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Sports / Other Sports
Doping authorities clear Thorpe
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-31 15:06
SYDNEY - Australian doping authorities have cleared retired swimmer Ian
Thorpe of any wrongdoing after completing their investigation into an
irregular test result.
Five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe of Australia arrives for a news
conference in Melbourne April 1, 2007. Australian doping authorities have
cleared Thorpe of any wrongdoing after completing an investigation into
an irregular test result, local media reported on Friday. [AP]?
Thorpe was investigated by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority
(ASADA) after a random drug test taken before his retirement last year
showed unusually high levels of naturally-occurring hormones.
ASADA chairman Richard Ings told a news conference in Melbourne on Friday
that the investigations confirmed Thorpe had not committed an offence.
"The evidence available does not indicate the use of performance
enhancing substances by Mr Thorpe and that he has no case to answer,"
Ings said.
"ASADA considers the matter closed."
Ings said ASADA had reached their conclusion after seeking expert medical
and scientific opinion from the Australian Sports Drug Medical Advisory
Committee (ASDMAC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited
laboratories in Australia and Canada and the ANZAC Research Institute in
Sydney.
"Experts from these internationally respected organisations were
unanimous in their opinion that the evidence available does not indicate
the use of performance enhancing substances by the athlete," Ings said.
"While the matter has taken some time to resolve, ASADA was absolutely
determined to ensure that the results of our examination would leave no
room for doubt."
The investigation was launched after a random sample taken from Thorpe in
May 2006, shortly after he had undergone surgery to repair a broken hand,
showed slightly elevated levels of testosterone and leutenising hormone.
Both substances are naturally occurring and ASADA said it was common for
athletes to show slightly elevated levels without any suggestion of an
offence.
LEAKED RESULTS
The swimmer's case became public knowledge in March this year when the
leaked test results were published by a French newspaper.
Thorpe, who was tested hundreds of times over a career spanning more than
a decade but never failed a test, always maintained his innocence and
agreed to co-operate with the investigation.
He said he expected to be cleared of any wrongdoing but claimed the
publicity surrounding the case had tarnished his reputation and he
planned to take legal action once the case was closed.
"We were pleased that ASADA consulted independent experts from
internationally respected organisations and they were unanimous in their
opinion that there was no evidence of the use of performance enhancing
substances," Thorpe's manager Dave Flaskas said in a statement on Friday.
"We always believed this would be the outcome and Ian's reputation as a
fair competitor would be affirmed."
Thorpe was on an overseas holiday and unavailable for comment when the
results of ASADA's investigation were released on Friday.
Thorpe's outspoken condemnation of doping in sport had sometimes landed
him in hot water and he was once reprimanded by swimming's world
governing body when he suggested it was unlikely the sport was completely
clean.
He burst on to the world stage as a 15-year-old at the 1998 world
championships and went on to become one of the sport's greatest
competitors.
He won three gold medals as a 17-year-old at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and
the 200 and 400 metres freestyle double at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He
still holds the world record for 400 metres freestyle.
Thorpe took a year off training after the Olympics to recharge his
batteries but never competed at international level again before
announcing in November 2006 that he was retiring because he had lost
motivation and wanted to do something else with his life.
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World record holder and Olympic gold medallist Ian Thorpe (C) instructs a
young Chinese swimmer during visit to the Mu Xiyuan Sports School in
Beijing September 24, 2002. Thorpe is on his first vi
===========================================================================
Australia's Ian Thorpe, draped in an Australian flag, wears the six gold
and one silver medal he won at the 17th Commonwealth Games in Manchester
August 5, 2002. [Reuters]
===========================================================================
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