Cyclist Lizzie escapes ban over missed drug tests
ONE of Britain’s top cyclists has missed three drug tests but will still compete in Rio after winning a last-minute court case, it emerged last night.
Lizzie Armitstead, 27, who won Great Britain’s first medal at the 2012 London Olympics with a silver in the women’s road race, was facing up to a four-year ban after being charged last month by UK Anti-Doping for three ‘whereabouts’ failures in a 12-month period.
Under World Anti-Doping Agency rules athletes must identify an exact location for one hour every day in case they are needed for testing.
She was suspended on July 11 and denied the chance to race in the final build-up to the Games. But she has successfully argued at the Court of Arbitration for Sport to have the first of the three failures wiped off her record, claiming an administrative error by her accusers.
That has enabled her to race in Rio on Sunday as one of the favourites for gold.
Miss Armitstead had committed her three failures on August 20 and October 5 last year and on June 9, this year. But a legal team managed to demonstrate that a testing official was at fault for the first test.
A statement from Miss Armitstead’s representatives said: ‘The ruling relates to a UKAD antidoping test which was asserted to have been attempted on August 20, 2015, whilst Armitstead was staying at the team hotel, during the UCI Women’s Road World Cup in Sweden.
‘CAS ruled that the UKAD Doping Control Officer had not followed required procedures nor made reasonable attempts to locate Armitstead. CAS also ruled that there was no negligence on Armitstead’s part.
‘Armitstead undertook in-competition testing the following day, as leader of the UCI Women Road World Cup. The independent panel of leading legal experts from CAS promptly and unanimously cleared her of the asserted missed test.’
Sportsmail understands the testing official did not explain to hotel staff why he wanted to know Miss Armitstead’s room number at around 6am. Having been refused the information, he then tried to contact her on a mobile phone that the cyclist had put on silent while she slept. A missed test was logged with UKAD.
In her statement Miss Armitstead said: ‘I have always been and will always be a clean athlete.’
The two other failures mean she remains in a precarious position until October. Athlete who misses three tests over 12 months can face up to a four-year ban. The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an international quasi-judicial body with courts in New York, Sydney and Lausanne