British Rowing Athlete Charlotte Coburn receives nine-month ban from sport
British Rowing Athlete Charlotte Coburn has received a nine-month ban from sport following Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) for the Use and Possession of a Prohibited Substance.
On 17 February 2024, Ms Coburn was due to compete in a British Rowing Paralympic Trials Event. As part of the pre-Competition checks overseen by British Rowing, Ms Coburn completed a Medical Declaration Form. On this form, Ms Coburn declared her use of a reliever asthma inhaler which contained the Prohibited Substance, terbutaline.
Terbutaline is a Beta-2-Agonist and is banned at all times under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.
On 21 February 2024, UKAD wrote to Ms Coburn to enquire about her declared use of a Prohibited Substance. In response, Ms Coburn provided medical evidence to UKAD which confirmed that she suffered with asthma from a young age and had been prescribed the reliver inhaler which contained terbutaline in December 2022 to treat her condition. However, on 17 February 2024, Ms Coburn did not have a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for her use of terbutaline. As a national-level athlete, Ms Coburn is required to apply for and have in place a TUE in advance of any medical treatment containing a Prohibited Substance.
Ms Coburn made an application to UKAD for a retroactive TUE, which was rejected by the UKAD TUE Fairness Review Panel.
On 6 June 2024, UKAD notified Ms Coburn that she may have committed two ADRVs, under the Anti-Doping Rules of British Rowing (ADR), for Use (ADR Article 2.2) and Possession (ADR Article 2.6) of a Prohibited Substance. Ms Coburn was also provisionally suspended from sport from that date and subsequently charged. Ms Coburn admitted the ADRVs but wished to dispute the asserted period of Ineligibility. UKAD therefore referred the matter to the independent National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP) for arbitration.
Shortly before this matter was due to be heard by the NADP, and upon the filing of additional submissions and evidence by Ms Coburn, UKAD and Ms Coburn were able to agree that a hearing before the NADP was no longer required. UKAD accepted that Ms Coburn’s ADRVs were not ‘intentional’ and that she bore No Significant Fault or Negligence. In light of the specific circumstances of her case Ms Coburn’s Fault in committing the ADRVs was assessed, and a nine month ban from sport was applied.
Ms Coburn’s nine-month period of Ineligibility commenced on 6 June 2024 (the date of the Provisional Suspension) and will expire on 5 March 2025.
Technical terms and more information
Please note, unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, capitalised terms used in this announcement have the meaning given to them in the UK Anti-Doping Rules and/or World Anti-Doping Code.
Terbutaline is listed at section S3 of the 2024 WADA Prohibited List as a Beta-2 Agonist. It is a Specified Substance that is prohibited at all times.
An athlete in the TUE Pool is required to apply for and have granted a TUE in advance of treatment with a prohibited substance or method. Only in the following circumstances should treatment begin in advance of obtaining a TUE:
- Emergency or urgent situations (e.g., allergic reaction, exacerbation of asthma, onset of bell’s palsy, surgery, admission to A&E). In such circumstances, a TUE application should be submitted to UKAD as soon as possible.
- When an athlete has started treatment prior to reaching a competition level that is included within the National TUE Pool. Such athletes should apply for a TUE as soon as they advance to a competition level that is included within the National TUE Pool for their sport.
- Athletes who require the use of a glucocorticoid by local injection. In this instance, athletes are only required to apply for a retroactive TUE if they are subject to doping control in-competition and they subsequently return an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) for the presence of that glucocorticoid. Please refer to our Glucocorticoid TUE Policy for more information.
UKAD’s TUE Fairness Review Panel considers athlete requests for a ‘fairness’ TUE (that is, a retroactive application which does not meet the conditions set out in Article 4.1 or 4.2 of the International Standard for Therapeutic Use Exemptions). The Panel is comprised of two staff representatives from UKAD (non-voting) and three external experts in medicine, ethics, and law – all of whom have experience in advising on anti-doping policy or regulatory matters within sport. All three external experts must be unanimous in their decision for a fairness TUE to be granted. A fairness TUE will be reserved for exceptional circumstances where it would be manifestly unfair (when considering the purposes of the WADA Code) not to grant a retroactive TUE. The granting of a fairness TUE for International- and National-level athletes will only be possible with prior approval from WADA.
Today’s announcement is made in accordance with the applicable anti-doping rules, following the expiry of appeal rights for UKAD, the Athlete, and the applicable National Governing Body and/or International Federation.
