WBC Rules on Alycia Baumgardner PED Matter

Alycia Baumgardner has been battling public perception following the news that she’d tested PED positive for her July 15, 2023 clash against Christina Linardatou.

The talented hitter gained the WBC super featherweight title in Detroit, Michigan, but there was “an adverse analytical finding for a banned substance” which cast a cloud over the match, and her character.

18 months later, we receive news from the WBC, and it looks like Baumgardner is pleased:

Alycia Baumgardner posted this on her IG account Monday afternoon

In a release, the sanctioning body stated “there was no conclusive justification to reject the accuracy of the Adverse Finding based on the evidence and arguments the Response and supplemental information presented.”

In other words, the WBC accepts the accuracy of testing which showed the presence of a performance enhancer in her system.

There had been discussion of whether there was one or more than one “substance,” and Baumgardner has been vehement in her defense in the last year and a half.

“However, that same evidence and arguments do not conclusively support Ms. Baumgardner's intentional ingestion of Mesterolone for performance enhancement purposes,” the sanctioning body stated in their Monday release.

Here is more of the WBC release:

In compliance with the governing WBC Rules & Regulations and WBC CBP Protocol, the WBC undertook an investigation of the specific circumstances, health concerns, and legal precedent surrounding the Finding.

The WBC convened its Results Management Unit that included experts in scientific, nutrition, and legal matters to investigate, analyze, and evaluate all the available facts and evidence, and to recommend to the WBC how to proceed in that particular case.

The WBC Results Management Unit provided Ms. Baumgardner's team with sufficient opportunity to mount an extensive and vigorous defense of Ms. Baumgardner, which they did.

The WBC fully evaluated Ms. Baumgardner's position by, among other measures, engaged the services of an expert consultant and availing itself of the services of an experts nutritionist and a chemist.

While there was sufficient evidence to support the validity of the anti-doping test that yielded the Adverse finding, the defenses Ms. Baumgardner presented put into question whether the Adverse Finding resulted from an intentional act, or from non-intentional contact with Mesterolone.

Based on the Adverse Finding in Ms. Baumgardner’ A Sample, and considering all factors both sides presented, the WBC arrived at the conclusion that there was no conclusive justification to reject the accuracy of the Adverse Finding based on the evidence and arguments the Response and supplemental information presented.

However, that same evidence and arguments do not conclusively support Ms. Baumgardner's intentional ingestion of Mesterolone for performance enhancement purposes.

Accordingly, the WBC found Ms. Baumgarner not guilty of intentional ingestion or consumption of a banned substance for performance enhancement purposes, and confirmed her as reigning WBC Super Featherweight World Champion.

OK, so what will happen from here?

WBC  is placing Baumgardner on probation for one year from the date the sample that yielded the Adverse Finding was collected, or until July 12, 2024.

Also: Baumgardner will be subject to a series of random anti-doping tests, on her dime, by VADA.

Failure there means “the WBC shall immediately and without further inquiry take immediate action against Ms. Baumgardner under the WBC Clean Boxing Program Protocol.”

The release ended on a high note: “Ms. Baumgardner and the WBC will work together to design and implement her participation in an anti-doping prevention program directed to active female boxers.”

The fighter with Ohio and Michigan roots took to social to share her thoughts on the development: