Confidence in Australia’s anti-doping processes have been shattered after the treatment of middle-distance runner Peter Bol.
Australia’s sport minister has called on the World Anti-Doping Agency to prioritise its review of EPO testing to remove ambiguity for athletes,after Olympian Peter Bol was sensationally cleared.
Bol has been cleared,but his accusers have not. There are now a litany of questions federal sports minister Anika Wells must answer.
The Australian middle-distance runner was the victim of a botched investigation by anti-doping authorities.
Sports Integrity Australia and the federal sports minister have refused to comment on independent test results that cleared the runner of using EPO.
Serious questions remain about the conduct and competence of the government agencies involved. Those questions must be answered.
Peter Bol’s legal team claims “inexperience and incompetence at the Australian Sports Drug Testing Laboratory led to an incorrect determination”.
The AFL’s three-strikes policy,with a suspension kicking in after the second strike,prioritises rehabilitation. Bailey Smith and Jack Ginnivan each received two-game bans for conduct unbecoming. Essentially,they were punished for being caught.
When the runner was drug tested 26 times in one year,he thought it was excessive,but it wasn’t until airport security took his phone and laptop that he connected the dots.
Athletics Australia’s president and chief executive have rejected calls by Peter Bol’s coach for CEO Peter Bromley to stand down pending an inquiry into the leaking of the Australian athlete’s provisional doping ban.
Australian runner Peter Bol’s provisional ban for testing positive to EPO has been lifted after a test of his B sample did not confirm the A sample result,prompting his lawyer to criticise Sport Integrity Australia and the sport’s governing body for the treatment of the champion runner.