British hurdler, Callum Priestley, suspended after failed drug test
British hurdler Callum Priestley was disciplined today for testing positive for a prohibited substance called Clenbuteral.
“This case should act as a warning to all athletes that there is no hiding place from their responsibilities, no matter where they are, or whether they are competing,” said UK anti-doping chief executive Andy Parkinson.
Priestly failed an out-of-competition drugs test in South Africa in February, and will now face a suspension that will last until February 2012. He will not be allowed to participate in the 2012 games in London or any other future Olympics owing to British Olympic Association policy.
Priestley, a 110m hurdler, took the bronze medal at the 2009 European Athletics U23 Championships, and had been included in the Olympic development programme before the failed drug test.
“Callum is just stepping on to the pathway to be an athlete and he had showed immense potential,” said his coach Lloyd Cowan when the drug test results were released earlier this year. “People say ‘you must know everything’ but you can't know everything with 15 athletes. It's a shock. It's hard and, from a coach's point of view, it is stressful.”
Initially Priestley claimed that the drug must have been in contaminated supplements that he had taken on the advice of a nutritionist, but testing revealed no trace of the supplements he claimed to have taken. He still has the right to appeal the ban.
Clenbuteral is a drug used by sufferers of breathing disorders, but has also been linked to weight loss. While there is no clinical evidence that Clenbuteral is a successful weight loss drug it is nonetheless publicized as one.
Other cases involving Clenbuteral include Adam Seroczynski of Poland, who was disqualified in the 2008 Olympics after finishing fourth in the K-2 1000m event, and cyclist Li Fuyu of China is awaiting discipline after testing positive at a race in Belgium in March.
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