances and was stripped of the gold medal and assigned to the Dominican.
“Ana, I give you your gold medal after honoring fair play,” said Ilic, who was in the country as part of the Panam Sports executive committee meeting held on the 14th and 15th of this month at the headquarters of the Dominican Olympic Committee (COD).
Although the Brazilian Silva appealed the sanction, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ratified the measure imposed by the International Judo Federation.
“It is a moment for which I sacrificed myself. Like any athlete, he fought a lot and I got it. I hope to continue contributing many more achievements to my country”, said the athlete Rosa through tears.
On Saturday, August 10, 2019, Rosa lost to the Brazilian Silva in the final of the minus 57 kilos category, but after the disqualification, the Dominican was awarded the gold.
Analysis of the Brazilian’s sample revealed the presence of the metabolite fenoterol, a specific substance prohibited both in and out of competition on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list of persecuted products.
The CAS reported the dismissal of the appeal filed by the Brazilian judoka Silva against the decision made by the International Judo Federation (IJF), which on January 22, 2020 punished her with a two-year suspension for doping.
On August 31, 2019, the Brazilian underwent another doping control on the occasion of the 2019 Tokyo World Cups and returned a negative result.
But on September 23 of the same year Panam Sports, organizer of the Pan American Games, notified Rafaela Silva and the IJF of its decision to disqualify the athlete from all the competitions in which she participated and ordered the athlete to return the medal.
In her appeal in September 2019, Silva alleged unintentional contamination at the Pan American Games by her roommate and fans. But the CAS panel determined that the athlete did not show it.
