ATHLETICS: Last Monday lunchtime, Cathal Lombard laid out in some detail his final Olympic preparations. He was leaving his home in Cork for 15 days of quiet isolation in Tirrenia, just outside Pisa, Italy. After polishing off his training and focusing his mind, he'd head over to Athens the evening before his 10,000 metres final, set for Friday week, August 20th.

It now appears, however, as details emerged this weekend that Lombard had failed an out-of-competition test for the banned substance erythropoietin (EPO), that retreat prior to the Olympics perhaps had an added purpose.

If, as the indications suggest, Lombard accepts a two-year ban and explains his apparent EPO use, then Irish distance running will perhaps be forever tarnished.

Over the past two years Lombard's progress appeared to indicate that it was possible to achieve world-class times with the proper training and coaching, and yet, no less than Geraldine Hendricken's breakthrough over 1,500 metres in 2002, it now looks certain he was using illegal methods.

On this day last week Lombard seemed impassive and somewhat reserved about his pending departure to Tirrenia, the setting for the Italian Olympic training centre. In hindsight, he sounded a little disillusioned about his sport and, more specifically, his event, the now African-dominated 10,000 metres.

Three days previously Lombard had dropped out of the 5,000 metres at the London Grand Prix, just like he'd done over 3,000 metres in Gateshead at the end of June. It meant his only track race of the season was the 10,000 metres he ran in California at the end of April. It was there he clocked the astonishing Irish record of 27 minutes, 33.53 seconds. That remains the 14th fastest time in the world this year, and the fastest by a non-African.

Yet despite that setback Lombard seemed confident all would be well come Athens. "I just didn't feel right," he explained, "it was one of those nights."

He said the calm surroundings of Tirrenia would help get him refocused on Athens: "It's a beautiful setting, lots of pine forest trails, clear air, and most of all peace and quiet. So I can stay focused on what I need to do, and stay away from everything."

He had arranged for his massage therapist, Liam Reilly, to also spend some time with him in Italy, but other than that he wanted to be alone. His Cavan coach, Joe Doonan, would not be travelling, nor would he be heading to Athens.

Lombard then reflected more generally on his season, why he had raced so sparingly and the minor injuries he suffered during the three weeks of altitude training in St Moritz, where Doonan was in attendance. With a minor knee injury he cancelled plans to come home for the national championships in Santry at the end of last month.

"I did miss a couple a training sessions, but I was never at the point where I was fully injured, and couldn't run at all. The other problem was that I wasn't able to get the proper treatment that I needed. So I suppose things did go a little up and down at altitude. But it's always been a case of me easing off, getting fresh.

"I know I made big strides forward last year. But I need to be 100 per cent if I am to reproduce those kinds of performances."

Then, with more incisive comments, Lombard explained what he ultimately hoped to achieve this season. He announced that the 10,000 metres in Athens would almost certainly be his last ever race on the track, and that he had no intention of doubling up in the 5,000 metres, where he had also qualified. He said he had already lined up a pace-making job for an autumn marathon, and would move full-time up to the distance next year.

"Two days after the world championships in Paris I sat down with Joe and we targeted Athens. I mean, we mapped out the entire 12 months around the Olympic final, working backwards. The two main parts of the plan was to achieve the A-standard early in the season in Stanford, and then make the top 12 in the Olympics.

"I still feel that will be a remarkable feat. Paris was a great learning experience. And you know, the Olympics can be a strange stage. You look back over the years and you find a lot of the good results have come from nowhere, that athletes run well or win medals without having been flying on the Grand Prix circuit or wherever.

"But it's more of a personal thing now. I've invested every penny I have into this, and I know I'll come away with nothing. Between everything it's easily been €25,000. But I haven't compromised on anything. I certainly wasn't on a budget."

Leaving his job as a solicitor at Arthur Cox in Dublin last year was a risk the 28-year-old was prepared to take. But he'd come far enough now to leave no stone unturned. He'd received an €11,500 grant from the Sports Council and got another €7,000 under the Athens Enhancement Programme. If anything, though, he was getting more frustrated.

"I was a little disappointed that there was no Irish company out there willing to sponsor me, say €10,000. But I'm going to be stony broke after this, so I'll have to try and earn some money. The plan is to go straight into the marathon. I'm very, very confident that the marathon will be my strongest distance. But this 10,000 metres will make or break my year, I know that for certain."

Yet right now it seems his desire to be the best is what ultimately broke him.