Olympic bronze medalist Charline van Snick denies that she took cocaine, a substance for which she tested positive at August's Judo World Championships in Rio.
The Belgian brought along a toxicologist to argue her point at a press conference on Tuesday, claiming she had never taken the illegal Class-A drug voluntarily.
"Charline is not a cocaine user. All the analysis suggested that she was exposed in an isolated and involuntary way to this product," said Jan Tytgat, a professor of toxicology and pharmacology at the University of Leuven.
Van Snick, who could be banned for up to two years if found guilty of doping, added: "I don't understand what's happened to me, I've never taken cocaine.
"I've always tested negative in my previous tournaments. I went to Brazil to win a medal so I knew I would be tested.
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"Everyone who knows me knows that I could never have done something like this."
The 23-year-old, who also won bronze in Rio just as she had done in London last year, is waiting for the results from her B-sample.
Tytgat explained that two hair samples showed she had not taken cocaine between June 2011 and August 2013 but that a trace of the drug showed up for the period August 10 to October 10, although that was 200 times smaller than for a regular cocaine user.
