Athletics:Athletics Ireland and the Irish Sports Council have banned Irish marathon runner Martin Fagan for two years following a hearing this evening.
The 28-year-old from Mullingar admitted to The Irish Timesthat he had injected EPO the day before he underwent an out of competition test in Tuscon, Arizona at the start of December.
The Irish Sport Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel passed down their judgement tonight, backdating the ban to December 10th, the date the sample was taken, on account of his “prompt admission of the violation”.
Fagan has 14 days to appeal the ban, a move that would be highly unlikely after his admission of guilt.
Tonight’s joint statement from Athletics Ireland and the Irish Sports Council read: “The Panel found that, contrary to Article 2.1 of the Irish Anti-Doping Rules, Mr Fagan, tested positive for the presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolite or marker, recombinant erythropoietin, in a sample of his urine collected on behalf of the Irish Sports Council during out of competition testing at Tucson, Arizona on the 10th December 2011.
“Mr Fagan has been sanctioned, subject to his right to appeal within 14 days, by the imposition on him of a period of ineligibility for two years. The Panel has decided that because of the prompt admission of the violation by Mr Fagan the appropriate commencement date for the period of ineligibility is 10th December 2011, the date on which the sample was collected”.
In an interview with The Irish Timesathletics correspondent Ian O'Riordan, published on Monday, Fagan admitted to purchasing the EPO online and injecting himself with the drug and also talked of his battle with depression that led him to contemplate suicide.
“When you’re already on medication you’re in that mentality, that I can take something to get through this, to fix this,” said Fagan.
“That’s when I thought of EPO. That was my medication, the chemical I needed. I never would have even contemplated that before. That was something else I know I should have spoken to someone about, but I didn’t think I had that option. I only cared about the running, not the Martin Fagan. It was my last hope.
“And I never once thought I was taking EPO to cheat, or to break a world record, or anything like that. I didn’t even take EPO to win anything. I just wanted to feel good again, to get back to normal.”
Predicting the eventual outcome to his hearing, Fagan admitted his goal now is to get back to full health.
“This positive test, the ban, is only the small issue. The bigger issue for me right now is getting myself mentally right again. I know that’s going to take time but I know I’m around the right people now, my family, and friends.”