Dr Richard Freeman’s High Court appeal fails and he will now face a UK Anti-Doping investigation

Richard Freeman, the former British cycling doctor and Team Sky suspended for ordering banned testosterone patches, will now face an anti-doping investigation in the UK after his High Court appeal failed.

In a devastating verdict for Freeman, his former employers and cycling in this country, a judge found there was “nothing wrong” with a 2021 court that saw the disgraced doctor expunged from the Medical Record and ruled that his ability to practice was was affected due to his conduct while working at the Manchester Velodrome, nicknamed the Gold Medal Factory.

The court, which shocked the cycling world, found that Freeman, key to successes at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, ordered the drug “knowingly believing” that it was intended for an athlete to enhance performance. UK Anti-Doping then quickly charged him with two alleged violations: possession of prohibited substances and/or prohibited methods and tampering or attempted tampering with any part of doping control.

Former British cycling and Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman will now face an anti-doping investigation in the UK after his High Court appeal failed after he was struck off the medical record for ordering banned testosterone patches for an athlete.

Freeman (center left, pictured with his defense team off the court in 2019) faces a minimum four-year ban and could be banned from playing the sport for life.

The doctor, who also worked for Bolton Wanderers, has been provisionally suspended from all sports, although the UKAD case was halted while the appeal proceeded.

Now, after the appeal was unceremoniously dismissed this morning, the investigation will now restart, with Freeman facing a minimum four-year suspension. Potentially, he could be barred from working in the sport for life.

In the long-running case of the Practitioner’s Court Service, which at times bordered on the absurd, the reputations of Team Sky (now Team Ineos) and British Cycling were washed into the gutter, and serious doubts were cast about their glittering era of success. Those questions will now be asked once again, following the failure of the appeal.

Freeman admitted to ordering 30 sachets of testogel from Velodrome headquarters in May 2011 and conceded that he lied in a failed attempt to cover his tracks. His actions also included lying to UKAD.

However, Freeman denied ordering the substance from an Oldham-based supplier “knowing or believing” that he would give it to an anonymous cyclist to enhance his performance.

Freeman was key to British cycling’s cycling successes at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics

Freeman claimed he ordered Testogel sachets for ‘erectile dysfunction’ from trainer Shane Sutton, which Sutton (pictured) vehemently denied

Instead, he said he was ordered on behalf of former manager Shane Sutton for erectile dysfunction, claims the Australian angrily denied in a volatile exchange.

That defense was dismantled by the General Medical Council, leading to a stunning verdict that has now been underscored. Freeman appealed but, in a 38-page judgment delivered at the Manchester branch of the High Court, Justice Fordham concluded that ‘there was nothing in the Court’s approach… that was ‘wrong’. He added: ‘let alone any respect that would undermine as ‘wrong’ the overall conclusion; nor render any conclusion or result “unfair because of a serious procedural or other irregularity in the proceeding.”

Freeman was also ordered to pay costs of £23,000.

The doctor’s representatives issued a brief statement after the reading. It read: “JMW Solicitors is disappointed by the High Court’s ruling which rejected Dr. Richard Freeman’s appeal against the decision made by the Practitioners Court Service to have his name removed from the medical record.”