Irish cyclist banned for using stimulant

Following a recent hearing conducted by the Federation of Irish Cyclists, Ireland's European Master's champion Theresa Quinlan was found guilty of using a banned substance and has been banned for three months. The Dublin-based rider was found guilty of using the banned substance caffeine, which is defined as a light stimulant. The ban will take effect from May 11th.

As a result of the finding Quinlan has been retrospectively disqualified from the competition, which took place in Italy in August of last year. She will also have to hand back her gold medal. Quinlan becomes the first Irish athlete ever to have to hand back a championship medal because of a positive finding.

It is not yet known if the cyclist is going to appeal. If she does she may proceed in the civil courts or she has a month to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, to which Michelle de Bruin appealed her ban from swimming.

Yesterday Quinlan released a press statement through her solicitors Whitney, Moore and Kelleher.

"The rider is disappointed at the finding of the ICF's tribunal and an appeal of that decision to CAS in Lausanne is now being considered.

"The rider maintains that there have been fundamental breaches of the UCI regulations (the Union Cycliste Internationale is the sport's governing body) in her case since the closure of the laboratory in Rome that carried out the analysis. It is reported that the laboratory has been closed by court order due to alleged irregularities, with many of its staff having been dismissed. The laboratory lost its IOC accreditation before it could conduct the counter analysis requested by the rider.

"The rider has been thus denied the opportunity of a counter analysis in accordance with UCI regulations which require that such counter analysis be carried out in the laboratory that concluded the first analysis and she has at all times questioned the validity of the test and the identity of the sample tested."

The ban comes after a legal battle between the cyclist and the UCI. Quinlan sought an injunction to prevent the testing of the B sample of her urine in a laboratory in Cologne after the A sample was tested in the now-discredited Italian laboratory, Dederazione Medica Sportiva Italiana.

The Italian laboratory, which was accredited as an official testing facility for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was suspended by court order last October from carrying out urine analysis. It was revealed that some Italian officials systematically and deliberately concealed positive findings, many of which related to top Italian soccer stars.

Quinlan's contention was that in accordance with international federation regulations, both urine samples should have been tested in the same laboratory and on that basis she sought an injunction, but was unsuccessful. The governing body claimed that the regulation had been superceded by events surrounding the suspension of the Rome facility and they simply followed International Olympic Committee regulations by sending the B sample to Cologne. Quinlan did not attend the test on the B sample.

Originally, adverse findings in the A sample pertained to a testosterone-epitestosterone ratio as well as caffeine, but because of the time delay in testing the B sample bacterial action in the urine ruled out the ratio test.

Co-incidentally one of the scientists at the centre of the dispute is Dr Jordi Segura. Segura runs the laboratory in Barcelona which tested Michelle de Bruin's urine sample and he testified at her recent hearing. He was also the officer for transfer for Quinlan's sample after the Italian laboratory was closed.

The hearing in Dublin was conducted by the Federation of Irish Cyclists under instruction from the international federation. The Irish body decided on the ban.