Alisa Glinka's Suspension Lifted - Moldova to Be Represented in Dressage at 2024 Olympics

Dressage

Moldova

Alisa Glinka has been able to lift her suspension following a positive doping test and is back on track to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games.

Olympic Slot for Moldova

Glinka is one of only two Moldovan Grand Prix riders. In 2023 she unlocked an individual starting place for Moldova for the 2024 Games.

Alisa has three Grand Prix horses to compete: the 13-year old Aachen (by Ampere x Sunny Boy), the 10-year old Abercrombie (by Ampere x Wolkentanz II) and the 12-year old Hummer (by Westpoint x Farrington).

She competed them extensively through 2023 until November after which she went on a pregnany break. She gave birth to her fifth child in the spring of 2024 and got straight back into the saddle right afterwards.

Her horses are based with Grand Prix rider Rudolf Widmann in Germany.

Positive Doping Test

At the 2024 World Cup Finals in Riyadh (KSA), where she rode Abercrombie to a 62.873% score in the Grand Prix test, she tested positive to doping.

According to the procedure following a positive doping test, the FEI provisionally suspended her while her case was being handled. The FEI listed that the doping was "Class S5. Diuretics and Masking Agents".

The FEI has delegated the implementation of its anti-doping programme for human athletes to the International Testing Agency (the “ITA”). Cases arising from Violations of the FEI Anti-Doping Rules for Human Athletes are heard and adjudicated by the Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (the “CAS ADD”).

Eurodressage contacted Glinka when her suspension started, but received no reply.

Therapeutic Use Exemption

Riders are allowed to compete on medication but have to file a TUE before a competition.

"If the medication or method an athlete is required to take/use to treat an illness or condition is included in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Prohibited List, a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) makes it possible for the athlete to take the treatment while remaining in compliance with the anti-doping rules.

Applications for TUEs are reviewed by a panel of experts, the FEI TUE Committee (TUEC), and will be approved if the conditions set by WADA’s International Standard for Therapeutic Use Exemptions (ISTUE) are satisfied.

A TUE has to be filed BEFORE a competition.

"If you are an FEI “International-Level Athlete” you must apply to the FEI in advance, as soon as the need arises, unless there are emergency or exceptional circumstances," the FEI explains.

Catch Ride for Antonenco

In order for Moldova not to loose its Olympic slot and while Glinka's case was being legally handled, the ride on Aachen and Abercrombie were allocated to Tatiana Antonenco.

Antonenco and Aachen at the 2024 CDI Jardy
(Photo © Lily Forado)

She needed to get two MER scores (67% twice) in a three-week time frame and rushed across Europe to three international shows.

At the CDI Lipica (8 - 9 June) she got her first MER on Abercrombie (67.196%), but with Aachen she got 66.522%. They then headed to Jardy (14 June), where Abercrombie got 63.239% and Aachen got 65.152%. From France they shipped the horses to Brno, Czech Republic (22 - 23 June), where she scored 64.500% on Abercrombie and 66.478% on Aachen.

Antonenco was unable to get the two required MERs.

Suspension Lifted

On 24 June, the FEI removed Glinka from the Table of Suspension but did not post an explanation. Eurodressage inquired with ITA and issued a statement on 26 June, seemingly after its emails:

ITA posted: "The ITA confirms that Alisa Glinka, who had accepted a provisional suspension after testing positive for a prohibited substance (classified under S5. Diuretics and Masking Agents as per World Anti-Doping Agency prohibited list), obtained a retroactive therapeutic use exemption (RTUE) for the use of the prohibited substance in question."

The rider’s RTUE request was subject to a medical evaluation by the FEI therapeutic use exemption committee and to a further review and approval by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The related disciplinary proceedings have therefore been concluded and the provisional suspension has been lifted with immediate effect. This matter is considered as resolved from the FEI’s / ITA’s standpoint.

Radio Silence

Glinka at the 2021 European Championships

On 24 June Glinka broke radio silence and posted that her suspension has been lifted on Instagram, a post which she removed two days later.

"After a forced pause; I would like to say the following. Now some publications have published about my alleged disqualification. I would like to point out there we no disqualification. I really communicated with the anti-doping organizations in order to obtain a medical permit for the use of a medicine containing a substance prohibited in sport, and for this period I myself, absolutely voluntarily, asked for a temporary suspension so that no one would have any doubts about my integrity and to focus on this very issue. (...) thanks to the support of my loved ones, I was able to do everything on time and in the proper order, and the natural result of this was the rapid revocation of my "suspended" status. I am happy that there are no more questions about me and I can calmly prepare for the first ever appearance of a Moldovan athlete at the Olympic Games in dressage."

Glinka told Eurodressage that the case generated much negative publicity in Moldova itself, which is why she went silent.

"It was all over the news. I took off social media to deal with it and focus on my family and not go crazy," she told Eurodressage. "Now I can say that the case is closed, it’s like being born again."