British sprinter Dwain Chambers became the first athlete to admit testing positive for the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG, but denied he was trying to cheat.
Chambers’s lawyer confirmed a report in The Guardian newspaper on Wednesday that traces of the previously undetectable drug were found in a urine sample he provided during an out-of-competition test on August 1 at his training base in Saarbrucken, Germany.
THG is at the heart of a major doping scandal in the United States, where several unidentified track and field athletes tested positive for the substance at the US national championships last summer.
Chambers has trained in California and worked with the San Francisco-area company accused of being the source of the THG.
His lawyer, Graham Shear, issued a statement saying Chambers trained in the US with Remi Korchemny and worked with Victor Conte of the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (Balco).
Shear said Chambers underwent an out-of-competition test in Germany in August and was notified early this month that his ”A” sample was positive for THG.
Chambers had never heard of the substance and ”immediately challenged” Conte, who assured him that all supplements he had given him were within international rules, Shear said.
”My client wants to clarify that he will not accept nor tolerate any accusation or implications that this was a wilful or calculated attempt on his behalf to deceive the authorities,” Shear said.
”In his eight years in international athletics he has never been tempted to succumb to illegal methods of enhancing performance.”
Shear said Chambers’s ”B” sample had yet to be tested and the sprinter will ”cooperate fully” with the investigation.
If found guilty of a doping offence, Chambers would face a ban of two years and miss next year’s Olympics in Athens.
Britain could also lose the 400m relay silver medal it won at the World Championships in France in August. Chambers ran the final leg in the race.
Earlier, International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) spokesperson Nick Davies told The Associated Press: ”At the moment we have absolutely no comment, we can’t confirm or deny.”
UK Athletics, the sport’s governing body in Britain, also had no confirmation or denial of Chambers’ positive test.
”The THG tests are being dealt with by the IAAF and the US Anti-Doping Agency [Usada],” spokesperson Emma Lewis said. ”UK Athletics has a policy not to make any comment about any individual case.”
A university doping control lab developed a test for THG after an anonymous coach turned in a used syringe containing the substance.
The Usada retested 350 samples from the US track championships, as well as 100 samples from random out-of-competition tests.
The Usada said Conte was the source of the THG; Conte denied it.
The Guardian said IAAF officials carried out the tests on Chambers and his training partners after a tip-off from the Usada.
The samples were sent to the university lab for analysis.
The IAAF said on Tuesday it will retest all drug samples from the World Championships to check whether any athletes were using THG.
Chambers, a pre-race favorite in the 100m, finished fourth at the championships. — Sapa-AP