“I have NEVER purchased, researched, possessed, administered or used synthetic EPO or any other prohibited substance in my life, and I never will. This is what the Australian athlete Peter Bol has been hammering for a month. Provisionally suspended for doping on January 10 after a positive test, the fourth of the Tokyo Olympics out of 800 m saw this suspension lifted on Tuesday.
A second analysis did not confirm that the Sudanese-born athlete had taken performance-enhancing drugs. A month after his ‘A’ sample tested positive for erythropoietin receptor (EPO) agonists, however, analysis of his ‘B’ sample returned an ‘atypical’ result for the banned substance, says Sport Integrity Australia in a statement.
The investigation is not over
The suspension of the 28-year-old Australian runner has been lifted, indicates the anti-doping authority, which however warned that its investigation was not finished, since the atypical result of this sample “B” is different from a negative test. The samples were taken last October, out of competition. “The investigation into this case is continuing. Sport Integrity Australia will examine, as part of its investigation, whether one or more anti-doping rule violations have been committed”, specifies the organization, without revealing “a timetable at this stage”.
Silver medalist at the Commonwealth Games last August, Peter Bol has therefore denied any wrongdoing since the opening of the investigation. “The past month has been nothing short of a nightmare,” he wrote on social media, adding that he wished his “A” sample results hadn’t been “ disclosed”. “To say it once again: I am innocent and I did not take this substance as I was accused of,” he insists.