Richard Freeman (opens in new tab), a former doctor for British Cycling and Team Sky (opens in new tab), was dealt a blow at the beginning of a medical tribunal on Thursday when the General Medical Council (GMC) made a significant amendment to one of the allegations.

The allegations at issue relate to 30 bags of testosterone gel (opens in new tab), or test gel, delivered to British Cycling and Team Sky's headquarters in Manchester in June 2011, which Freeman admitted ordering last week.

Initially, the allegation stated: "The motivation for your order was to obtain test gels to be administered to athletes to improve their athletic performance.

When the hearing resumed last week after the original referee was thrown out in February, the GMC, which is suing Freeman, applied to amend the motion to remove the concept of "motive."

After a long debate on the issue, with Freeman's lawyers strongly opposing, the court ruled in favor of GMC on Thursday morning, with the serious charge that the test gels were "administered to athletes to enhance their athletic performance."

Freeman and his lawyers claim that the test gels were intended for former Team Sky and British Cycling coach Shane Sutton. He denies it.

The motion states: "12. You placed

[a.] orders and obtained Testogel even though you knew that Testogel was not clinically indicated for your non-athlete staff.

"b. knowing or believing that it was to be administered to athletes to improve athletic performance."

Freeman's lawyer, Mary O'Rourke QC, said she and her client were "very disappointed" with the outcome; O'Rourke had argued that the amendments "fundamentally change the GMC case," according to a summary by tribunal chairman, Neil Dalton.19]

"With respect to 12b, Mr. O'Rourke said that "your motive ... " to "know or believe ... " to "You know or believe...", he submitted that GMC was attempting to reduce the burden of establishing what was in Dr. Freeman's mind"

.

However, GMC's lawyer, Simon Jackson QC, argued that the amended allegations still represent a "high threshold" for the GMC. Jackson's concern was that Dr. Freeman could say, 'the test gel is for a third party and we don't know what that will be,'" Dalton said.

In terms of potential anti-doping charges that could arise while the British Anti-Doping Agency awaits the results, if the new allegations are proven, the level of responsibility on Freeman's shoulders would be reduced, leaving room for influence from other persons.

O'Rourke also argued that in order to defend herself against the new allegations, it would be necessary for Freeman, whom she described as a "professional GP," to "obtain evidence from a GP practice expert to explain what a reasonable GP "knows or believes."

Jackson objected that Freeman did not currently have access to such an expert, but argued that the two-month time allotment, nearly double the original February hearing, gave him ample time to consult an expert.

O'Rourke also took issue with paragraph 12a, which he felt was inconsistent with Freeman's other assertions that his earlier claim that the test gels were ordered for non-athlete staff was not true. Jackson claimed that the paragraph "merely reflected" an update of Freeman's testimony heard last Tuesday.

After a discussion that took two days longer than expected, the court granted the modification, stating that there was "no unfairness."

The change, Dalton said, "is said to reflect GMC's more recent and more nuanced understanding of Dr. Freeman's position arising from his September 24, 2019 statement," in which Freeman admitted that he had previously lied.

The court rejected O'Rourke's arguments regarding the relevance of paragraph 12a and his description of Freeman as a "jobbing GP."

"Dr. Freeman was, in his own words, a sports and exercise medicine consultant. Dalton stated the following. "At the time of the matter in question, he indicates that he was a member of Team Sky's "Anti-Doping Working Group." In these circumstances, we do not believe it was unfair to him that the "practitioner" was without an expert to mention "what he knew or believed" about the allegations," Dalton said.

On Thursday morning, Freeman applied himself to be treated as a "vulnerable witness."

Freeman will therefore be screened from the public gallery (where the media will sit) when giving evidence. He is also shielded from Shane Sutton when Sutton is present to give evidence. Freeman's testimony is limited to three hours per day, with breaks in the morning and afternoon in addition to his lunch break.

It is well known that Freeman struggles with mental illness, including severe depression and suicidal thoughts, which is also understood to be the reason the hearing was postponed in February. Freeman has previously been unable to give evidence directly to the UK Parliament's Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee on Doping in Sport investigation or to UK Anti-Doping in 2017 due to health reasons.

The GMC did not oppose the application, which was granted by the tribunal as "a reasonable adjustment that could be made to help him [Freeman] participate in the tribunal process."

Sutton is the key witness in this case, as Freeman claims that Testogel was intended for his use. Sutton denies this, and the GMC is set to call evidence from endocrinologists to show that Sutton has no medical need for testosterone.

Testosterone is banned both in and out of competition, and if the GMC can corroborate claims that it was administered to athletes, it would be immensely damaging to British Cycling and Team Sky UKAD is working with the World Anti-Doping Agency's new Statute of Limitations of 10 years (up from 8 years in 2015) applies, reportedly guaranteeing that charges can be filed until 2021.