Cathal Lombard will lose his Irish 10,000-metre record and possibly all his track times recorded over the past two seasons as a result of his formal admission to a violation of Irish anti-doping rules. The Cork athlete, as expected, confirmed his intention not to require an analysis of the B-sample from his positive drugs test carried out in Switzerland last month.
In the process he also called for his Irish 10,000-metre record of 27 minutes 33.53 seconds, set in California on April 30th, to be annulled and returned to Mark Carroll "as soon as possible". Carroll ran 27:46.82 four years ago, finally improving the 20-year-old record of John Treacy (27:48.70).
But according to AAI spokesman Pierce O'Callaghan all of Lombard's times over the past two years will be reassessed. His 5,000-metre best of 13:19.22 is still the eighth fastest ever by an Irish athlete. "We will now be reviewing all the times he has recorded over the past two years," said O'Callaghan, "and will decide whether or not the whole lot should be annulled."
That process, added O'Callaghan, will involve the level of further information provided by Lombard on his use of erythropoietin (EPO). Any admittance of use from early last year on will almost certainly see all his times annulled.
In his formal statement presented to AAI, received by email shortly before 6 p.m. yesterday, Lombard announced his intention to "work as close as possible with the association in this regard" partly because he had felt misrepresented in some statements attributed to him.
While the AAI have imposed a provisional suspension with immediate effect, it is the Irish Sports Council that ultimately hands out the sanctions for doping violations across all sports. As a matter of course, though, Lombard is facing a two-year suspension.
On Monday the matter of an athlete admitting violation of the rules was addressed in a statement from the Sports Council: "Under Article 8.3.5 of the Rules, Cathal Lombard may forego a hearing by acknowledging a violation of these rules and accepting the sanction determined by the disciplinary panel . . . which would be a period of two years' ineligibility."
AAI vice-president Patsy McGonagle welcomed the contents of Lombard's statement, which he said removed any cloud of suspicion he had placed over Irish athletics.
It was confirmed yesterday the Government grant issued to Lombard through the Sports Council could not be rescinded. This year Lombard was awarded €11,500 under the carding scheme and a further €7,000 under the Athens Enhancement Programme. Delivered in quarterly instalments, Lombard had received all but the final instalment - which will now be withheld.
