UK Anti-Doping Thursday confirmed that professional boxer Craig Windsor has been banned from the sport for three years and nine months following an anti-doping rule violation.
Mr Windsor has been charged with possession of two prohibited substances and use of one based on non-analytical evidence that was obtained by UK Anti-Doping in January 2013. On April 17, 2013, he admitted the following three anti-doping rule violations: Use or attempted use of the anabolic steroid oxandrolone, possession of oxandrolone and possession of the anabolic steroid stanozolol.
Oxandrolone and stanozolol are both prohibited under category S.1.1 (Anabolic Androgenic Steroids) in the 2012 and 2013 World Anti-Doping Agency List of Prohibited Substances and Methods.
Proceedings were brought against Mr Windsor based on information that it was supplied to UK Anti-Doping by fellow boxer Lanre Olubamiwo, who is already serving a ban. Mr Windsor admitted to a National Anti-Doping Panel that the information supplied included ‘clear and unequivocal admissions of possession of two anabolic steroids and the use of one’.
The Panel found that there were several aggravating factors (possession of more than one prohibited substance and use of one of them over an extended period, as part of a deliberate doping scheme; as well as provision of false evidence to the Panel) that justified a greater ban than the two-year standard, namely a ban of three years and nine months. Mr Windsor is therefore banned from all competition from 6 March 2013 until midnight on 5 December 2016.
The full written decision can be found on the UK Anti-Doping website.
UK Anti-Doping Director of Legal Graham Arthur said: “This case has relied on the provision of non-analytical evidence from another member of the boxing community. Over the last 12 months it has become increasingly clear that for anti-doping organisations to succeed in the fight against doping, we need the cooperation and support of the entire sporting community.
“Mr Windsor has admitted to possession of two anabolic steroids, and using one, with a clear intention to enhance his performance. This is a serious breach of the anti-doping rules and therefore merits the aggravated sanction imposed by the Panel. This is the sixth aggravated sanction that UK Anti-Doping has secured in the last two and a half years.”
In return for the information he has provided to UK Anti-Doping, Mr Olubamiwo is eligible for a suspension of his own four year ban, in accordance with Article 10.5.3 of the World Anti-Doping Code. Mr Olubamiwo has therefore had 34 months of that ban suspended, with the approval of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
British Boxing Board of Control General Secretary Rob Smith added: “Lanre Olubamiwo is a banned boxer who has worked with UK Anti-Doping to help eliminate doping from his sport. We cannot lose sight of the fact that he himself broke anti-doping rules to gain an unfair advantage in the past. Now, however, he has helped in the detection and prevention of other cheating in the sport.
“In addition, the information that Mr Olubamiwo has provided about his own drug use, including where and how he sourced his drugs, and how he designed his doping programmes to evade detection, will be very helpful to UK Anti-Doping moving forward in the fight against doping in sport in general and in boxing in particular.”
Mr Olubamiwo is now in the process of applying for his licence with the British Boxing Board of Control.
