PRESS RELEASE 

Colorado Springs, Colo – USADA announced today that Tayane Porfirio de Araùjo, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, an athlete in the sport of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, has tested positive for a prohibited substance and accepted a four-year sanction for her anti-doping rule violation.

Porfirio, 24, tested positive for 19‐norandrosterone (19‐NA) and 19-noretiocholanolone as the result of an in-competition drug test conducted at the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) World Jiu-Jitsu Championships on June 3, 2018. 

Although the IBJJF is not a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code, USADA was contracted by IBJJF to conduct testing for the event and collected Porfirio’s sample in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Agency International Standard for Testing and Investigations.

19-norsteroids, including nandrolone and its precursors, are non-Specified Substances in the class of Anabolic Agents under the World Anti-Doping Code and the USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing, which applied to the 2018 IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu Championships.

Porfirio’s four-year period of ineligibility began on June 22, 2018, the date her provisional suspension was imposed. In addition, Porfirio has been disqualified from all competitive results achieved in competitions sanctioned by the IBJJF, or any Code signatory, on and subsequent to May 30, 2018, the date the 2018 IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu Championships started, including forfeiture of any medals, points, and prizes. IBJJF has agreed to impose the sanction.

In an effort to aid athletes, as well as support team members such as parents and coaches, in understanding the rules applicable to them, USADA provides comprehensive instruction on its website on the testing process and prohibited substances, how to obtain permission to use a necessary medication, and the risks and dangers of taking supplements (www.Supplement411.org) as well as performance-enhancing and recreational drugs. 

In addition, USADA manages a drug reference hotline, Global Drug Reference Online (www.GlobalDRO.com), conducts educational sessions with National Governing Bodies and their athletes, and distributes a multitude of educational materials, such as an easy-reference wallet card with examples of prohibited and permitted substances, a supplement guide, a nutrition guide, an athlete handbook, and periodic alerts and advisories.

USADA is responsible for the testing and results management process for athletes in the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement and is equally dedicated to preserving the integrity of sport through research initiatives and educational programs.

Read Tayane's statement regarding her suspension

Translation of statement

"Why I resolved to accept a punishment from USADA:

After almost a year - a very difficult year, a year of much darkness, disappointments and frustrations, writing dozens of texts thinking about how to say it and what people would talk about, as they would judge - today I had the strength to write ... 

• Last year I was notified by USADA, the US Anti-Doping Agency, for the alleged use of a substance that did not even know what it was: Nandrolone. The substance would be present in the samples collected during the 2018 World Championship of IBJJF.

• When I was notified, I was not sure what to do. I began to list everything I took during the treatment of the spinal cord injury in 2017 - and widely publicized by the specialized media. Thinking that maybe some medicine could be contaminated or contained "Nandrolone," I researched this substance on the internet and found that it is an anabolic steroid. It is not testosterone itself, but a derivative. 

• None of the medicines or treatments prescribed by my doctor during the course of treatment have been shown to contain this substance "Nandrolone". The only explanation my team and I came up with is an unfortunate bottle exchange at the pharmacy. Explanation that USADA did not accept.

• Since 2016 I have been banned from a federation for exceeding the maximum 90 kg of the category. I am invariably the largest and heaviest athlete of the category in all the championships I dispute. If even to overcome bullying or to compete for robust awards I never made use of any illegal substance, it would not be after a year where even injured I dominated the competitive landscape - a year where I also tested clean in every opportunity I was examined.

• Those who know me closely know the humble conditions in which I live. Even multi-champion titles do not mean material wealth, and I still live in Brazil at my beloved Favela da Muzema. My community that suffers from crime, fear, and, more recently, the tragedies we have seen in the newspaper, is a very important factor in my decision to come to London to try to live a better life for myself and my family."