The highest court for sport in the world, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has quashed the four-year ban imposed on three times Italian Olympian, Vittoria Panizzon(41), by the Italian national anti-doping authority (NADOItalia). The CAS ruling comes after NADO found Ms Panizzon had failed to comply with the WADA Athlete’s Whereabouts Scheme* in November 2023, when Ms Panizzonwas on holiday in Italy after the end of the 2023 Eventing season. At every stage Ms Panizzon’s legal team presented overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
The CAS ruling, issued on 29th April following an in-person appeal in Lugano, Switzerland on 16th April, is rare in that it offers the athlete (Ms Panizzon) not a reduction in the period of eligibility but a complete exoneration of the athlete and has left Ms Panizzon free to return to the sport with immediate effect having been ‘ineligible’ (aka ‘banned’ colloquially) since 3rd July 2024.
“I am thrilled, relieved and so, so grateful to everyone for the support I have had from my owners, sponsors, the Aeronautica Militare, friends, staff and the wider horsesportcommunity but I am also exhausted, frustrated and disheartened. I have been an extremely active FISE (Italian Federation) and FEI athlete for more than 20 years with an unblemished record and dozens of negative no-notice out-of-competition tests to my name. I don’t drink, I have never smoked, and I don’t take any medicine unless I absolutely must. Even with that record behind me I was left to find my own way through a confusing and unfriendly process.
Like all my fellow riders I am a big advocate for clean sport and of course I understand that the FEI and FISE need to be seen to be supporting the human anti-doping campaign, as well as administering their own equine anti-doping schemeswhich are vital for the welfare of our horses, but surely our governing bodies should feel able to give their human athletes support on how to navigate the Whereabouts Scheme which is designed for track and field athletes not those of us sitting in a field with no internet signal. The federations should also offer advice on navigating the appeals process or even how to find a lawyer. Doing so wouldn’t mean that the federations are being biased in favour of the athlete it would just reflect the duty of care they owe that athlete particularly, as this CAS decision shows, because not all judgements are correct and reputations, careers and livelihoods are at stake.
I have had to fight to clear my name, by myself, every day since January 2024. I sincerely hope that the FEI will now review the suitability of the Whereabouts scheme for Equestrian athletes or at least provide a much-enhanced level of guidance to those on the scheme because currently the FEI is setting its human athletes up to fail and leaving them with no support when they are deemed to fall foul of the process.”
During the period of ineligibility, Ms Panizzon has been unable to ‘participate in any activity related to any sport’. This has meant that she has been unable to train at affiliatedpremises on any horse of her own or to assist any other athlete. The ruling effectively ended Ms Panizzon’s careerovernight and she was forced to remodel her business, had she not she might have lost both her house and yard.
The immediate consequence in July 2024 was that Ms Panizzon was forced to withdraw from contention for the Paris Olympics, having assisted the Italian team to qualify. Her top horse DHI Jackpot, owned by Ms. Panizzon and a group of owners who supported the purchase along withcrowd funders, has been ridden by Susie Berry at two eventsthis spring (w/d after SJ at Barbury as the horse was going to Burnham Market the following week) while Ms. Panizzonwaited for the appeal process to conclude. Prior to the ban, DHI Jackpot was being aimed at Championships and will now require a campaign to become eligible. “I am totally up for the challenge to get back into team contention and Jack (DHI Jackpot) is 100% on track. I am just so grateful to Susie for her understanding and support of my situation which has meant we are both basically in full swing. But mentally it’s a huge challenge when on 28th April I had my fingers crossed that I had a future in the sport, but had no idea when I would know, and on 29th April I am wondering which ballot dates I have missed.
Pleased as I am to be able to take part in the sport that I love with my head held high, at the end of the day I have lost a whole year of my competition life and I will never be able to get that time back.”
On a financial level, Ms. Panizzon has had to meet all the legal costs (circa £70,000) personally, without support from any organisation and the appeal at the CAS on 16th April would not have been heard had Ms. Panizzon not paid, in advance, not only her own costs but those of the prosecution.
“I have been told by CAS that my euros 3,000 fine will be fully returnable, and I should be able to recover my courtcosts (circa £20,000) but there is no channel for me to recover the amounts I have paid to lawyers. I have had to borrow from my family and without their support I would not have been able to clear my name. It can’t be justice that I would still be banned if I hadn’t been able to find the money.”
