Sport Ireland's O'Sullivan case report raises fresh questions

While Sport Ireland’s reasoned decision behind the anti-doping violation of Kerry footballer Brendan O’Sullivan has now identified the fat-burning supplement Oxyburn Pro Superthermotech as the cause of his positive test it may actually present more questions than answers.

Like why it took over 13 months to identify a product which clearly presents a risk for similar cases?

In publishing the details of his case – in three parts, actually – Sport Ireland have broken down the chain of events which resulted in O'Sullivan's positive test for the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine (MHA), back on April 24th 2016, for which he has already served a reduced suspension of just 21 weeks.

Central to that reduced ban is the acceptance that O'Sullivan did not willingly take a prohibited substance, but inadvertently consumed MHA which was proven to be contained in the Falcon Labs brand fat-burning supplement Oxyburn Pro Superthermotech.

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The player himself purchased the product, sold in capsule form, from a vitamin shop in Cork city in the run-up to Kerry's 2016 league final against Dublin that April, primarily as a caffeine supplement because he felt the caffeine gels provided by the Kerry County Board didn't agree with him.

Oxyburn Pro Superthermotech had been recommended by “a casual friend whom he knew from attending a gym.”

After Kerry’s loss to Dublin that day, during which O’Sullivan took one Oxyburn Pro Superthermotech at half-time and then appeared as a second-half substitute, he was called for a random in-competition doping test.

His sample contained traces of MHA, which has been on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) prohibited stimulant list since 2004, although reclassified as “a specified substance” in 2011. Wada defines “specified substances” as those that can “enter an athlete’s body inadvertently and therefore allow a tribunal more flexibility when making a sanctioning decision”.

According to the Sport Ireland reasoned decision, O’Sullivan asserted that it was a “contaminated product” as defined in the Irish Anti-Doing Rules, because MHA was “not disclosed on the label or in a reasonable internet search which he had carried out before taking the product”.

Further analysis

After further analysis by Sport Ireland, carried out at the WADA-accredited laboratory in Cologne, on tablets left over from the original tub which O’Sullivan purchased, and analysis of tablets from an unopened tub of the same product and “consideration of sworn testimony” from O’Sullivan regarding the internet search he had carried out, it was accepted as a contaminated product case, and that he “bore no significant fault or negligence and specified a sanction of seven months which it considered appropriate”.

In such instances, the maximum period of ineligibility is two years, yet O’Sullivan still appealed and ended up serving less than a quarter of that, again on the basis of “no significant fault or negligence”.

However, the decision of both the GAA’s Anti-Doping Hearing Committee and the Irish Sport Anti-Doping Appeal Panel lists off several layers of apparent negligence: that O’Sullivan was aware of anti-doping rules, and an obligation to check nutrients that had not been provided or cleared by the Kerry County Board; he chose to act on the recommendation of a casual friend with no purported expertise and accepted her recommendation to purchase Oxyburn Pro; he did not heed the warning on the container that it was mandatory to consult a physician before using the product; he did not consult with or check with the Kerry Team Nutritionist before ingesting the tablet; he did not seek the advice of his own General Practitioner whom he had seen within two weeks of the test, the pharmacist who provided him Augmentin or with his team doctor.

Augmentin, an antibiotic, was one of nine medications/supplements which O'Sullivan declared as part of his anti-doping test, along with whey protein, Pharmaton, Pre-Fuel, caffeine tablets, caffeine gel, vitamin C, krill oil, and Magnesium (described in the reasoned decision as evidence off "poly-pharmacy".

Also, the Oxyburn Pro Superthermotech supplement almost certainly wasn’t ‘contaminated’ with MHA through any negligent or accidental sense but rather purposely added to the product by the manufacturer.

Although MHA wasn’t listed on the label of the Oxyburn Pro purchased by O’Sullivan, Sport Ireland themselves confirmed that there appeared to be two versions of Falcon Labs Oxyburn Pro Superthermotech available, one of which listed MHA as an ingredient

Explosive energy

The Oxyburn Pro Superthermotech supplement, sold openly in capsule form at a cost of €35 for 60 capsules, claims it “can dramatically improve the rate in which body fat is burnt as well as providing a huge increase in explosive energy levels”.

It is branded as “a combination of the strongest and most effective weight loss and energy boosting ingredients available on the market today. When taken in combination with a healthy balanced diet and regular exercise the results can be remarkable”.

While MHA is not listed on the label as being among ingredients, it does also come with a warning; “Superthermotech are Laboratory-Tested and must be used with caution only by healthy adults capable of handling its true power. It is mandatory that users get clearance from their physician before use”.

In their notes on the case, Sport Ireland also claim “Falcons Labs Oxyburn Pro Superthermotech doesn’t sound like a caffeine supplement and he should have been naturally sceptical of such a supplement”.

Furthermore, in his evidence to both the GAA’s Anti-Doping Hearing Committee and the Irish Sport Anti-Doping Appeal Panel, O’Sullivan at least partly blamed the lack of anti-doping education as one of the reasons behind his inadvertent consumption on MHA. The one instruction he did get, however, was to “check out” any substance not supplied by the Kerry County Board – the same one instruction he did not follow.

His suspension was served in two separate spells – from May 13th to July 28th last year, and from February 26th to May 6th this year; all costs and legal fees concerning his case and appeal were covered by the Kerry County Board, the exact amount of which has yet to be disclosed.

Why it took 13 months to identify the particular product, given the obvious risk of a similar case arising elsewhere, is one worrying question still left unanswered.