In running 2:16:09 at the Zurich marathon, Martin Fagan has quite probably qualified for the Rio Olympics, and almost certainly divided opinion.
It’s still early days – or 474 days to go before Rio, to be exact – but what is certain is that Fagan, in what was his first marathon since returning from a two-year doping ban, has put himself at the front of the line for selection: his 2:16:09 is comfortably inside the 2:17:00 qualifying standard announced by the IAAF last week, and which Athletics Ireland will also be using as the base qualification for Rio.
Several other Irish athletics are eyeing up that qualifying mark, especially the likes of Paul Pollock, Mick Clohisey, and Thomas Frazer, although they haven't yet attained it within the qualifying period. Clohisey ran 2:17:43 in Rotterdam last weekend, in what was his debut at the distance, and he certainly looks capable of going under 2:17:00, as does Pollock, who ran 2:16:30 in 2012.
For now, however, Fagan is the first athlete to throw his name into the hat for Rio, for what would be his second Olympics. Now aged 31, he ran 2:14:06 in early 2008, to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, although his quest to qualify for the London Olympics ended in shame when he tested positive for EPO, at the end of 2011, which resulted in a two- year doping ban.
Fagan admitted he had used the banned drug, although has always maintained it was his first and only time: he has also maintained he was struggling with depression at the time, while living in Flagstaff, Arizona. He served the two-year ban without any appeal, and then gradually returned to competitive athletics over the last 12 months, after that ban expired in January 2013.
Zurich marked his first run over the 26.2-mile distance in four years, and after passing halfway in 66:16, in near perfect running conditions, Fagan always looked on course to run under 2:17:00. He slowed somewhat over the final miles, but finished 11th overall, with victory on the day going to Kenya's Edwin Kemboi Kiyeng, who ran 2:11:34.
Should he make it to Rio, Fagan would become the first Irish athlete to compete at the Games following a doping ban of this sort. There is nothing in the Olympic charter rules to stop him from competing, and he certainly won’t be the only one to have returned to this level of international competition having served a two-year doping ban.
He has also maintained that his ultimate decision on whether or not he would represent Ireland on the international stage again would be partly based on how strong his past remains part of his present: “Because I know some people will always look at me, see Martin Fagan, and say that’s the guy who cheated,” he said in an interview with this newspaper, last May. “Because I did cheat. I know that will define me for the rest of my life, will never be forgotten. And I have to live with that.
“And I know what some other athletes said about me at the time, that I did let a lot of people down, crossed the line, and badly damaged the sport. And I know I deserved all of that, and I actually needed to hear that, to fully understand the mistake I did make. I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to hear all that again, to run again. Because I know some people will always question what I do now, and that some people mightn’t want to see me competing again.
“I fight with myself on that every day. And I know there is an argument for lifetime bans. It’s a tough one, because I know when I got caught, I would have happily accepted a lifetime ban. The way I saw it my career was over anyway. There were so many other things going on in my life at the time that I never thought I’d ever want to get back running.”
