Alberto Yelmo addresses the complexities and challenges in Spain’s anti-doping framework, especially following the national adaptation to the guidelines of the 2015 World Anti-Doping Code through Royal Decree-Law 3/2017. This legislative change aimed to resolve previous discrepancies with the World Anti-Doping Agency and enhance the effectiveness of doping controls, focusing on protecting athletes’ rights without compromising sports integrity.
Analyzing two specific cases, Yelmo highlights how procedural irregularities in doping controls can infringe on athletes’ rights and undermine trust in the sports justice system. The first case focuses on failures in the transport and custody chain of samples, where missing signatures and inadequate verification of samples compromised the reliability of the analytical results. The National Court acknowledged these deficiencies as sufficient to question the results and, therefore, acquitted the affected athlete.
The second case reveals a procedural issue, where the presence of only one Control Agent during sample collection contravened the established requirements, leading to the dismissal of the sanctioning actions. These examples underscore the critical need for strict adherence to established procedures to ensure both procedural justice and effective protection of athletes’ rights.