British tennis player Tara Moore has been handed a four-year ban for doping after the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned her previous clearance.
The 32-year-old was initially cleared by an independent tribunal in December 2023, which ruled that contaminated meat was responsible for her positive test and that she "bore no fault or negligence".
However, CAS has now upheld an appeal by the International Tennis Integrity Agency, finding that Moore failed to prove the concentration of nandrolone in her sample was consistent with meat contamination.
The ban takes effect immediately, but will be reduced by the 19 months she already served under provisional suspension.
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|The decision to ban Tara Moore has been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Moore, who was Britain's top-ranked women's doubles player at the time, tested positive for nandrolone and boldenone at a tournament in Bogota, Colombia, in April 2022.
She was provisionally suspended in May 2022, beginning what she described as "19 months of lost time and emotional distress" during which her reputation was damaged.
The 32-year-old returned to competition in April 2024 following the tribunal's ruling in her favour.
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|Tara Moore described her time away from the court as "19 months of lost time and emotional distress" during which her reputation was damaged
She has since competed mainly on the ITF World Tour, though she did secure main draw entries at Wimbledon, the US Open and this year's Australian Open.
Following a hearing in March, CAS determined that Moore had not succeeded in establishing her case.
"After reviewing the scientific and legal evidence, the majority of the CAS Panel considered that the player did not succeed in proving that the concentration of nandrolone in her sample was consistent with the ingestion of contaminated meat," CAS said in a media release.
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The panel concluded that Moore "failed to establish that the ADRV (Anti-Doping Rule Violation) was not intentional".
As a result, "the appeal by the ITIA is therefore upheld and the decision rendered by the Independent Tribunal is set aside".
ITIA chief executive Karen Moorhouse defended the organisation's decision to appeal, stating: "Our bar for appealing a first instance decision is high, and the decision is not taken lightly."
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|The former doubles British No1 will now not be able to return to the court until 2028
She added: "In this case, our independent scientific advice was that the player did not adequately explain the high level of nandrolone present in their sample. Today's ruling is consistent with this position."
Moore, currently ranked 864th in singles and 187th in doubles, will be unable to compete until the start of the 2028 season.
The CAS decision is binding on all parties, with only a highly unusual procedural appeal to Swiss courts remaining as a potential option.