‘I have nothing to answer for’: Bol challenges anti-doping authority after Paris heat
Peter Bol has challenged the World Anti-Doping Agency to stop playing “political games” and answer questions about the handling of his doping case, declaring he has nothing to hide.
Bol broke his silence on a recent Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing after running the heats of the 800m in Paris, finishing seventh in one minute, 47.50 seconds. He will get another chance to make the semi-final through a repechage on Thursday.
The anti-doping body was accused of “disgracefully smearing” the Australian champion amid the airing of previously secret evidence uncovered on his phone at a CAS hearing revealed by this masthead in May.
“If I wasn’t able to race they would have banned me a while ago and I’m still here and I’ve got nothing to really answer for. I think you guys should be asking them the questions. And they should be answering for those comments,” Bol said on Wednesday.
“I just let them do what they wanted to do basically and just try to stay focused on my game and things that I can’t control I can’t really focus on. The fact is I’m out here running and I’m grateful for that.”
In the CAS hearing, Bol’s lawyer Paul Greene used his case as evidence in defending another athlete accused of EPO doping.
Peter Bol was seventh in his heat on Wednesday.Credit: Getty Images
Bol had previously been provisionally banned for doping, but the ban was lifted when a second test of his sample was inconclusive.
The tribunal heard how anti-doping officials from Australia, who seized Bol’s phone and computer during the investigation into a positive drug test, had found a screenshot on his phone with information from a former distributor of performance-enhancing drugs, Victor Conte, about how to micro-dose EPO and how to evade drug testers.
In the same hearing, WADA’s scientists claimed Bol’s first sample was a clear positive for EPO and said the second test was inconclusive because there had been degradation of the sample during the month-long lag between tests.
“I’m actually uncertain when they pulled that out [screenshot from] and where they pulled it from, but I mean I read every article out there and there’s probably a billion articles. I read a lot on crime, and they decided to pull out just the one that suited them. Which is again playing that political game,” Bol said.
He added: “I just let them do what they want to do basically, and I just try to stay focused on my game and things that I can’t control I can’t really focus on. The fact is I’m out here running, and I’m grateful for that.”
Bol’s supporters say WADA can’t accept it was wrong about the initial positive test and was trying to save face after its bungled investigation. Greene praised the domestic anti-doping agency for dropping the case against Bol last year after retesting his original positive drug test, his A sample, and not finding it positive for the presence of EPO.
Three years ago in Tokyo Bol ran a stunning 800m to finish fourth in the final.
To even be on the start line for the 800m heats here in Paris is remarkable given his ordeal since.
Bol clearly had the repecharge in mind in the final 100m of his heat when he geared quickly down to save his legs once he realised he was outside the top three, who automatically qualify for the semis.
“It’s been a pretty rough season obviously, so being out here is just pretty special still,” he said.
“At the start of the year when they said we had this repechage thing I was like ‘damn, I wouldn’t want to be there’ and now we’re here tomorrow so I guess you’ve gotta save the legs for tomorrow and get back there again and give it another go which is actually pretty special because if it was a normal Olympics you wouldn’t be running the next day. So it’s pretty cool to have that repechage round.
“To be here again, this is my third Olympics, it’s pretty cool to be able to be that consistent, represent Australia three times over the Olympics in doing the sport for about 12-13 years now. So it’s pretty cool.”
Friend and former training partner Joe Deng will also need the repechage after he ran sixth in 1:45.87.
Deng recently moved to South Africa to live and train and was surprised, and pleased, to learn he had qualified for Australia for the Olympics with a time he ran last June.
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