Bárbara Gatica turns to the lawyer of Paolo Guerrero and Nicolás Jarry after her doping: “She was the victim of meat contamination”

Although the International Tennis Integrity Agency formalized yesterday the provisional suspension for doping of Bárbara Gatica, the concrete fact is that the national player has been preparing her defense for several days and for that hired one of the most prestigious lawyers in the field: the Brazilian Bichara Neto who has defended athletes in emblematic cases, such as the Peruvian footballer Paolo Guerrero, the tennis player Nicolás Jarry or his compatriots Beatriz Haddad Maia, Thomaz Bellucci and Marcelo Demoliner.

The lawyer speaks with Jock on the Puente Altina affair and gives some details on the line of defense they will follow before the authorities. “We think we are facing a case of food contamination, we are working to prove it” he clarifies immediately.

The reference is not capricious, because in Colombia, the country where its representative tested positive for boldenone, there have been a series of problems due to the use of this substance in livestock. Indeed, in 2020, Robert Farah also tested positive and was acquitted after showing that this anabolic steroid had reached his body after eating meat, the same situation as the Chilean.

“There are precedents, there is a statement from the Colombian Olympic Committee acknowledging this risk of contamination in meat, in 2020. This is something that is already known in this country” Clean says. Indeed, that year, this entity, in collaboration with the ministry of sports and the agricultural institute of this nation, sent a request to the breeders of this nation to request the end of boldenone in animal development.

Taking this background and others that have emerged in the investigation, the attorney hopes for a favorable outcome. “We believe we will move forward with demonstrating that in Bárbara’s case, there was no intent to dope or take undue advantage of it. He was the victim of contamination with meat” comment.

On June 8, the ITIA reported the positive of the British Tara Moore, who also tested at WTA 250 in Bogotá and, like Gatica, also tested positive for boldenone although in the case of the European, traces of nandrolone were also found.

“The sample was split into A and B samples and further analysis revealed that sample A contained nandrolone metabolites. and boldenone and its metabolite which are prohibited substances included in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) 2022 List of Prohibited Substances,” the agency said in a statement.

This context fuels the hope that Gatica can be acquitted. The appearance of new cases in the same tournament is also not excluded, confirming the controversial relationship between this substance and meat production in Colombia.