ST15/18 DFSNZ v Zane Hopman
Press Release
16th October 2018
The Sports Tribunal has suspended Zane Hopman, a martial artist, for a period of two years for his online purchase of testosterone propionate, trenbolone acetate and tamoxifen from the online website in November 2014.
This is another case arising from Medsafe’s investigation into an online steroid supplier called NZ Clenbuterol, which passed data to Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ) relating to athletes who had purchased prohibited drugs online.
Mr Hopman was provisionally suspended without opposition on 25 September 2018. He admitted the violation, but said he never used the products and was not aware he was subject to Sports Anti-Doping Rules or that his online purchases breached those rules.
On 12 October 2018, the parties filed a joint memorandum proposing an appropriate sanction, based on relevant factors including the previous cases determined by the Tribunal. The presumptive two year period of ineligibility applied, and Mr Hopman did not seek to further reduce the period of ineligibility. As with previous cases, it was proposed the period of commencement should be backdated, given his timely admission and some allowance for the investigation delays.
Having considered all available material, the Tribunal imposed a two year sanction period backdated by 12 months to commence from 25 September 2017.
