Spain's Tour de France champion Alberto Contador tested positive for clenbuterol in last year's race but said he had inadvertently consumed the substance in contaminated meat.
Five Mexico players also tested positive for clenbuterol this month but the country's soccer federation has attributed the results to meat eaten on a training camp in Mexico ahead of the Gold Cup tournament being hosted by the United States.
Speaking ahead of a symposium on doping detection, Rabin said officials may have found ‘a way forward’ allowing ‘context’ to be considered before an automatic two-year ban was imposed on athletes testing positive for the performance-enhancing drug.
“There are very few cases of clenbuterol, so it's not impossible to handle on a case-by-case basis,” Rabin said.
“We could make recommendations to the WADA executive committee to say over some level it's definitely doping, and at another level it could be further consideration in a context of previous results or future results of the athlete.”
The WADA board would have to approve any changes at its meeting in September but proposals could be firmed up at a WADA Laboratory Expert Group Meeting in Montreal next week.
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