The IBJJF no gi world championship 2022 has resulted in a shocking number of suspensions, as five athletes have been banned from competition for 3 years by USADA. The suspensions have been handed out for several different reasons, with four of the competitors failing PEDs tests and Vagner Rocha refusing to submit a sample for testing. Despite not being tested, Rocha did come out publicly around the same time to confirm that he was taking TRT in accordance with instructions from his doctor. Of the four that failed, Roberto ‘Cyborg’ Abreu and Henrique Cardoso both failed out-of-competition tests that were submitted in the weeks following the tournament while Igor Feliz and Jonnatas Gracie both failed tests that were submitted in-competition at the event on December 11th, 2022.
The official USADA press release about the five athletes serving three-year suspensions from IBJJF competition gave the following information:
- Igor Nascimento da Costa Feliz, 24, of Port San Lucie, Fla., tested positive for exogenous testosterone and its metabolites as the result of an in-competition urine sample collected on December 11, 2022, at the World No-Gi Championships. He accepted a three-year period of ineligibility that began on January 24, 2023, the date he was provisionally suspended from competition.
- Jonnatas Gracie Araujo da Silva, 25, of San Diego, Calif., tested positive for 19-norandrosterone (19-NA), a metabolite of nandrolone and other prohibited 19-norsteroids, and exogenous testosterone and its metabolites as the result of an in-competition urine sample collected on December 11, 2022, at the World No-Gi Championships. He accepted a three-year period of ineligibility that began on January 25, 2023, the date he was provisionally suspended from competition.
- Roberto de Abreu Filho, 42, of Miami, Fla., tested positive for exogenous testosterone and its metabolites as the result of an out-of-competition urine sample collected on December 20, 2022. He accepted a three-year period of ineligibility that began on January 27, 2023, the date he was provisionally suspended from competition.
- José Henrique Cardoso, 29, of Santa Catarina, Brazil, tested positive for 19-NA, 2a-methyl-5a-androstan-3a-ol-17-one (a drostanolone metabolite), epitrenbolone (a trenbolone metabolite), methasterone, and exogenous testosterone and its metabolites as the result of an out-of-competition urine sample collected on January 24, 2023. He accepted a three-year period of ineligibility that began on February 1, 2023, the date he was provisionally suspended from competition.
- Vagner S. Rocha, 40, of Davie, Fla., refused to submit to sample collection after being notified by a USADA doping control officer during an out-of-competition test on December 23, 2022. He accepted a three-year period of ineligibility that began on January 11, 2023, the date he was provisionally suspended from competition.
Under Article 10.8.1 of the Code, an athlete who faces an anti-doping rule violation that carries a period of ineligibility of four or more years may receive a one-year sanction reduction if the athlete admits the violation and accepts the asserted sanction within 20 days of notification of the alleged anti-doping rule violation charge. Per the rule, all five athletes qualified for a one-year reduction to the otherwise applicable four-year period of ineligibility.
In addition, all the athletes have been disqualified from competitive results achieved in competitions sanctioned by the IBJJF, or any Code signatory, on and subsequent to December 11, 2022, the date the 2022 IBJJF World No-Gi Championships started.
As you can see, all five of the athletes who received suspensions from IBJJF competition as a result of this round of USADA testing have accepted the sanction levied against them. The results of this will obviously have an impact on each of these competitor’s careers, but especially Jonnatas Gracie and Igor Feliz as they are right in the middle of their athletic prime.
