Australian middle-distance champion Peter Bol has been exonerated.
The two-time Olympian was informed by Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) that he had received a false positive.
He was also told that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) would review the EPO (erythropoietin) testing process.
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EPO is a performance-enhancing drug that boosts the production of red blood cells.
“Good morning, Australia,” Bol wrote on social media on Tuesday morning.
“I have been exonerated. It was a false positive like I have said all along! The news from Sport Integrity Australia today was a dream come true.
“I am glad that WADA has agreed to review the EPO testing process to prevent future false positives. No one should ever experience what I’ve gone through this year.
“My focus now is the world athletics championships coming up in Hungary. I am in good form and feeling well.
“I appreciate all the support I have received.”
On January 20, Bol was provisionally suspended after he was deemed to have returned a positive A sample for EPO, the result of an out-of-competition urine test taken on October 11, 2022.
But on February 14, he was cleared to resume racing, and training under Fast 8 Track Club coach Justin Rinaldi, after his B sample did not match the A sample. It was said that his B sample had produced an atypical finding, which means neither positive nor negative.
Despite being cleared to return, SIA released a statement saying Bol was still being investigated, which Athletics Australia supported in its own statement.
As it’s turned out, five-and-a-half months passed between SIA announcing he was still being investigated and the governing body clearing him of wrongdoing.
SIA has copped ferocious criticism over its handling of the matter.
“This whole thing that Sport Integrity Australia released a statement essentially still trying to cast a cloud over him — it’s a disgrace in my opinion,” said Bol’s lawyer Paul Greene on Nine’s Today in February.
Greene, a world-renowned lawyer based in the US, again slammed SIA on Today in March.
He said the reading settled on by the Australian Sports Drug Test Laboratory (ASDTL), which conducts testing on behalf of SIA, was “a blunder of epic proportions”.
Today co-host Karl Stefanovic has also been scathing of SIA.
“I can’t fathom how I would feel about … a government-funded organisation called ‘Sport Integrity’ absolutely and completely and utterly discrediting someone who has done nothing wrong,” Stefanovic said in March.
“I mean, there needs to be a senate inquiry.”
But in a statement provided to Wide World of Sports on Tuesday, SIA defended itself.
“WADA has acknowledged that at all times Sport Integrity Australia adhered to the (World Anti-Doping) Code in relation to its management of the matter,” the governing body said in the statement.
“Athletics Australia, too, has adhered to the required process throughout this matter.
“Athletes in Australia should have confidence in the anti-doping system that has allowed Sport Integrity Australia to conduct a thorough investigation.
“A review and strengthening of the EPO review process by WADA is an indication of good governance structures in place.
“Sport Integrity Australia will now await outcomes of the WADA review of the EPO review process.”
In its own statement released on Tuesday, WADA said it was “satisfied” that SIA had “followed all applicable processes in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code”.
“While we have no reason to question the validity of the analytical method used for recombinant EPO, WADA will assess the current review process in light of the particularities of this case,” the WADA statement added.
Athletics Australia called for action in a statement released on Tuesday.
“While this comes as good news for the Australian athletics community, the matter has exposed several serious questions about how EPO is analysed by WADA-accredited labs,” Athletics Australia said in the statement.
“Above all, Athletics Australia would like to express its full support of Peter and also its dismay that an innocent athlete has had his integrity put into question. Athletics Australia remains focussed on Peter’s wellbeing as well as Australia’s other elite track and field athletes aiming for the Budapest world athletics championships this month.
“Peter Bol and every other high-performance athlete deserves clear and transparent answers to ensure this doesn’t happen again. We encourage Sport Integrity Australia and WADA to provide those answers.”
There are other questions that remain unanswered, including why Bol’s A sample was leaked and who leaked it.
Bol was a contender for the Young Australian of the Year award, but the leaking of his A sample less than a week before the Australian of the Year awards ceremony ruined any hope of him winning the honour.
Bol bombshell as fresh lab findings revealed
A major moment in the saga regarding Bol occurred on March 29, when the athlete’s lawyer dropped a bombshell on the back of findings produced by two independent laboratories.
The two independent tests — one was carried out by a doctor at the University of British Columbia and the other by four experts in Norway — indicated that Bol’s A sample and B sample should both have been deemed negative, meaning no ban, ongoing investigation, mental anguish nor tainting of his reputation.
In the wake of that bombshell, Bol’s lawyer delivered SIA a letter declaring its investigation must “publicly end”.
He also said the independent tests showed “an incorrect determination” by the ASDTL was caused by “inexperience and incompetence”.
Although Bol was free to compete from February 14, he chose not to race over the remainder of the Australian domestic season, which meant not contesting the national championships held in Brisbane across March and April.
Speaking to Wide World of Sports in March, Bol’s manager James Templeton explained the importance of the 800-metre runner taking his time on the road back.
“Let’s acknowledge that Pete’s had two months of anguish,” Templeton said.
“So, don’t be in a hurry. Sometimes after big events you think, ‘Oh, it’s fine, I’m over it, I’m ready or whatever’.
“Why rush? What for? We have an exemption from competing in the nationals. He needs to get a qualifying time for the world championships and we’ll attempt to do that in Europe. He is very much motivated for Budapest.”
Seebohm: Last month ‘hell’ for Bol
Bol made his comeback at a low-key meet in Nancy, France on June 18, clocking 1:45.81 and finishing fourth in his first race since securing silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“It was calm and peaceful to be back on the track,” Bol told Wide World of Sports shortly after the race.
“It was nice. I missed it.”
The 29-year-old posted a 1:44.29 and a 1:44.48 in July, meeting the world championship and Paris 2024 entry standards.
At a meet in Lyon, France on July 8, Joseph Deng unleashed a 1:43.99 to break Bol’s national 800-metre record, leading to a beautiful moment between the training buddies and great mates.
Bol and Deng are set to be selected to race over 800 metres at Budapest’s world championships, beginning on August 19.
Bol is preparing for the world championships at a training camp in Andorra.
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