Michael Brinegar officially suspended for four years

Michael Brinegar was officially banned for four years after participating in the World Championships in Doha during the appeal

At the US Olympic qualifiers last week Michael Brinegar competed in the 400 and 800 m freestyle heats, but withdrew from the 1500 m, his best event, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) imposed a new suspension due to irregular findings in his athlete passport, which the US Anti-Doping Agency considered to be signs of blood doping.

Brinegar was provisionally suspended from August 18, 2023, to November 27, 2023, and any results obtained in the months following the adverse finding (July 20 to December 31, 2022) were disqualified. Brinegar’s provisional suspension was lifted by an independent arbitrator in November, but in January he learned that USADA had filed an appeal with CAS to reinstate his suspension. He was allowed to continue competing until a decision was made, and that happened in the middle of the Olympic qualifying heats, resulting in Brinegar being unable to run the mile.

A month after learning of USADA’s appeal, Brinegar found himself in limbo as he competed in the 10-kilometer open water swim at the World Championships in Doha. A top-10 finish or the best finish among the continent’s swimmers would allow him to qualify for the swimming event at the Paris Olympics.

Ivan Puskovitch was the best American in that race, finishing 14th, while Brinegar finished 19th. This avoided any further controversy for the Olympics, as Brinegar is now suspended. However, he competed in that World Championship race while pending an appeal, denying another swimmer the chance to earn a spot in Paris.

Brinegar previously represented the USA at the Tokyo Olympics after finishing second Bobby Finke in both the 800 and 1500 meter freestyle at the 2021 Olympic qualifiers.

A statement from USADA announcing Brinegar’s suspension provided further details on the case:

“The CAS award overturns the original decision that Brinegar did not commit a rule violation and instead imposes a four-year fine against Brinegar for the use of a prohibited substance and/or method that resulted in an Adverse Passport Finding after severely abnormal blood values ​​were found in his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) that were attributable to blood doping.

“Introduced in 2009, the hematologic ABP includes an individualized longitudinal dataset designed to evaluate athletes’ various blood biomarkers over time. Blood doping methods such as blood transfusions and the use of erythropoietic stimulating substances (ESAs) such as erythropoietin (EPO) have measurable effects on certain biomarkers in the blood. By analyzing an athlete’s blood values ​​over time, experts can identify atypical patterns associated with blood doping while ruling out natural variability. In this case, three samples collected from Brinegar between July 20, 2022 and September 27, 2022 showed values ​​consistent with blood doping, specifically the use of ESAs, as confirmed by a unanimous expert review of Brinegar’s blood profile in early 2023.

“The use or attempted use of ESAs and the manipulation of blood or blood components, including but not limited to blood transfusions, are prohibited at all times under the USADA Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing Protocol, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) National Anti-Doping Policies and the World Aquatics Doping Control Rules, all of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code (the Code) and the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List.

“Brinegar’s four-year suspension period began on June 21, 2024, the date of the CAS Panel’s decision. He will be credited for the period he was provisionally suspended from August 18, 2023 to November 27, 2023. In addition, Brinegar has been disqualified from all competition results from July 20, 2022 to December 31, 2022, the period covered by his abnormal blood samples, and he will forfeit all medals, points and prizes.”