Turnbull linked with positive test

Athletics NewsIrish athletics was last night bracing itself for a third major drugs controversy in as many years. It was reported that the Belfast middle-distance runner Gareth Turnbull had failed an initial doping test and procedures were underway to test the B sample.

Neither the Athletics Association of Ireland (AAI) nor the Irish Sports Council (ISC) would comment any further on the details of the test. The Sports Council, who administer the anti-doping programme, follow strict procedures with regard to "adverse analytical finding" from tests.

Turnbull is training in Florida but is reported to have been in contact with the AAI in relation to the test.

The 26-year-old was one of Ireland's most promising juniors, winning a silver medal over 1,500 metres at the World Student Games in 2001. But he has struggled in recent seasons and since making the World Championships in Paris in 2003 hasn't figured in any major races.

His 1,500-metre best of 3:36.60, clocked in 2003, is the ninth-fastest by an Irishman, but that sort of promise was never delivered on in the past three years.

It is understood the test was done "out of competition" in recent weeks; Turnbull hasn't been racing regularly in over a year.

The Sports Council's procedures began at the weekend with the notification of the athlete and the AAI. They were informed of the anti-doping rule allegedly violated, and Turnbull has 14 days from that date of notification to request analysis of the B sample.

The Sports Council then have 21 days to arrange for the testing of that B sample, with the athlete and the governing body entitled to oversee that testing. If the B sample proves negative the entire test is considered negative, though that has never occurred except where testing procedures were flawed.

There is still the possibly that the athlete involved has a "therapeutic use exemption" for the banned substance, and therefore had previous clearance to use it, usually as a cold or asthma medicine. There are also various substances not considered performance enhancing but still banned. Their use incurs only a warning and not a suspension.

If a doping violation is proven the Sports Council must also set up an anti-doping disciplinary panel to decide on penalties.

There have been two recent, high-profile cases involving Irish athletes. On March 3rd, 2003, the AAI announced an athlete had failed an initial test, and named the 1,500-metre runner Geraldine Hendricken. Her sample was proven to contain illegal levels of the steroid nandrolone, and while Hendricken was adamant the substance was ingested inadvertently through a food supplement, she was nonetheless handed a two-year suspension

On August 7th, 2004, it was announced another runner had failed an initial test, but before the AAI or the Sports Council had time to comment, Cathal Lombard openly admitted he was guilty, having injected himself with the endurance-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO).

Lombard waived his right to have the B sample tested, and is serving his two-year ban.

Still, the number of positive drugs tests across all Irish sports remains relatively low. In April, the Sports Council confirmed no Irish sportsperson tested positive for a banned substance in 2005, and the two positive tests on Irish soil - both for cannabis - involved non-nationals: Ulster rugby player Rowan Frost, a native of New Zealand, and squash player Stephane Galifi from France.