“The anti-doping system is broken and i’m a proof of it”: Tara Moore gives her version after upholding four-year ban

British former doubles No. 1 Tara Moore has issued her official statement after being sanctioned for doping in the prolonged case she has been involved in. The 28-year-old tennis player was handed a four-year suspension. An appeal by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The case has taken a significant amount of time to resolve for the Brit. The 32-year-old player was provisionally suspended in May 2022 after testing positive for nandrolone and boldenone at the Copa Colsanitas, a year when it was still a Challenger category tournament.

Information gathered at the time indicated that both Tara Moore and Bárbara Gatica – a Chilean tennis player who also competed in the tournament – had been contaminated by steroid-contaminated meat, which was believed to be related to production in Colombia, and for which the organization had not taken due precaution in informing the players.

Moore received a provisional suspension, which kept her out of all competition for 19 months, before an independent tribunal ruled in December 2023 that neither the Brit nor the Chilean had committed an infraction. "Accordingly, no period of ineligibility was imposed on either player, and the provisional suspensions imposed on each player under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme have been immediately lifted," the ITIA said at the time.

However, a recent appeal by CAS has definitively settled the case, with negative news for Moore, who will have to serve the four-year ban – deducting the 19 months she was provisionally suspended. "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. "The panel concluded that Ms Moore failed to establish that the ADRV (Anti-Doping Rule Violation) was not intentional. The appeal by the ITIA is therefore upheld and the decision rendered by the Independent Tribunal is set aside."

Following the ITIA's decision, Tara Moore must now serve her suspension, putting her out of competition once again. The doubles specialist was competing in Grand Slam tournaments last year, but now her career is on hold until early 2028, when she'll be 35 years old. Moore has released her version of events in an emotional letter, expressing her frustration with the case she claims – and has insisted all along – was accidental.

“To be innocent and to have to prove that is an incredibly grueling process. Firstly, you're trying to figure out what these things are, secondly, you are figuring out how and why these things got into your system. If you are innocent you don't just know straight away. You have to go through everything you've done and eliminate what it can't be, until you settle on something it most likely is. Even then, you are presumed guilty and have fight for your life against someone that has more money and resources than you.

The last 3 and a half years have broken me into so many pieces. As my family and friends have scrambled to pick up the broken shards of me, they've glued me back together in the form of a different person. I don't need a panel to tell me I'm innocent. I know the integrity I bring and I know I am innocent. I believe everyone over the past couple of years can see how subjective this process is.

I have been the underdog. I have had my life as I knew it ripped away from me because the organisations and people in power failed to do what was right. They may have taken my fight away on the court, yet my fight is not over, not for me or others like me.

The anti-doping system is broken. I am proof of this. We need to fix it. Not for me as it's too late, but for future players who find themselves in this unfortunate situation. I have so much more to say when the time is right.”