Doping: Ireland excelling at both hypocrisy and apathy

The date: 1st March 2008.

The venue: Queen’s University Playing Fields in Belfast.

The mood: sombre, yet defiant.

A portion of the sizable crowd that have gathered to watch the final stages of Senior Men’s race at the Irish inter-club Cross Country Championships boo as Leevale’s Cathal Lombard wins the title ahead of South-African born Alistair Cragg. The remainder watch quietly in disappointment.

Lombard is making his first appearance at a national level following a two-year doping ban for EPO use. The message the Belfast crowd deliver is loud and clear: Lombard is not welcome. He may have served his time in the eyes of anti-doping bodies, but not in the eyes of Irish athletics fans. They are a much tougher crowd to win around.

Lombard announced his retirement from athletics that afternoon. We’ll never really know if that was always his intention, or if the cold reception he received in Belfast (and at lower key races over the previous months) expediated his decision to walk away. Either way, he never ran competitively again. And few were disappointed to see the back of him.

***

Fast forward to November 2009 and news has just broken in Ireland that Spanish racewalker Francisco (Paquillo) Fernandez has committed an anti-doping rule violation. Over the coming months various versions of the story emerge. By the time the case is heard before the Court of Arbitration for Sport the fact that the Olympic and three-time world silver medallist was found in possession of multiple doping products, including EPO, previously purchased with intent to use, was no longer contested. Ban dates are the only thing debated in a case which we were originally led to believe was a set-up.

As the original news emerged in Ireland, national governing body officials were quick to distance themselves from the then shamed Spaniard, despite his close ties with Rob Heffernan and Olive Loughnane. Perhaps fearful of a backlash from the fans who were so vocally unforgiving in Lombard’s case, Patsy McGonagle, the then Athletics Ireland High Performance Committee Chairman, tried to reassure the Irish public whose taxes help fund high performance athletes, by stating that Heffernan and Loughnane were both largely based in Ireland and only had occasional contact with Fernandez. He added that "in the circumstances we must reassess that arrangement and we will definitely be making alternative technical coaching arrangements for our athletes".

Whatever those “alternative technical coaching arrangements” were, they never seemed to hinder Heffernan’s continued contact with the Spaniard, despite much denial along the way.

McGonagle, the Irish Olympic team manager, was again quoted in national newspapers in July 2012, playing down the link, following reports the continued association between Heffernan and the then-banned Spaniard when the Irish team had a training camp in Fernandez’s home town of Guadix. “There is no question and there never has been of Fernandez coaching Robert Heffernan - or any of the Irish walkers”, McGonagle states.

The same article also contains strong words from Liam O’Reilly, an Irish Olympic team coach and the camp leader during that Guadix trip. “I think what appeared was a terrible reflection on journalistic standards. All the positive effort and hard work has been ignored simply because he [Heffernan] knows somebody who has done something wrong…Then somebody comes along and tries to insinuate or imply that he is doing something wrong. I think that is unacceptable.”

Heffernan himself initially played down the link, despite much evidence to the contrary. As time passed, however, and perhaps sensing the changing mood of Irish athletics fans – a World title and an Olympic medal can work wonders – Heffernan and his cronies became less concerned about how the links were perceived, with regular social media posts of them training together. Fernandez, it appears, had fully morphed into Heffernan’s coach, even if his wife Marian was still being used as a cover – Athletics Ireland, perhaps, wouldn’t tolerate the name of a drug cheat next to one of their athletes.

Fellow Irish racewalkers Alex Wright, Brendan Boyce and Cian McManamon were also benefiting from the training opportunities that Fernandez was providing in Spain, and elsewhere, with Heffernan being credited as their coach.

And then, once it became clear that, bar a handful of voices, the Irish population no longer had the zero-tolerance to doping cheats they once had, the stage was set for Fernandez to finally receive the credit he deserved. In early August 2017 the Athletics Ireland website listed Pacquillo Fernandez as Wright’s coach on the team announcement for the World Championships in London later that month.

“Alternative technical coaching arrangements”, it seems, had little to do with protecting the integrity of the sport and everything to do with fobbing off the journalists and saying the right things to protect reputations until the whole issue blew over.

View this post on Instagram

Preparando la temporada... #ríodejaneiro2016 #Cork #Training

A post shared by Paquillo Frdez/Ex-atleta®️ (@paquillofernandez) on Nov 28, 2015 at 11:26am PST

And blow over it certainly appears to have done.

***

And in some ways, all of this is understandable. Heffernan and Fernandez were friends. Maybe Fernandez would never have used those products – he just fancied keeping them around, just in case he changed his mind again. And yes, he’s served his time. Maybe a two-year ban changes people. And maybe the reputations of Heffernan, Wright, et al., should not be tainted by who they choose to hang around with. I get all that. I even get that Fernandez may be a (mostly) good and nice guy.

And maybe, he is the best coach around.

I get all that. Even if I don't like it.

View this post on Instagram

The Best team! #Dudincetraining

A post shared by Paquillo Frdez/Ex-atleta®️ (@paquillofernandez) on Mar 21, 2016 at 9:56am PDT

What I don’t get is why we have to involve the children. And why Fernandez has to be turned into some sort of icon.

***

Just two weeks ago, Ray Flynn, who in 2016 stood for election as president of Athletics Ireland (a landslide defeat, incidentally), tweeted a photo of his group of young athletes from the ‘Sligo Academy of Racewalkers’ training with “the best coaches in Spain”; a photo in which Fernandez was, of course, front and centre.

Our group from Sligo Academy of Race Walkers training with the best coaches in Spain @PaquilloFrdez @SligoRunners @gaynorroddy pic.twitter.com/C5XGAywihh

— Raymond Flynn (@RAYMONDFLYNN1) October 31, 2018

To adapt an analogy Heffernan himself put forward: "You go to a nightclub in town, there’s going to be fellas in the cubicle next to you taking cocaine, but it doesn’t mean you do". But you wouldn’t parade your children (or worse still, someone else’s children) into that cubicle for selfies, and pin those fellas up as some sort of role models who your children should be privileged to meet.

***

Just over a decade on from that spring afternoon in Belfast, much has changed, it appears, in terms of attitudes to dopers in Ireland.

The Irish crowd have gone soft.

Maybe Lombard should have stuck around a little longer.

Maybe he should have offered to help coach some kids!

Yes, that might have changed the Irish public’s attitude towards him.

Things you need to know about supplements

Ever since a spate of nandrolone positives at the turn of the century were attributed to contaminated supplements, much has been written about the potential hazards of using sports supplements and the fact that – no matter what the label claims – there is no guarantee that any such product is free from banned substances.

Yet, the use of supplements has skyrocketed.

And contaminated nutrition supplements continue to be used as an excuse for failed dope tests!

Asafa Powell, Linford Christie, Yohan Blake, Brendan O’Sullivan… all innocent victims of contaminated nutritional supplements.

It seems that nobody intentionally dopes these days!

But they do intentionally take products which claim to improve their performance.  You can barely call yourself an athlete these days if your meals don’t come in powdered form, or your #gohardorgohome session isn’t fuelled by some form of stimulant.

So, just in case the message isn’t getting across, here’s a handy little reminder about sports supplements. Listen up Asafa et al., this may even learn something:

Manufacturers might not tell you the whole story

The main purpose of nutritional supplements is to make a shed load of cash for those who produce and sell them.

Fact!

Many of them don’t work at all.

And some of them do, but not because of their listed ingredients.

Let’s be clear - contamination is a bit of a misnomer. ‘Contamination’ is often intentional (i.e. products included but not declared on the label); the result of being produced in the same factory as products which contain banned substances; or because the product contains ‘natural’ ingredients which could contain just about anything.

Afterall, a manufacturer is not going to say: ‘look at this product; it probably contains banned substances’.

That’s not to say that sort of sale doesn’t happen too, but it’s a little less likely to happen on the high street.

For now at least.

And if you feel like I’m being melodramatic, check out the 2008 review article by Geyer et al. which highlighted the extent to which sports supplements contain products (often steroids) which are not included on the label

Included within that report is a 2005 study which showed that Vitamin C, Multivatimin and Magnesium tablets produced by a German manufacturer for sale in German and Spanish grocery and drug stores, were found to be cross-contaminated with the steroids metandienone and stanozolol (the Ben Johnson drug). It turns out that the company in question - Senesco-Pharma – produced these products on the same production line and at the same time as steroid products.

If it sounds performance enhancing, it may well be…

And not in a legal way!

Asafa Powell claimed, after he tested positive for the banned stimulant oxilofrine in 2013, that the source of the offending substance was a contaminated batch of the ‘legal’ supplement, Epiphany D1. Now, I’m not sure about you, but Epiphany doesn’t sound to me like it’s just an innocent whey power or a carbohydrate drink. It’s not just something that you take to ensure you’re meeting your daily requirements of vitamins and minerals.

Further inspection of the list of things Ephiphany D1 claims to improve (memory, learning ability, energy levels, verbal fluency, motor skills and oxygen supply to the brain, as well as protect brain cells against the effects of aging), and its long list of ingredients, would surely set alarm bells ringing. And at almost €60 for a 15 day supply, you’d almost expect there to be something banned in there.

Either way, with Powell claiming that he didn’t know it was his responsibility to check what his supplements contained and that all ingredients might not be listed on the label, perhaps it doesn’t even do what it claims, especially on the enhanced brain function side of things.

Last week Sport Ireland released details of boxer Michael O'Reilly’s adverse finding from 2016 and shock, horror, Falcon Lab’s Superdrive Testobooster Tech – the product O’Reilly blamed for the failed test – contained an anabolic steroid! Sometimes, when you least expect it, these things do exactly what they say on the tin.

Fat-burners and weight-loss supplements are best avoided

Superdrive Testobooster Tech was not the only Falcon Lab product blamed for a failed drugs test from 2016 – Kerry Gaelic footballer Brendan O’Sullivan claimed that fat-burning supplement Oxyburn Pro Superthermotech - produced by the US-based nutritional supplement company – was responsible for his anti-doping indiscretion.

And if Kolo Toure thought us anything, it’s that fat-burning supplements are best avoided. If they don’t contain banned amphetamines, stimulants or corticosteroids, they are likely to contain diuretics – banned masking agents – or just be a waste of money.

When did a few extra laps of the pitch become so unpopular!

No product is WADA or IOC or approved!

Yes, no matter what a manufacturer might claim, no produce has been approved as risk-free by any governing body. And what’s more, unlike medications, nutritional supplements aren’t even governed by… well, anybody really. They are, pretty much, a money-making free-for-all.

Informed-Sport is a risk-reduction initiative, whereby batches of products are independently batched tested for banned substances on the current WADA list. Athletes who feel the need to take supplements are strongly advised to ensure that anything they are taking is on the Informed Sport list.

But remember, there is still (and never will be) any guarantee that a product is completely safe to use.  Powell and Simpson may have managed to reach an out of court settlement with the manufactures of Epiphany D1 and get their bans reduced, but mere mortals are subject to strict liability and may get up to a four year ban for their stupidity. You are responsible for what’s in your body.

But, the good news is that, despite popular opinion, food doesn’t have to come in powder form

That doesn’t stop athletes tweeting photos of their protein recovery shake every five minutes. But don’t be fooled by the hype. They’re being paid by the manufacturers to advertise these products.

The athletes might even be eating proper meals away from the camera.

But yeah, if you want everything to be banana, strawberry or vanilla flavoured, with a slightly powdery texture, then sure, go ahead. Knock yourself out!