Tara Moore, Barbara Gatica cleared in doping case after contaminated meat blamed for positive tests

LONDON (AP) — Tennis players Tara Moore and Barbara Gatica were cleared of doping allegations Saturday after investigators ruled that their positive tests for steroids stemmed from contaminated meat they ate while competing in Colombia, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said.

Both women had been provisionally suspended after their samples taken at a WTA tournament in Bogotá in April 2022 were positive for boldenone. Moore's sample also contained nandrolone.

The ITIA said an independent tribunal determined that Moore and Gatica "bore no fault or negligence for their adverse analytical findings and are therefore not subject to a period of ineligibility."

The tribunal found that "contaminated meat consumed by each player in the days before sample collection was the source of the prohibited substance(s)."

"The ITIA has issued, and will continue to issue, information concerning the risks of meat contamination in certain parts of the world to all players," the organization said in Saturday's announcement.

The suspensions were immediately lifted, although separately Gatica remained under a three-year ban for corruption offenses. Gatica is from Chile and reached a career-best WTA singles ranking of No. 201 in 2022.

Moore, a 31-year-old British player, had been suspended in May 2022 and immediately protested the findings, saying she has "never knowingly taken a banned substance in my career."

Moore was ranked 83rd in doubles at the time of her suspension. Her career high WTA singles ranking is No. 145 achieved in 2017.