{"id":325424,"date":"2023-08-23T00:40:41","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T00:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=325424"},"modified":"2023-08-23T03:01:52","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T03:01:52","slug":"bol-crash-after-disaster-resurfaces-in-press-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=325424","title":{"rendered":"Bol crash after 'disaster' resurfaces in press conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peter Bol<\/a> had an awful run in his first appearance in Australian colours since it was revealed he returned a false positive drug test, crashing out in the heats of the men's 800 metres at the world athletics championships in Budapest<\/a> on Wednesday morning (AEST).<\/p>\n

But\ufeff just before Bol raced, damning comments made by the bosses of the Athletics Integrity Unit \u2014 the independent body that manages all dangers to the integrity of the sport \u2014 brought more exposure to the shambolic saga that hijacked the middle-distance runner's career and preparation for the world championships.<\/p>\n

While Sport Integrity Australia lifted Bol's provisional EPO suspension in February<\/a>, a dark cloud hung over the head of the Tokyo Olympics finalist for five-and-a-half months. He wasn't exonerated until August 1<\/a>, by which point he had struggled through seven races in Europe as a burdened young man.<\/p>\n

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He took to the world championships exhausted, so much so that he didn't have the energy to be interviewed ahead of the Budapest major, even purely about running.\ufeff<\/p>\n

While Wide World of Sports interviewed Bol in the hours after his comeback race<\/a>, in the French city of Nancy in\ufeff June, interview requests made during the lead-up to the world championships were denied because the saga had exhausted him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\ufeffThe Athletics Integrity Unit's chairman and chief executive, David Howman and Brett Clothier, held a wide-ranging press conference about an hour before Bol's race, which saw the 29-year-old battle home in fifth place in the sluggish time of 1:46.75.<\/p>\n

"The worst thing that could happen is what happened in that case," Howman said.<\/p>\n

"What we must do is to ensure that the process can be reviewed and re-conducted in a way that doesn't end up in such a disaster. It's not fair on the athlete. We accept that.<\/p>\n

"From our perspective, we have encouraged the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to conduct a review of the EPO testing. It's their responsibility.<\/p>\n

"We didn't partake in that test itself. It was conducted, as you know, by Sport Integrity Australia.<\/p>\n

"What we have to do is ensure that WADA does its work in reviewing the whole process as they said they would, and I think the (sport) minister in Australia (Anika Wells) has asked them to do that. We are waiting on that review, we will partake in it if we're asked."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/fast8trackclub\/status\/1694076776723488930<\/a><\/p>\n

In January, Sport Integrity Australia provisionally suspended Bol<\/a> after it was deemed a urine sample from October last year had\ufeff signs of synthetic EPO.<\/p>\n

And although Bol's provisional suspension was lifted in February, Sport Integrity Australia continued its investigation into him because his B sample had produced an atypical finding, which means neither positive nor negative.<\/p>\n

As it's turned out, both his A sample and B sample should have been deemed negative.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"When a B sample doesn't match an A there has to be a review of the individual case \u2014 there just has to be," Howman added in the press conference.<\/p>\n

"And there needs to be an answer given which is satisfactory to the athlete who has gone through a process which has damaged his or her reputation.<\/p>\n

"We do feel the distress that the athlete felt."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In an earlier men's 800-metre heat, Australian record-holder Joseph Deng<\/a> advanced to the semi-finals by finishing \ufeffthird in the time of 1:45.48.<\/p>\n

"I felt quite good coming into this championships. It's my debut, I've never run at a world championships before and it was awesome," Deng said.<\/p>\n

"Since 2018, it was pretty rough. I lost interest in the sport for a while since I had been doing it since 2012, or earlier than that. I needed that time off, but it has been really good since then.<\/p>\n

"I believe anything is possible at the moment. Top two is the main goal (in his semi-final), so I can see what I can do in the final."<\/p>\n

Day four of the world championships also saw Australia's Jessica Hull finish seventh in the women's 1500-metre final.<\/p>\n

The Tokyo Olympics finalist registered a 3:59.54 in a scorching race won by Kenyan legend Faith Kipyegon, who \ufeffstopped the clock at 3:54.87.<\/p>\n

Australia's Brandon Starc<\/a> finished equal eighth in the men's high jump final, having cleared 2.25 metres.<\/p>\n

Australia's dancing hurdler, Michelle Jenneke<\/a>\ufeff, breezed through to the semi-finals of the women's 100-metre hurdles, finishing third in her heat in the swift time of 12.71 (+0.4).<\/p>\n

Australia's Celeste Mucci\ufeff also progressed to the semi-finals of the women's 100 metres, bolting to fourth in her heat in 12.90 (0.0).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peter Bol had an awful run in his first appearance in Australian colours since it was revealed he returned a false positive drug test, crashing […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":325426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325424"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=325424"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325429,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325424\/revisions\/325429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/325426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=325424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=325424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=325424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}