It has been over a year since Charis Chan has competed in a weightlifting meet or CrossFit event. But on Monday, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced a four-year sanction has been imposed by the American Arbitration Association (AAA).
Chan’s A and B samples from the 2015 American Open were found to contain epitrenbolone, which is a metabolite of trenbolone. Chan argued that her failed sample was a result of eating contaminated meat and that a two-year ban should be the maximum ban because it was not result of any negligence on her part.
Chan’s suspension took effect on December 29, 2015 and will run through December 29, 2019. Chan’s American Record and placement at the 2015 USAW American Open has been rescinded based on the suspension.
While it had been rumored that Chan had failed a drug test at the 2015 USAW American Open, it had never been confirmed. Four months later in April 2016 CrossFit, Inc. suspended Chan from the 2016 CrossFit season after receiving information that she had failed the drug test at the American Open. Chan took to social media following CrossFit’s announcement rejecting the notion that she had taken a drug or steroid.
After that, it was quiet while the appeals process ran its course. Over the next nine months, Chan would fail to designate an arbitrator, hire representation, fail to submit pre-trial brief documents on time, fire and hire new representation after the AAA arbitrator urged her to find “competent” representation.
On August 22, Chan changed her representation and selected Antonio Gallegos to represent her moving forward.
Finally on November 23, Chan and USADA notified AAA that the case could be resolved based on written submissions and without a formal hearing.
Here is a link to the entire AAA arbitrator findings.
