Butchart fined £5,000 for breaching Covid test rules

ANDY BUTCHART has been slapped with a £5,000 fine and the threat of a 12-month suspension from athletics despite being cleared to compete for the UK in the

5,000 metres at the Tokyo Olympics.

UK Athletics has now concluded a case following claims, made on a running podcast, that the 29-year-old had altered a Covid test in order to fly from Los Angeles to the UK.

Its investigation found the Scot did gamble on boarding the plane without paperwork and ‘had simply hoped that he would receive a negative result by the time he landed.’

But although it accepted Butchart’s insistence that he did not falsify a result, it did rule that comments describing global travel protocols as a ‘ball ache’ were ‘downright offensive’.

It was enough for an independent panel to find Butchart guilty of bringing the sport into disrepute with a relatively high financial punishment — but draw back from the nuclear option of barring him from the Games.

His ban has been suspended for 24 months while the Rio 2016 Olympic finalist, who lowered his Scottish 3,000m record in Gateshead last Tuesday, was warned over his future conduct and must provide a public apology ‘within seven days’.

The British Olympic Association is believed to be retaining him on the Tokyo entry list now that the due process has been completed.

‘There could be no doubt the wording he used (including expletives) could do nothing for the reputation of UK Athletics, the sport generally and indeed the high standards that would be expected from a UK elite athlete selected to represent his country at the Tokyo Olympics,’ the panel said.

‘Indeed, had the timing of the offences been otherwise, the committee might have suspended him with immediate effect but decided that to stop him running in Tokyo at the age of 29, when it was likely to be his last opportunity, was disproportionate.’