Athletics Ireland and the Irish Sports Council have banned Irish marathon runner Martin Fagan for two years following a hearing this evening.
The Irish Sport Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel passed down their judgement and backdated 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.
Tuesday’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”.
