The doping case against Australian athlete Peter Bol has been dropped. The reason for this is an “atypical finding” in the B sample.
The doping procedure against the Australian middle-distance runner Peter Bol has been discontinued, the Australian Anti-Doping Agency announced on Tuesday (01.08.2023).
Bol, who finished fourth at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1:45.92 minutes and narrowly missed out on a medal in the 800m, had excessive EPO values in the A sample in January. The 29-year-old has been provisionally suspended and banned from all competitions. However, later analysis of his B sample revealed an “atypical finding”, meaning the original test was not confirmed and Bol’s ban was lifted.
Deviations in the B sample very large exception
Experts are of the opinion that it is generally very unlikely that the B sample will be different from the A sample and that it is a very big exception.
This can happen if, for example, a typo or transposed digit occurs when a laboratory reports the results to an association, or if the number stamped on the urine or blood sample on the sample bottle is transmitted incorrectly. According to experts, it is very rare for substances that were only present in small amounts in the A sample to break down so quickly in the B sample that they can no longer be detected.
Years ago, it was quite possible that fungal cultures developed in a sample due to a lack of continuous cooling, making the sample unusable. According to the opinion of experts, this can be virtually ruled out nowadays, since the sealed B sample of doping samples that come to the laboratory for analysis is deep-frozen immediately upon arrival.
Few cases with deviating B sample
In rare cases it can happen and it has already happened in the past: The result of the A sample differs from that of the B sample.
In 2006, the Croatian national handball player Davor Dominikovic was initially banned because of a positive A sample. The B sample was negative. The reason for this was that the responsible Spanish doping laboratory made a mistake and Dominikovic’s A sample had been mixed up. His suspension has been lifted.
In 2006, American sprinter Marion Jones tested positive for Epo after the American Track and Field Championships, but the B sample turned out to be negative. However, she later admitted to having doped.
In 2007, professional cyclist Iban Mayo was cleared of doping suspicion after the Spaniard’s B test showed a negative result. Mayo had tested positive for Epo at the Tour de France and was suspended by his team. In a later counter-analysis of the B-sample, however, the positive A-sample was confirmed.
“Wrong test result” at Bol
In the case of the Australian middle-distance runner Bol, the analysis of the B sample revealed an “atypical finding”. If this is the case with Epo, other medical professionals and experts will be able to view the results of the sample in order to evaluate the data. In the case of Peter Bol, this has now led to the assessment of “wrong test result” and thus to the suspension of the doping procedure and the acquittal of the runner. The runner, who was born in Sudan, now wants to prepare for the World Championships in Athletics in Budapest (August 19-27).
