Hendricken will not appeal suspension

ATHLETICS/News: Geraldine Hendricken will not be appealing the two-year suspension confirmed yesterday by Athletics Ireland (AAI) for a failed doping test in February of this year.

Instead the Carlow athlete will focus on resuming her career when the suspension ends in March 2005, confident she can regain the form which saw her become one of the world's top 1,500 metre runners last year.

A brief statement from the AAI had confirmed what was expected, and that the out-of-competition doping test conducted on Hendricken on February 10th, which revealed metabolites of the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone, had led to a two-year suspension. It runs first to the AAI congress next April 24th, at which point the AAI will bring a motion to confirm the suspension up to March 6th, 2005.

Though there is room for an appeal, such as to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Hendricken has decided that an attempt to re-launch her career would be time and money better spent.

"Considering the stance taken by the AAI, who clearly wanted to impose the two-year ban, I won't be considering an appeal," she said.

"To be honest I'd prefer to spend the money on a lot of other things. And especially on the training over the next year and a half, so I can get straight back into competition when the suspension is up. I feel that would money better spent than on any legal appeal.

"And I just want to get on with it, and look forward to the next stage of my athletics career. And I'm definitely planning a comeback. I am going to come back from this. The 2005 season is really not that far away and I might as well spend whatever money I have trying to get ready for that. That's my view anyway."

An independent disciplinary committee, chaired by a senior council, met on September 4th for an oral hearing on the case and decided to recommend the two-year suspension. Having considered the report and heard the evidence, they concluded that a doping offence had occurred within the rules.

It did emerge during the proceedings, however, that Hendricken had ingested dietary supplements as part of her training regime, but which were not labelled as containing a banned substance, and which she did not know to be contaminated. The AAI had commissioned the German Sports Institute in Cologne to conduct an analysis of the supplements, which revealed traces of an anabolic androgenic steroid, which could lead to a positive test for norandrosterone, a metabolite of nandrolone.

Hendricken remains satisfied that the contaminated supplements are the sole explanation behind her positive test. "That is very reassuring for me. And the fact is it wasn't an anabolic agent, but is listed on the banned list simply because it is related to steroid. But it's actually not a steroid, and there is no evidence, scientific or otherwise, to state that it has any performance-enhancing effect on the body at all. Unfortunately that wasn't considered as evidence.

"But the strict liability rule was the main issue. And that's what they went on. Still, I didn't think Athletics Ireland were very supportive at all. They didn't seem very neutral to me. Most other countries, and not just the Americans but even the British federation, would at least try to support their athletes."

According to AAI secretary Georgina Drumm, who had been handling the case, "all athletes must be aware that they are responsible for any banned substances found in their bodies, and must exercise great caution before taking any dietary supplement."

Hendricken, however, felt that certain other factors had come against her during the hearing of her case. "The fact that I was actually well-educated came against me, so I should have known better. The fact is that I had attended a doping seminar, so again I should have known better. And that I'd been an experienced and successful international athlete.

"But that led me to the conclusion that if I'd been a stupid college drop-out, who didn't bother with any of these seminars, I might have had a better chance. And that was a little disappointing. But I am already focused on making a comeback. I don't want to end my career like this."

Now aged 33, Hendricken will be approaching her 35th birthday by the time her suspension runs out - an age when most middle distance runners are in decline. Yet she is confident she can regain the sort of form that saw her improve her 1,500 metre best to three minutes 2.08 seconds, the 14th fastest time in the world last season, and the second fastest by an Irish woman behind Sonia O'Sullivan's record of 3.58.85.

"Unfortunately I had a stress fracture during the summer, which was slow to heal. But that's fine now, so I'm just working away slowly at it. And I don't believe the body declines that much until your late 30s."

In the meantime, she has started a new career, leaving her teaching appointment in Carlow to start a position as the Irish agent for the Scottish-based company Elite Sports Analysis, an international company that provides the software for any sports that need technical feedback, including athletics, golf and GAA.

"I'm excited by that," she added.

"Again I'm trying to put the last few months behind me now, and start looking forward again."