Milwaukee Brewers’ Ryan Braun has impugned the character of drug testing officer Dino Laurenzi in order to protect himself from being tainted by a positive steroid test result. Braun suggested Laurenzi may have sabotaged the urine sample he submitted immediately after Game 1 of the 2011 National League Division Series.
“We spoke to biochemists and scientists, and asked them how difficult would it be to tamper with somebody’s sample. Their response was that if they were motivated, it would be extremely easy,” said Braun. “Again, that’s why it’s so important to get it out of the hands of the only person in the world who knows whose sample it is.”
Braun never identified the drug testing officer by name but clearly pointed a finger at Laurenzi during a press conference following the announcement of his successful appeal of a 50-game steroid suspension.
“There are a lot of things that we’ve heard about the collection process, the collector and some other people involved in the process that have certainly been concerning to us,” said Braun.
Braun attempted to create reasonable doubt that the positive steroid test occurred because Laurenzi sabotaged his sample. However, the WADA-accredited laboratory in Montreal reported that the sample arrived via FedEx with all three tamper-evident seals intact. A security seal was on the box, on the plastic bag inside the box and on the canister containing the urine sample. The Montreal laboratory doesn’t seem to agree that it is “extremely easy” to bypass the tamper-proof security seals.
Dino Laurenzi has worked in the steroid-testing and collection business for seven years. He has been employed by Comprehensive Drug Testing (CDT) since 2005. The veteran drug testing officer has collected anti-doping specimens for Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Football League (NFL) and the National Hockey League (NHL).
Rob Manfred, executive vice president for labor relations, strongly defended Laurenzi as a rebuttal to Braun’s suggestions of sample tampering.
“The extremely experienced collector in Mr. Braun’s case acted in a professional and appropriate manner,” said Manfred. “He handled Mr. Braun’s sample consistent with instructions issued by our jointly retained collection agency.”
Braun’s attorneys successfully argued that Laurenzi broke the chain of custody when he failed to ship Braun’s specimen via FedEx on the same day that it was collected as outlined in the MLB’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. An independent arbitrator upheld Braun’s appeal due to ambiguity in the language of the MLB’s drug policy that he felt cast doubt upon the chain of custody.
Representatives from Major League Baseball (MLB), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and the National Center for Drug-Free Sport have all defended Laurenzi by asserting that standard industry protocol was followed in the Braun case.
Source:
Haudricourt, T. (February 24, 2012). Ryan Braun comes out swinging, explains innocence. Retrieved from http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/Braun_live22412-140317723.html
Dodd, D. (February 24, 2012). Anti-doping official: Braun verdict “miscarriage”. Retrieved from http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/34979620
