Lombard ‘must have felt he had a chance of medals’

A LEADING Irish sports psychologist yesterday rejected Cathal Lombard’s claim that he took the performance-enhancing drug EPO merely to compete on a level playing field and not to boost his medal chances.

"This guy saying he didn't do it to win any medals or anything like that what was he doing running in the first place? He risked his whole career to take these drugs so he must have felt he would be in with a chance of winning something," said Connacht-based Jarlath Cunningham yesterday.

Lombard was targeted for extra testing when his race times showed extraordinary levels of improvement, which the athlete himself claimed was due to new training regimes.