A French Olympic fencer facing a doping charge was cleared on Monday after a panel ruled that her positive drug test result could have been caused by repeated kisses with her partner.
Ysaora Thibus, an Olympic medalist and 2022 world champion, faced a potential four-year ban from competition after she tested positive for the anabolic substance ostarine in January last year. Thibus said that she was likely contaminated during a nine-day period in which she repeatedly kissed her partner, who she said was ingesting ostarine without her knowledge.
A disciplinary tribunal first ruled that Thibus was not at fault, but the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed their decision in July 2024, seeking a four-year ineligibility period.
In a release issued Monday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland said it dismissed the appeal.
"It is scientifically established that the intake of an ostarine dose similar to the dose ingested by Ms Thibus' then partner would have left sufficient amounts of ostarine in the saliva to contaminate a person through kissing," the court said. "The Panel excluded that Ms Thibus intentionally ingested the ostarine in addition to being contaminated," it added.
Ostarine falls under the umbrella of Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators, or SARMs, which are banned by both the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency. SARMs can mimic the effects of testosterone and anabolic steroids, allowing users to alter their hormones to quickly build muscle.
In medical research, ostarine is being studied as a potential tool for treating conditions such as osteoporosis, hypogonadism and some cancers while avoiding some of the negative effects of steroids.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned the public against using SARMs, which it says are not FDA-approved and cannot be legally marketed as dietary supplements within the United States. In a 2023 statement, it said videos targeting teens and young adults on social media tout SARMs as an "easy way to improve physical appearance, gain muscle mass, or increase athletic performance."
Thibus's successful kiss defense is not the first of its kind. In 2009, a doping case against French tennis player Richard Gasquet was ultimately dismissed after CAS ruled that he was accidentally contaminated with cocaine after he said he had shared a drink with and repeatedly kissed a woman who used the substance. He retired earlier this year.
At a sports conference in London in May, anti-doping experts suggested athletes be conscientious about who they have intimate relations with, citing Gasquet's case and the potential for contamination with banned substances during physical contact. Some also called for anti-doping agencies to distinguish between intentional doping and physical transmission in its rules, the Times reported.