Thorpe provides evidence in doping case
Thursday, 16 August 2007 10:46Five-time Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe has provided Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) with evidence this week in a bid to clear his name after an alleged doping offence in 2006.
The 24-year-old hopes the evidence and medical records will explain the abnormal levels of testosterone and epitestosterone found in a urine sample given in May last year.
Thorpe, who retired from competitive swimming last November, returned to the headlines during the World Championships in Melbourne in March when a French newspaper leaked details of the positive urine test.
The test showed traces of banned substances but when ASADA did not press ahead with the case, reportedly because it believed the substances to be naturally occurring, the sport's governing body FINA appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to reopen the matter.
'ASADA can confirm it received the full and final submissions from Ian Thorpe into the matter of his unusual testosterone, epitestosterone and luteinizing hormone levels,' the agency said in a statement on Thursday.
'This material will now be examined by ASADA and a determination made as to the way forward. For operating reasons ASADA cannot go into any more detail.'
Thorpe strongly denied ever taking banned substances when news of the test emerged and has always taken a vocal stance against doping and the stringency of testing during his career.
He won five golds for Australia at the 2000 and 2004 Games, including victory in the 200m freestyle in Athens, a contest dubbed the 'Race of the Century' when he prevailed against Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband and Michael Phelps of the USA.
