Ronald Arzamendia, multiple weightlifting champion, was sanctioned with a 4-year suspension by the National Anti-Doping Organization (ONAD). The athlete assures that the punishment is excessive since he complied with the processes and showed that everything is due to involuntary ingestion. Likewise, he denounced that the ONAD is not transparent and spoke of the inaction of his own sports Federation.
Ronald Alberto Arzamendia holds several national records and Gold Medals conquered internationally, such as in the BA Open held in Argentina in 2019, the South American Weightlifting Championship in Ecuador 2018 and the Ibero-American Championship in Colombia 2020. In other words, the most high on its branch.
However, despite his performance, he is currently embarking on a crusade for what he considers to be a “blatant” attack on his sports career.
THE CASE
In October 2021, Arzamendia was notified of the presence of a prohibited chemical in his samples and of the opening of the corresponding official letter by the ONAD. In a conversation with Deportes HOY, the athlete acknowledged that it was a mistake on his part not to have been properly advised from the beginning. “I am notified of a contaminant in my urine. They gave me 15 days to claim something. I wrote the note, denied everything and asked for the opening of jar B”, he indicated.
The thing had only just begun. He explained that the entire legal process, before the laboratories recognized by the World Anti-Doping Organization, was solved out of his own pocket, without the help of his Federation or the local Sports organizations. There he received a new setback after the study of bottle B. “There I did hire a lawyer, who was not a sports specialist either, because those are expensive. He was not in a position to pay that much money. We did the studies in Brazil and with the management (of the ONAD) I was able to reach this new laboratory, which is recognized. And that’s where they (ONAD) contradict themselves because they came out to say that I didn’t do anything later.”
The results of the study done in Brazil did nothing but confuse the situation. “I sent the supplements for the study. It is not known in the end if it is the same, nor if it is the lot that they (ONAD) put their own expert to control (the sample) before being sent, “he alleged.
Arzamendia insisted that, at this point, there was already a strange smell because the new round of studies identified the substance and it was confirmed that the feat was involuntary, that is, a contamination of the supplements.
“THE MAXIMUM PUNISHMENT”
“The day has come (hearing). We made the defense, we presented all the evidence. They (ONAD Court) ask me questions and everything is fine there, but the result is that later my sentence comes out and it is for 4 years, unanimously, the maximum punishment, “he lamented.
“In its resolution it says that, I don’t know, NASA has to come over there to explain what was detected (the substance),” he fired.
Arzamendia argued that, at the same time, much smaller sanctions were given, in identical circumstances, but to professional soccer players. “One linked a year and another 1 year and 4 months, more or less. One for steroids. And I who demonstrated (contamination) have 4 years (sanction)”.
LACK OF SUPPORT
The athlete, knowing the proximity of the South American Games in Asunción, knocked on doors in order to clarify his situation, but silence was the answer. “I asked for a meeting with the Sports Minister, which never happened.”
Experts in the matter advised him to resort to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS, for its acronym in English), since the ONAD does not have an external appeal body, or one recognized with these powers, at the local level. The TAS thing is “impossible” for him since it is “a process in which you can spend between a thousand and 20 thousand dollars. I don’t have that money. In the end they leave you with the doors closed because the budget that you have to carry again is too much”.
Finally, he targeted the directors of the Paraguayan Weightlifting Federation. He accused them of handling themselves in a “questionable” way, even as “owned by a family”, which does not look after the interests of the athletes. “These people were never in contact with me. They don’t work well, we have a lot of problems with them. Even the SND sued them. These people have a lot to do with what is happening, ”he concluded.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Arzamendia cannot believe his luck. The leaders who once took advantage of his own success have turned their backs on him and he will be one of the great absentees in Team Paraguay in the historic edition of the Odesur in our country.
Ronald is practically resigned to complying with the “unfair” punishment of the ONAD and, for sure, he does not know if he will compete officially again.
