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“Not all anti-doping rule violations mean an athlete was caught doping. In my work, whereabouts violations, therapeutic use exemptions and contamination cases are three examples where we see public reporting that makes it appear as if an athlete was doping when in reality, even though they may have violated an anti-doping rule, they are a clean athlete,” Ryan Lipes – attorney at Global Sports Advocates LLC, former federal prosecutor and former legal counsel for the U.S. Center for SafeSport – explains to World of Showjumping about the at times confusing world of anti-doping where actual doping and simple paperwork errors exist parallel to each other. “These athletes are not doping and, yet, they're being sanctioned under the World Anti-Doping Code for violations of these rules.”

While doping is usually defined as using illegal substances to enhance performance, there are a number of violations that an athlete can be accused of under the WADA Code. As a signatory of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Code, the FEI has developed Anti-Doping Rules for Human Athletes (ADRHA), while FEI’s Equine Anti-Doping and Controlled Medication Programme (EADCMP) and the Equine Prohibited Substances List (EPSL) are used to regulate medication of horses.

It can be very expensive to defend against these cases, because the burden of proof is often on the athlete

“In many cases, it is not about purposely taking substances to perform better,” Ryan points out. “I hope people would have more compassion and understand that many people who go through this process and get sanctioned did not do anything intentionally wrong. It can be very expensive to defend against these cases, because the burden of proof is often on the athlete – and I don't think that's always apparent to people. That means not only hiring lawyers, which can be expensive, but frequently needing experts and independent lab testing. That's why an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure here.”

Riders competing internationally must adhere to the FEI’s ADRHA, and in these regulations, specific requirements apply to international-level athletes – who as defined by the FEI, in jumping, is a rider ranked within the top 500 in the Longines Rankings. Since 2023, the FEI's human anti-doping program has been fully delegated to the International Testing Agency (ITA).

“This is a source of confusion for everybody, and especially if you're an international level athlete that travels,” Ryan says. “You may be tested by different organizations at different times in your career that may have results management authority over your results. Although the World Anti-Doping Program is run by WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, athletes don't have direct interaction with WADA in day-to-day testing. Testing is generally happening at the international federation level, the national level, and sometimes at the event level.”

It can be very confusing for athletes

“FEI – like many other similar federations – has contracted an outside group called ITA, the International Testing Agency, to manage the results,” Ryan continues to explain. “This way, there can't be accusations that decisions are being made, for example, for sport, political or biased reasons. These decisions are being handled by an independent agency that focuses solely on anti-doping matters.”

“When you have an anti-doping issue with the FEI, who you're often going to be dealing with are lawyers at the ITA,” Ryan continues. “Even though the ultimate responsibility may be with FEI, all of that power has been delegated to ITA. At the same time, many athletes have some amount of oversight by their national anti-doping agency. In every country, that's going to be named slightly differently. Here in the U.S., for example, it is an organization called USADA, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.”

“Worldwide, there is a wide variety of national anti-doping organizations and international federations that have results management authority over their athletes,” Ryan points out. “Which organization is overseeing an athlete’s whereabouts, for example, can change over time. An athlete may first be put into a whereabouts pool by the national anti-doping organization. As the athlete progresses in their career, they may get added to a whereabouts pool for their international federation. It can be very confusing for athletes. I encourage athletes to pay attention to who's testing them so that if something happens, the athlete knows who they must communicate with to respond.”

Whereabouts violations are a reoccurring issue with high-level athletes. “High-level athletes generally have to report their whereabouts every day, including a one-hour window where they're available for testing,” Ryan explains. “If you have three whereabouts failures in a year, it becomes an anti-doping rule violation. In whereabouts cases, the press often reports it as a doping offense. From my perspective, these cases are often an athlete being disorganized or having particularly hectic schedules.”

From my perspective, these cases are often an athlete being disorganized or having particularly hectic schedules

“For athletes, the biggest issue with whereabouts violations is that the lowest sanction you can get is one year,” Ryan continues. “There are people who get caught with substances in their system, marijuana for example, who are going to get a much lower sanction for having a banned substance than what you are going to get for having an anti-doping rule violation for a whereabouts failure. We've seen that be a particularly heavy-handed sanction for athletes. I don't think the general public fully understands how much information each day has to be reported by high-level athletes and how severe the sanctions are for screwing that up.”

“A second and big group of ADRHA violations are the cases regarding therapeutic use exemptions (TUE),” Ryan continues. “Many athletes, especially newer athletes, can struggle with this and get confused about the fact that even though their doctor has prescribed them medicine, they may not be allowed to take it under the WADA Code until they've separately received a therapeutic use exemption.”

In many circumstances, a missing TUE can be treated as a doping violation

“The sanctions can be quite severe as well. In many circumstances, a missing TUE can be treated as a doping violation, even in circumstances where everybody agrees that the person needed the medication. However, there are very specific rules about when an athlete is allowed to retroactively apply for a therapeutic use exemption. If you're a lower-level athlete, in many circumstances, you're going to be allowed to retroactively apply. However, if you're a high-level athlete, you are held to a higher standard and are expected to know all of these rules. It is much harder to apply retroactively for a TUE as an international athlete.”

“Even if everybody agrees you should have had a TUE, and it really is just a paperwork error, you can be sanctioned as if you were doping,” Ryan points out.

“Contamination is the third area where we see a lot of cases. As an athlete, you are responsible for microscopic levels of substances in your system, and in your horses’ system,” Ryan explains about cases where contamination is the cause for an anti-doping violation. “Technically, you will have an anti-doping rule violation if you test positive for a banned or controlled substance, and then the question becomes, can you explain the source – and it's on the athlete, not on the anti-doping authorities, to prove the source.”

As an athlete, you are responsible for microscopic levels of substances in your system, and in your horses’ system

“To reduce your sanction under the World Anti-Doping Code, you can show that you had no fault or negligence, or no significant fault or negligence. If you can prove no fault or negligence, you can avoid a sanction. But to do so, you must show that even with the utmost caution you could not have avoided the violation. We’ve seen that with sex contamination, meat contamination, or contaminated prescription medication cases. Where we often see no significant fault or negligence is with contaminated supplements; athletes think they're taking a substance, everything on the label looks like it's perfectly okay, and then it turns out that the supplement is contaminated at some point in the manufacturing process. All of a sudden, you might test positive for a substance you've never heard of before. What people don't realize is that there are not a lot of regulations governing supplements in many countries, including in the United States.”

“The problem that athletes face in supplement contamination cases is that they're going to be accused of an anti-doping rule violation, and in fact, they're likely guilty of an anti-doping rule violation. The question is just what the sanction's going to be. These are microscopic trace levels of a substance that contaminated a perfectly legitimate appearing supplement.”

Last revised in 2021, the WADA Code will be revised in 2027 – with changes regarding therapeutic use exemptions as one of the expected changes. “This is actually going to be beneficial for some athletes,” Ryan says. “As the rules stand today, an athlete who can't apply retroactively for a TUE, faces the full consequences as if they were taking the substance without a doctor's prescription for no legitimate purpose other than doping. There's no distinguishing right now for the people that are taking substances for doping purposes from the people that are under the care of their doctor. That is a change that is coming up in 2027 when the new WADA code comes into effect.”

This is actually going to be beneficial for some athletes

“The sanction you'll face as an athlete is going to be drastically reduced if they would have qualified for a TUE,” Ryan explains about the change that will apply from 2027 onward when it comes to TUEs. “It's going to be a two-month sanction for those athletes. Right now, for example, for some substances, the lowest the athlete might be able to get is one year or two years. We're moving to a world where we will be recognizing the difference between athletes who committed paperwork violations but were legitimately taking medicines under the care of their doctor from people who are taking prohibited substances for other non-medical reasons. I think it's a really good move to recognize that there's a very different set of circumstances with people who have basically committed a paperwork violation because they did not apply for a TUE at the right time from people taking substances that they are prohibited from taking and have no medical reason for doing so.”

FEI’s Equine Anti-Doping and Controlled Medication Programme (EADCMP) and the Equine Prohibited Substances List (EPSL) – which is reviewed annually by the FEI List Group – are used when it comes to equine athletes.

“The actual rules themselves can be different,” Ryan explains. “There are substances that are prohibited in horses, but not in humans. Therefore, you have to be careful, because as we've seen, horses can test positive due to contamination from humans that are in close proximity to them. There's been a lot of positive tests associated with people that had urinated in the stalls, as an example. You have to be careful that the people handling horses or allowed into the horse's environment are not doing things that can potentially contaminate the horse. Everyone around horses has to be very careful. I don't think people fully realize the ability of lab tests to detect incredibly small amounts of a substance in a blood or urine test – and that applies to humans and horses.”

Simple carelessness can lead to serious situations that could have been preventable

“The results management for horses is handled by FEI,” Ryan continues. “When you go through a process where a horse is tested positive for a prohibited substance, the defences can be quite similar as in humans. We've talked a lot about contamination for humans, but in the horse world, contamination is a huge defence that frequently is going to apply and can help reduce the sanction.”

“People using illicit substances around horses is something that has come up a lot,” Ryan points out. “Cocaine, for example, is a powder, and powders can spread into a horse's environment and cause significant amounts of contamination. Keeping a good record of veterinary treatments is another important point. We've seen situations where two veterinarians didn't realize the other had already given a substance, so then the horse got a double dose. Doing the work up front to educate the staff to take these responsibilities seriously is so important, because simple carelessness can lead to serious situations that could have been preventable.”

How does a high-level athlete stay safe then? “First, you do have a responsibility to know the rules – as confusing and, frankly, voluminous as they are,” Ryan points out. “You have to spend some time learning the rules and making sure you understand your responsibilities. Second, you must remember that just because a doctor prescribes a medication, does not mean that you can use it without taking further steps.”

You do have a responsibility to know the rules – as confusing and, frankly, voluminous as they are

“The third thing is that you have to pay close attention to the supplements you take, if you take any at all. In the U.S., I highly recommend that people buy NSF certified products. In England, and in Europe, there's Informed Sport, which is very similar. You have to make sure every bottle you buy is certified and lab tested, that's the easiest way to avoid problems. Those supplements tend to cost a few dollars more, but it's money well spent because it can save you from a lot of headaches.”

“You can take steps to reduce the likelihood that you will have these issues, but you have to be extremely diligent from the start in what you eat and what substances you take, and even the people around you,” Ryan concludes. “We've certainly had cases where people are contaminated by romantic partners or by roommates. If you're an athlete that's taking this seriously, you're going to be incredibly cautious in what you eat, what supplements you take, but also in who your romantic partners are, whose stuff you're sharing. There's a lot of steps you can take early on to minimize the chances that you have to go through this process.”

18.3.2026 No reproduction of any of the content in this article will be accepted without a written permission, all rights reserved © World of Showjumping.com. If copyright violations occur, a penalty fee will apply.