Swimmer banned for transfusion he said was of mother’s blood

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Argentine swimmer Guillermo Bertola has been banned for four years and stripped of his 2019 Pan American Games silver medal in a doping case in which he said he received a transfusion of his mother’s blood. The governing body of swimming says the case against the 30-year-old open-water swimmer was based on irregular blood readings in his biological passport. Bertola first blamed altitude training and the “use of a snorkel and mask with hypoxic effect.” He later acknowledged getting a blood transfusion while sick with stomach problems. The judging panel noted a “troubling … general lack of detail in the testimony” of Bertola’s mother.