Poland’s Iga Swiatek, world number 2 in women’s tennis, tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine.
David Popovici, the great champion of Romania. Facebook photo
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on November 28 the one-month suspension of the Polish athlete. Tested positive in August, Swiatek argued that the tainted drug was intended to treat her sleep problems. After a temporary suspension imposed on September 12, the Pole received a sanction of just 30 days, which will end on December 4, including time already served. That is, a penalty without any effect! In fact, she was so “suspended” that Iga Swiatek played for Poland in the Billie Jean King Cup, in mid-November.
It is an extremely soft decision by ITIA in this case, especially since for Romanians what happened to Simona Halep and how she was treated remains a living wound. Our athlete was severely punished: 4-year suspension, later reduced to 9 months by TAS, after proving that the supplement was contaminated.
David Popovici: Most of the time it’s not an accident
Present at an event organized by the Royal House of Romania, David Popovici learned about the case of the Polish athlete Iga Swiatek directly from journalists. Asked if this situation represents an injustice for Romania, considering the harsh sanction applied to Simona Halep, the swimmer answered: “I have no way to pronounce myself because now I hear about this case. I don’t know the information.”
But the Olympic swimming champion did not mince words when he spoke about doping cases, in general: “Sportsmen in general, some of them, a minority, will always try to cheat the system, to have an unfair advantage. It is the job of the appropriate institutions to detect such cases. It can also happen accidentally, either due to the contamination of a drug or for other reasons, but most of the time it is not accidental”.
