Van Snick, who has also won three medals at various European Championships, was handed a two-year ban by the International Judo Federation (IJF) in January.

But she appealed against the ruling to the CAS later in the month and, following a hearing on May 16 in Lausanne, where both the athletes and IJF representatives were present, this process has now been completed.  

"The CAS has recognised the existence of an anti-doping rule violation, but has partially upheld the appeal of the athlete, considering that she was probably the victim of sabotage," a statement today said.

"Consequently, the CAS has maintained the annulment of the results obtained by Charline Van Snick during the Judo World Championships in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, but has annulled the two-year ban imposed by the IJF against the athlete."

Charline Van Snick will not receive the bronze medal she initially won at the 2013 World Championships ©AFP/Getty Images



The statement added: "The arbitral panel in charge of this matter has examined the arguments of the parties and has first noted that the presence of cocaine in the athlete's body was established, even in a very low quantity, and that it constituted a violation of the applicable anti-doping regulations.

"Furthermore, it has concluded that the athlete was not a cocaine consumer, neither regularly, nor occasionally, and that the voluntary consumption of such substance during the World Championships was highly unlikely.

"However, the arbitral panel considered that the existence of sabotage against the athlete was the most likely scenario, taking into account some troubling facts brought to the knowledge of the Panel during the procedure, in particular the existence of a complaint for harassment filed by the athlete against a member of her entourage."

It added that a criminal investigation against an unnamed person was currently under way, before concluding that Van Snick was not guilty of any "fault or negligence".

An IJF spokesperson told insidethegames this afternoon that because they have so far only received the basic information, there is no specific comment to be made at this stage.

But the decision potentially sets an interesting precedent as, although many athletes have claimed to be the victim of sabotage, it is unusual for such a claim to be upheld in this fashion.

Another judoka, American Nicholas Delpopolo, was sent home from London 2012 after testing positive for cannabis ©AFP/Getty Images





One other example of an Olympic athlete testing positive for cocaine came 15 years ago, when Cuba's world record-breaking high jumper Javier Sotomayor tested positive during the 1999 Pan American Games, and was banned for two years.

But after Sotomayor protested his innocence and Cuban president Fidel Castro claimed he was the victim of a set-up by the Cuban-American Mafia, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) controversially shortened his ban to one year.

This allowed him to compete at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, where he won a silver medal behind Russian winner Sergey Kliugin.

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