Wigan Warriors’ Gabriel Hamlin Gets Two-Year Ban for Cocaine Violation

A two-year ban has been imposed on Gabriel Hamlin, the Australian rugby player, for breaching Anti-Doping Rule Article 2.1 due to a positive drug test result.

During a game against Leeds Rhinos in February 2019, the 23-year-old, who represents Wigan Warriors, provided a urine sample for an in-competition test, which indicated the presence of benzoylecgonine, a cocaine metabolite, as reported by UKAD. 

Following a charge by UK Anti-Doping (Ukad) last April, the Rugby Football League initially suspended him.

Expressing his stance on the ban, Ukad’s director of operations, Pat Myhill, said: “Cocaine is a dangerous drug with significant health risks, which has no place in sport. This case is another example of a metabolite of cocaine resulting in an athlete receiving a ban from sport.

“We realise that the length of sanctions for this substance can vary between cases, this is because of the specific sanctions laid out in the Anti-Doping Rules.

“The independent expert witness, in this case, ruled out the possibility that ingestion took place during the in-competition period. This means that a possible four-year ban was reduced to two years.

“Athletes are solely responsible for what is in their system, regardless of how they claim it got there and whether there was an intention to cheat or not. It is quite simply not worth the risk.”