Drugs test Olympic runner faces ban, admits charge

Irish Olympic athlete Cathal Lombard arrives back in Dublin today to face officials after failing a drugs test.

The 28-year-old distance runner was one of Ireland’s highest medal hopes before testing positive for banned drug EPO.

He is expected to speak to federation officials today before being given 24 hours to formally respond to the allegations.

If he disputes the test results, a second test will be done on his urine sample B. It is extremely rare for the second result to contradict the first.

The Athletic Association of Ireland (AAI) is likely to axe Lombard from competing in the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres at the Athens Olympic Games if he cannot give a reasonable excuse.

Lombard, a solicitor from Cork, would also face a two-year suspension from the sport if found guilty.

He was training near Pisa in Italy and was due to travel from his camp there to Athens but the Olympic dream appears to have been dashed.

AAI spokesman Patsy McGonagle said he had been in touch with the athlete and would wait for his official response before commenting further.

However, in an interview with the Irish Examiner's Brendan Mooney, Lombard admitted to taking the performance-enhancing drug erythropoietin (EPO).

The 28-year-old Corkman will not contest the findings.

“I didn’t set out to try and win medals or to make money. I just wanted to be as competitive as I could and have an equal chance with everyone else," he said.

“I am not trying to justify what I did in any way. I am just saying this was the case. This is what I did and, hands up, I did it.”

The full interview can be accessed at the link below.

EPO, or erythropoietin, is a performance-enhancing substance that increases endurance by boosting the production of oxygen-rich red blood cells in the body.

Mr McGonagle said the news was “very disappointing” and would have huge ramifications for the sport’s reputation in Ireland.

“It will reflect incredibly badly on the sport of athletics and will hang a cloud over the rest of the team,” he said.

The news will spell huge disappointment for the small Irish team and particularly the 15-strong athletics squad.

Lombard has made remarkable progress over the last 18 months and was a serious medal prospect in the Games.

He set an Irish record for 10,000m this year when he finished third in the BUPA Great Manchester run.

The Irish 5000m champion set a personal best in that distance when he finished fifth in Heusden, Belgium last year.

Lombard said last year that his dramatic improvement was down to being able to train full-time and working with Joe Doonan, the former coach of 1998 London Marathon winner Catherina McKiernan.

The doping scandal is not the first to hit Irish sport.

Swimmer Michelle de Bruin was given a four year ban for manipulating a random drugs test after winning three golds and a bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Last year, middle distance runner Geraldine Hendricken became the first Irish athlete to test positive for the steroid nandrolone and was banned from the sport for two years.