Dr Richard Freeman, who worked for both Team Sky and British Cycling, has been banned from sport for four years for possession of a banned substance at Britain's National Cycling Centre in Manchester and also for "tampering" with an anti-doping investigation. The ban is backdated to the start of Freeman's provisional suspension, which commenced on December 22nd, 2020.
UK Anti-Doping today said it has banned Freeman because he violated its rules by "taking possession of an order of 30 sachets of Testogel (ie testosterone gel) at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, in May 2011" and also by subsequently "lying to UKAD in respect of that order".
The four-year ban now imposed on Freeman relates to all sports and comes just over two years after he was struck off as a doctor in Britain following the ruling against him that he ordered Testogel sachets knowing or believing they would be used for performance enhancement.
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That verdict was handed down in March, 2021, after a protracted General Medical Council hearing, though Freeman insisted he was never involved in doping. Ineos Grenadiers, formerly Team Sky, also said at the time it did not believe any rider doped or tried to dope.
The medical inquiry into Freeman, which concluded in March 2021, found he had "placed the order, and obtained the Testogel, knowing or believing it was to be administered to an athlete to improve their athletic performance". Freeman had claimed former coach and manager Shane Sutton bullied him into ordering the Testogel to treat erectile dysfunction, which Sutton very strongly denied.
In a statement today, August 15th, 2023, UK Anti Doping confirmed "former British Cycling and Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman has been banned from all sport for four years after the independent National Anti-Doping Panel found he committed the Anti-Doping Rule Violations of 'possession of a prohibited substance and (on two distinct occasions) ‘tampering’".
The statement by UK Anti Doping added:
In September 2016, UKAD commenced an investigation after receiving information that a possible Anti-Doping Rule Violation may have been committed by individuals associated with Team Sky in connection with the Critérium du Dauphiné, a professional cycling event, in June 2011. The possible violation in question concerned the alleged contents of a package (widely referred to as ‘the Jiffy bag’) that was delivered to Dr Freeman at the end of the event.
During the course of UKAD’s investigations into those matters, UKAD’s investigators uncovered that a delivery of 30 Testogel sachets had been made to British Cycling’s Headquarters, at the Manchester Velodrome in May 2011. Testogel is a prescription-only medication that contains the banned substance testosterone which, under the UK Anti-Doping Rules, is prohibited at all times. Each of the violations proved by UKAD in its proceedings before the independent National Anti-Doping Panel concern this Testogel delivery.
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As part of its investigation into the Testogel, UKAD interviewed Dr Freeman in February 2017. In interview, Dr Freeman claimed to have ordered the Testogel for a ‘non-rider’ member of British Cycling staff, but said that the Testogel had been returned to the supplier for destruction. Dr Freeman failed to name the ‘non-rider’ patient who he claimed the Testogel was for, relying on patient confidentiality.
He claimed that he had written to the patient asking them to waive confidentiality and they had refused to consent to matters being discussed with UKAD. UKAD, however, continued to investigate matters relating to the Testogel – including in particular Dr Freeman’s account that the order had been placed for a ‘non-rider’ member of British Cycling staff. Evidence obtained by UKAD indicated that the Testogel had not been returned to the supplier as Dr Freeman claimed. In April 2017, UKAD made a referral to the General Medical Council (GMC) in respect of UKAD’s concerns relating to Dr Freeman’s conduct and fitness to practise.
The GMC then investigated Dr Freeman and went on to commence a case before the independent Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) in October 2019. In March 2021, an MPTS tribunal found proven the allegation that Dr Freeman ordered testosterone, ‘knowing or believing’ it to be for an unnamed rider in May 2011 to improve their athletic performance.
It was also found proven that he had lied to UKAD under investigation when claiming that the Testogel had been ordered for a ‘non-rider’ patient and had been returned to the supplier. The MPTS tribunal erased Dr Freeman from the Medical Register, a decision which was subsequently upheld by the High Court on appeal by Dr Freeman.
On 22 December 2020 (whilst the MPTS hearing was ongoing), UKAD provisionally suspended Dr Freeman and charged him with the commission of Anti-Doping Rule Violations. He was charged with an Article 2.6 violation under the 2009 UK Anti-Doping Rules for ‘Possession of a Prohibited Substance’, namely testosterone, in connection with an Athlete, Event or training. UKAD also charged Dr Freeman with two separate Article 2.5 violations under the 2015 UK Anti-Doping Rules for ‘Tampering’.
The first Tampering violation concerned Dr Freeman knowingly providing UKAD with false information that the Testogel had been returned to the supplier. The second Tampering violation concerned Dr Freeman knowingly providing UKAD with false information that he had written to a non-rider member of staff requesting that they waive patient confidentiality and claiming that they had refused to do so.
An independent tribunal of the National Anti-Doping Panel convened in July 2023 to consider UKAD’s case against Dr Freeman and found all charges proven. The tribunal was comfortably satisfied that Dr Freeman had ‘intended to make available to one or more of his athletes the Prohibited Substance delivered to the Manchester Velodrome'.
Whilst Dr Freeman had accepted that he had lied to UKAD about returning the Testogel to the supplier, he maintained that he had written to a non-rider member of staff requesting that they waive patient confidentiality and that they had refused to do so. The independent tribunal found that UKAD had also proved the second Tampering violation against Dr Freeman whose ‘conduct subverted Doping Control'.
The independent tribunal of the National Anti-Doping Panel sanctioned Dr Freeman with a four-year ban, effective from 22 December 2020 (the date of his provisional suspension), making him ineligible to participate in any World Anti-Doping Code-compliant sport until 21 December 2024.
