Lombard facing prosecution over drug imports

Disgraced Irish Olympic athlete Cathal Lombard could face prosecution for importing the performance-enhancing drug EPO.

Under regulations introduced last year, it is an offence to import a prescription-only product such as EPO into Ireland by mail order.

An Irish Medicines Board (IMB) spokeswoman said offenders convicted in the District Court could face a maximum fine of €1,927 or up to one year’s imprisonment.

“The IMB is responsible for the investigation of any such breaches and irregularities but the Board cannot comment on individual cases,” she said.

Lombard has admitted sourcing EPO on his own without the knowledge of his coach Joe Doonan. The banned substance is widely available from internet websites.

When the customs officials noticed the suspect delivery, it alerted the Irish Medicines Board. It in turn notified the Irish Sports Council, which runs the country’s anti-doping programme.

Irish Sports Council chief executive John Treacy said the athlete was caught following a tip off from Irish customs officials. He said Lombard had been on the sports council’s radar because of the significant improvements he made late in his career.

He ran a time of 27:33:53 in the 10,000m at Stanford University in the US earlier this year, which was 13 seconds faster than the previous Irish record. It was also three minutes faster than his previous personal best.

“We’ve all but parked in his driveway – we tested him in Cork, in the US, in Switzerland, so we were keeping a very keen eye on him. We carried out seven tests in the course of the year,” said Treacy.

When the ISC received the information last month, Lombard was at a training camp in Switzerland.

The 28-year-old middle distance runner was tested at 7.30am on July 11 by the Swiss Olympic Council and his urine sample showed traces of EPO. Treacy said there was a two- to three-day window to detect the banned substance before it disappeared from the athlete’s system.

“To detect someone using EPO, you do have to be lucky. We knew leading into the games that the temptation to use EPO would rise and that’s why we targeted this particular time,” he said.

Lombard was due to respond in writing to the Athletics Association of Ireland from his Cork home today and faces a two-year suspension from the sport.