Turnbull fails an initial test

Athletics Drugs caseIrish athletics is facing its third drugs controversy in almost as many years. The news that Gareth Turnbull has failed an initial doping test after revealing higher than normal levels of testosterone is the last thing the sport needed, especially with all the ongoing improvement at coaching and administrative level.

The worst thing though about positive doping tests is they all conjure the same notion: drugs use means cheating, therefore the sport must be dirty. In reality, most positive doping tests are anything but the same. There are hundreds of prohibited substances on the banned list laid down by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), and some substances are far more performance-enhancing than the others - ranging from very beneficial (EPO), to less beneficial (stimulants), to borderline (cannabis).

In all cases, however, it's the amount of usage that provides the real giveaway. Turnbull's positive test suggests something in the borderline region.

Testosterone, as every secondary student knows, is the naturally occurring male sex hormone. Its anabolic properties help build muscles, and when those athletes looking for an illegal edge add testosterone to training regimes they can work harder and recover more quickly.

Turnbull has a reputation in Irish circles for his particularly hard training. More than once he he has admitted to "over-training", when he broke down and needed several months' rest. He earned the nickname "The Bull" for obvious reasons but that suited his style and tolerance for hard work. He was an outstanding junior, winning a series of schools titles in track and cross country for St Malachy's Belfast, and quickly proved his potential on the international scene when winning the bronze medal over 1,500 metres at the European Junior championships in 1997, running 3:48.16.

He claimed bronze in the European Junior cross country a year later, and after attending Loughborough College, England - enduring his first period of over-training - he re-emerged in 2001 to win silver at the World Student Games.

He has a reputation as one of more likeable and down-to-earth Irish athletes, and one who would get very down after a poor performance. Injury problems stalled his progress but 2003 proved a breakthrough year when he ran 3:36.60, the ninth fastest run by an Irishman. He famously beat James Nolan at the national 1,500 metres in Santry to book his place at his first World championships in Paris. When asked what it felt like to be drawn in the same heat as defending champion Hicham El Guerrouj he replied: "I still hold an unbeaten record against El Guerrouj. It's just I haven't raced him yet."

He endured further injury problems over the last two years. He based himself for several months in Providence, Rhode Island, where he trained with Irish 5,000 metres record-holder Mark Carroll. "Impossible," said Carroll yesterday. "That just makes absolutely no sense. There are always some guys you'll have doubts about, but I can tell you Gareth would be the last athlete I'd put on that list."

Donal O'Sullivan, another Irish athlete, who was based in Providence with Turnbull said: "Gareth never came across as the sort of obsessive athlete who would use drugs. Quite the opposite. He's the last athlete I would have suspected."