Back in June 2022, Pedro Martins failed an in-competition drug test at the Copa Sur Semifinal in Brazil. Martins finished in 2nd place and was set to compete at the 2022 CrossFit Games until he found out that his drug test sample tested positive for clomiphene.
Upon hearing the news Martins appealed the decision and began testing his supplements. Martins sent his supplements, including a pre-workout, to an NSF-certified lab in the United States for testing.
The lab results found that Martins’ pre-workout supplement was contaminated with clomiphene, but was not listed on the label. In speaking with Martins, he said that CrossFit acknowledged that he did not intentionally use the banned substance. However, CrossFit told him it is still the athlete’s responsibility to not ingest something that has the risk of contamination.
As a result, CrossFit reduced the sanction for Martins to two years. Martins will be sanctioned until June 12, 2024.
We spoke to Martins over the past month as he waited for CrossFit to make its decision following his appeal and the NSF findings that his pre-workout supplement had been contaminated. Martins, from Brazil, purchased the supplement from a well-respected compounding pharmacy in his country.
He shared a photo of the bottle he received from the pharmacy. It looks nothing like the bags of pre-workout purchased on the shelves of retailers across the United States. Instead, the bottle looks like a prescription filled at a pharmacy with a list of ingredients including Vitamin B6, L-Theanine, Leucine and several others.
Martins took the pre-workout in training leading up to the Copa Sur Semifinal. And while Martins will likely never know exactly what happened at the pharmacy that caused the contamination, it is possible clomiphene was used in a compound for another customer and ended up contaminating Martins’ supplement.
At the end of the day, Martins understands CrossFit’s decision and is happy they acknowledged that he did not knowingly take the banned substance. Keep an eye out for Martins in 2025.