An Irish woman was selected to go to the Athens Olympics today as an independent observer for the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA).

THE supplement which caused Geraldine Hendricken to test positive was not contaminated by nandrolone but a nandrolone-related substance — 19-norandrosterne, and she said last night that this was very important for her.

IRISH middle distance runner Geraldine Hendricken has been banned from competition for two years, following confirmation last night that she tested positive for banned substances.

CATHAL LOMBARD claimed his place on the Irish team for next month’s world championships in Paris with a spectacular performance at the British Milers Club meet in Watford at the weekend, finishing fourth in the 10,000m in 28:05.27 — comfortably inside the B standard of 28:06.00.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN will face no fewer than 10 Africans when she launches her track season at the IAAF Super Grand Prix meeting in Lausanne this evening and one of the 20 strong field, Renee Kalmer from Germany, will follow her home for the BUPA Ireland Cork City Sports on Saturday afternoon.

TOP rugby player Frankie Sheahan is a role model for asthmatics despite his latest brush with controversy, the Asthma Society said yesterday.

GERALDINE HENDRICKEN may switch tracks over the coming months when she takes out a horse trainer’s permit but won’t be abandoning her athletics career despite the ban for a positive drugs test, which turned her career upside down last February.

IRISH athlete Geraldine Hendricken last night called for the immediate opening of the ‘B’ sample from the drugs test which has alleged use of a banned performance-enhancing substance.

Irish 1500m runner Geraldine Hendricken has tested positive for nandrolone in an out-of-competition test.

GERALDINE HENDRICKEN admitted last night she was “stunned” by claims that she had tested positive for a banned substance.

GARY RYAN has hit form at precisely the right moment — and the Nenagh Olympic sprinter highlighted this fact once again at the weekend in Birmingham where he became the first Irishman in history to break 21 seconds for 200m indoors with a 20.99 victory in the final.

SONIA O'SULLIVAN'S participation in the world cross-country championships in Lausanne at the end of March could be in jeopardy after she withdrew from a weekend engagement in Japan.

IT WAS to be a day of celebration for Kerry’s Gillian O’Sullivan (Farranfore/Maine Valley) at the opening session of the indoor championships of Ireland.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN is unlikely to compete in the world indoor championships in Birmingham next month.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN will miss the 20th IAAF World Cup for racewalking in Turin in two weeks time on account of injury. The Togher athlete is nursing a knee injury.

AFTER her fine run in Hyde Park last weekend — missing the world record for 5k on the road by a mere two seconds — Sonia O’Sullivan is set for a quick follow-up in the BUPA Great South Run in Portsmouth on Sunday.

CIARA SHEEHY was bitterly disappointed that she had been switched from lane eight to lane one without her knowledge before the start of last night’s semi-finals of the Women’s 200 metres.

Ireland’s Ciara Sheehy and Gary Ryan have both failed to qualify for the finals of the women’s and men’s 200m at the European Championships in Munich.

Two Irish hopefuls are in action at the European Championships in Munich later this afternoon.

Two Irish hopefuls are in action at the European Championships in Munich later this afternoon.

GERALDINE HENDRICKEN, Ireland’s athletic sensation of the season, will go into action this morning in the women’s 1,500m heats, which have an automatic place in Sunday’s final as the prize for the first three.

WHILE all the other members of the Irish track and field team busied themselves packing and making their final preparations for this week’s European championships the “newest” sensation of the squad, Geraldine Hendricken, had other things on her mind.

WITH national champion and record-holder Paul McKee and runner-up Rob Daly opting for the 200m, bronze medallist Antoine Burke will carry Irish hopes in a star-studded 400m at the Dublin International Games tonight.

SONIA O'SULLIVAN will compete in the 800m on at the national track and field championships at Morton Stadium, Santry, tomorrow, but there will be no head-to-head with Ireland's current middle distance sensation, Geraldine Hendricken.

ATHLETICS legend Terry McHugh hopes to set a world record by winning his 19th consecutive national Javelin title at Morton Stadium, Santry this weekend.

Geraldine Hendricken has won the women's 1500m for Ireland at the Cork City Sports at the Mardyke Arena.

Ireland’s biggest road race is finishing up after runners have started to return to Dublin city centre.