Three-year ban for 'role model' athlete

A SHOT-PUTTER described as a "role model" for the sport has been handed a three-year ban after testing positive for two prohibited substances.

Mark Edwards, 36, was given more than the standard two-year ban due to "aggravating circumstances" after he tested positive for both Testosterone and a metabolite of the prohibited steroid Clostebol just before last year's Commonwealth Games.

Edwards, ranked No 2 in the sport in Britain last year and a coach for the UK Athletics team at the 2008 Paralympics, argued he should not have been tested by UK Anti-Doping as he had pulled out of the Commonwealth Games team on medical grounds the day before he was tested and had said he intended to retire.

The tribunal of the National Anti-Doping Panel said the presence of more than one banned substance constituted aggravating circumstances.

The tribunal added: "The athlete is a senior athlete and a role model in the throwing community.

"He runs a sports therapy business and has a history of working with disabled athletes."

Edwards told the tribunal he had no idea how the substances came to be in his urine sample, and made claims about both the testing procedure and that the sample may have been tampered with en route to the laboratory.

The tribunal rejected his claims saying: "We did not find the athlete to be a credible witness."