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LAST UPDATED ON Friday October 31 2003 |
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Drug test snares OlympianSept 06 2000Globe and Mail Update with Canadian Press By ALLAN MAKI, JILL MAHONEY and PATRICIA YOUNG Globe and Mail Update  Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto ‹ The spectre of drugs that has haunted the nation since the 1988
Ben Johnson scandal resurfaced yesterday when a Canadian hammer-throw champion tested
positive for a banned substance.
Robin Lyons, 23, was tested at the Canadian Olympic Track and Field Trials in Victoria last month and found to have traces of a performance-enhancing steroid in her system. The Edmonton hammer thrower's test result was made public yesterday. She was suspended from Canada's Olympic team. Ms. Lyons built her throwing career south of the border. She achieved All-American status two years ago at the University of Wyoming in the hammer throw. She went to high school in Ponoka, Alta., and was the female athlete of the year in 1995. She set a Canadian record in the hammer throw (67.40 metres) two months ago at a competition in Lethbridge, Alta. She also won her first Canadian title at the recent national track and field championships in Victoria. She is ranked 18th in the world. The doping test revealed that the 5-foot-8, 170-pound champion was "above the limits" for Norandrosterone, byproduct of one of three forms of the anabolic steroid Nandrolone. The result puts Ms. Lyons into a growing rogues gallery: Many high-profile Olympic athletes have tested positive for Nandrolone in the past 18 months. British 1992 Olympic champion sprinter Linford Christie, Jamaican 200-metre world champion runner Merlene Ottey and European 200-metre champion Doug Walker of Scotland, all tested positive for the drug. Ms. Lyons called her doping test "bogus" and said she was a "victim." She vehemently denies she should be banned from competition and says the substance occurs naturally in humans. Her lawyer was to file a protest against the decision to the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport by today and hopes to have a decision by the end of the week. 
"I'm not Ben Johnson, I'm not taking steroids," Ms. Lyons said, holding back tears.
"I think what they're doing is a bogus test, they don't have enough backup to support what they're saying. I'm the victim here, this isn't right and I'm getting my dream of the Olympics taken away from me for something I haven't done and don't do." But Christiane Ayotte, the head of the Montreal antidoping lab where Ms. Lyons's urine sample was tested, stood by the accuracy of the procedure. Her first urine sample was 1.2 nanograms per millilitre ‹ well within the legal limit of 5.0. But the second test, 25 minutes later, was 9 nanograms/ml. Dr. Ayotte says athletes try to dodge a positive outcome by superdiluting their urine, downing several bottles of beer or water before being tested. "This is one of the ways that athletes try to get around it," Dr. Ayotte said. Ms. Lyons, and Mauro Di Pasquale ‹ a medical doctor and a former power lifter ‹ contend there is no basis upon which to set a normal level of the substance. They also say the substance varies in women according to their menstrual cycles. "Unless we know a fair amount about a certain compound how can we set a level?" said Dr. Di Pasquale, who spoke at the news conference through a speaker phone from Austin. "There's really a fairly large grey area." But Dr. Ayotte says the normal limits of Norandrosterone are easily measured and set. Nandrolone, in its many forms, has become the performance-enhancing drug of choice for elite amateur athletes. Until 1997, the steroid was available only by injection as a prescription drug in the United States. But changes in U.S. drug-administration policy saw oral forms of the Nandrolone downgraded to a "food supplement." It is now legally available in Great Britain and the United States in oral drops, nasal spray and a cream, which male athletes spread on their penis (for fastest absorption). It is still illegal in Canada in all forms. "When Nandrolone was injectable it took two to three months to clear the system," Dr. Ayotte said. "Now an athlete can clear the drug in two to three days." By comparison, the steroid that felled Ben Johnson ‹ stanozolol ‹ is clumsy and so low-tech that few athletes would chance taking it. Of 100,000 international antidoping tests done last year, the highest number of positive results, 340, was for Nandrolone. "This is not some food supplement that they are sprinkling on their cereal," Dr. Ayotte said. Larry Steinke is a throws-development chair for Athletics Canada and the head coach of the University of Lethbridge track and field team. He was an official two months ago at a meet in Lethbridge where Ms. Lyons set her Canadian record and met the Olympic qualifying standard for Sydney. "She was in tears," Mr. Steinke said. "She threw three metres further than she ever had. She was ecstatic and emotional. Now she's experiencing the other side [of her emotions] because she won't be going. It's disappointing." Mr. Steinke was also disappointed that drug scandals and positive tests had once again besmirched track and field's throwing events. "There were a lot of tests were happening in the 1980s but throws had been out of that limelight for the last few years. As a developmental chair, my heart is broken. It's like we can't seem to get rid of the stigma attached to this event. It's unfortunate, too, because we have some people in throws who were threatening [as potential Olympic medalists]," he said. Doug Lamont, Director of the Alberta High Performance Track and Field Centre at the University of Calgary, said he was stunned when he learned of the positive test. "I'm disappointed to hear this. It is very frustrating," he said. "I guess the thing about Robin is that she hasn't competed here [in Canada] a lot." Her coach, Ian Maplethorpe, a veteran Canadian hammer thrower who placed second in men's event at the Canadian track and field championships last month, said he's convinced she didn't take steroids. "This has been as devastating for me as it has for Robin," he said. "I would not be involved with an athlete that does any kind of drugs." Ms. Lyons's goal at this Olympics was to make it to the finals, and then in four years to be on the podium. "I believe that Robin Lyons has the potential to become the best in the world," Mr. Maplethorpe said. Ms. Lyons got the news of her suspension on Aug. 29, the night before she was to leave for the Games in Sydney. She was supposed to compete in Sydney on Sept. 27, and still hopes that by going public she will be able to participate in the Games. "It feels like a death in the family, it feels like something that hard, it's just like something taken away from you," Ms. Lyons said. She also has a passion for golf. She was set to compete at the world long-drive championship after her efforts in Sydney. Ms. Lyons father, Mike Lyons, competed internationally in mini-putt golf tours. Check out the Jumpstart Athletics Canadian National Throws Rankings for complete rankings in the throws. If you have news, results or info please let us know by using our submission form or emailing Larry Steinke [ MEET INFORMATION ] [ ANALYSIS & TIPS ] [ THROWS ARTICLES ] [ INTERVIEWS ] [ RECORDS ] [ RESULTS ] [ CLASSIFIEDS ] [ HOT LINK ARCHIVE ] [ DISCUSSION FORUM ] [ SUBMISSIONS ] [ THROWERS QUIZ ] [ GUESTBOOK ] | ||