Hair loss drug tarnishes swim team
A FORMER member of an Australian national swimming squad has added to the sport's woes this week after it was revealed he tested positive for a banned diuretic.
Swimming Australia chief executive Glenn Tasker said yesterday the use was inadvertent but in a week where swimming has come under scrutiny because of a claim by dual Olympian Elka Graham she was offered banned performance-enhancing drugs, Tasker conceded the revelation could harm the sport.
"I agree it doesn't look good but I can show you volumes and volumes of tests that our athletes have been through all over the world, and to get one (positive) for this substance, which was used for therapeutic reasons, is something you just have to live with," Tasker said.
The swimmer, who legally cannot be named because the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority is yet to hold a hearing into the matter, is believed to have made national finals and was in age national squads but has never been a member of an Australian team.
The swimmer has not competed for 12 months and was training intermittently when he tested positive for finasteride in an out-of-competition test in February this year.
Finasteride is the same substance to which former Socceroos player Stan Lazaridis tested positive, resulting in a one-year ban. He had used the drug to treat hair loss.
The substance has recently been downgraded by the World Anti-Doping Agency, meaning any future positive tests will result in a warning rather than a ban.
The unnamed swimmer had also apparently been using the drug for hair loss. In previous years he had sought an exemption on therapeutic grounds but neglected to do so this year.
"This is one of those cases that you would describe as inadvertent," Tasker said. "The athlete has asked for a hearing, that has to take place and given the volume of work ASADA has I am not sure when that will happen."
Athletes' names cannot be disclosed by ASADA until at least 20 days after their hearing.
ASADA's 2006-2007 annual report, made public this week, revealed that 24 Australian sports men and women had recorded doping violations.
Tasker has had a trying week since Graham wrote in a Sunday newspaper column that she had been offered drugs by a former elite swimmer while in training for the 2004 Athens Olympics.
She has since refused to co-operate with either Swimming Australia or ASADA and reveal the person's name.
Tasker said the disclosure of the positive test for finasteride was unfortunate timing after Graham's revelations but he was not shying away from it.
"It is a positive, ASADA did it, and their annual report is out this week. It is all timing, it is all fate, you can't change it," Tasker said.
"I am not sure our reputation has been tarnished but I don't think these things help anybody.
"No-one could have predicted what was written in Sunday's paper, but had it not been written then maybe this particular test would have been a blip on everyone's radar.
"So it has been magnified.
"We're not going to hide about this. We think we're clean and we'll defend our athletes. At the moment it is a bit disappointing that one of our own really just doesn't get it."
The sport with the worst record is weightlifting, where nine athletes are alleged to have committed doping violations.
In one case, which is yet to be completed, the weightlifter is accused of possession and trafficking of human growth hormone and steroids.
There was one violation in athletics, where a runner who has competed only on the professional circuit tested positive for an anabolic agent (steroids).
It is believed the athlete, who has not been named, tested positive at the Daylesford Gift in central Victoria on December 9 last year.
The runner is not registered with Athletics Australia or any of its state-based affiliates and has not competed since the positive test. It is believed the test was a result of a tip-off to ASADA's anti-doping hotline. Testers targeted pro-running events in Tasmania and Victoria late last year.
The accused runner is challenging ASADA's jurisdiction over the competition, run by the Victorian Athletics League, which organises professional events such as the annual Stawell Gift.
ASADA said it could not comment on the case because of pending legal action.
Seven rugby league players tested positive, mainly from NSW and Queensland state-based competitions, and four were for cannabis. NRL player Craig Trindall, a Penrith reserve grader, received a 12-match suspended sentence for cannabis.