Turnbull pledges compo fight after doping u-turn

IRISH athlete Gareth Turnbull was yesterday cleared of an alleged doping offence of elevated testosterone, after anti-doping experts admitted the reading may have been ‘induced by alcohol.’

Turnbull expressed relief at the decision but described the Irish Sports Council’s handling of the affair as ‘unprofessional and negligent’.

He is now considering legal action against the ISC to recoup costs incurred in his ‘six-figure’ legal defence.

Turnbull was facing a possible two-year ban after a test in September showed up higher than normal levels of testosterone.

However, the Irish Sport Anti-Doping Panel ruled that Turnbull’s elevated testosterone level “as a matter of probability” had been “induced by alcohol”. He is free to return to competition immediately.

Turnbull said last night: “Relief is a small part of it because relief would suggest you got off but I haven’t got off because I haven’t done anything wrong.

“There is an overwhelming sense of outrage and anger that a system you put your faith and trust in can be so vindictive as to chase after you for nine months without your knowledge and then three months of taking this thing to the highest level in terms of the courts, trying to get you put away and end your career.”

He said of the Irish Sports Council: “I think they were completely unprofessional and negligent in a lot of things they have done.

“They have had many opportunities along the way to stop it getting to this point and regrettably they haven’t. They’ve had numerous occasions before it went public. This could have been cleared last October when our international governing body, the IAAF, said that this case should not have gone any further.

“But for some reason they chose to pursue it with an intensity that is incredible.”

Turnbull added that he had been “further saddened by the complete lack of support and sensitivity afforded to me by Athletics Ireland during this entire investigation”.

Turnbull described the incident as a “gross miscarriage of justice” and vowed that he and his family “will pursue pretty aggressively our case for compensation.”

The Belfast runner has a 1500m personal best of 3:36.60 set in 2003, the year that he competed in the World Championships. However he believes he can overcome this trauma and return to the highest level.

“This has channelled me to try to knuckle down even more. Thankfully the decision is a vindication.”

The Sports Council’s Anti-Doping Panel stated: “The abnormal level of testosterone was not due to doping.”

The complex and lengthy judgement added that it “would have been unusual for an athlete to administer testosterone prior to going out on what was intended to be a drinking session.

“For such a high limit of testosterone to have been found in Mr Turnbull’s sample, it would, as a matter of probability have been necessary to ingest the testosterone some time the previous evening, probably after Mr Turnbull began drinking.”