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Walker hopes to avoid drugs ban

Doug Walker walked out of an International Amateur Athletic Federation's (IAAF) arbitration hearing on Wednesday, hoping he had done enough to avoid a two year drug suspension after testing positive for nandrolone.

As Walker, the 200 metre European champion, left IAAF headquarters, lawyers for former Olympic 100 metre champion Linford Christie and 400 metre hurdler Gary Cadogan continued to present their closing arguments to the three-member panel convened to consider the trio of British doping cases.

Those final submissions will bring an end to three days of often tedious testimony, after which the panel, headed by Germany's Christoph Vedder, will immediately begin deliberations.

The panel has 14 days to reach a verdict but has been asked by the IAAF to come to a decision as quickly as possible, perhaps as early as Saturday.

"We are looking forward to a decision," said Walker's lawyer, Marcel Apfel, choosing his words cautiously. "We hope the panel looks at all the evidence put in front of it and makes a fair and just result.

"We would prefer that they weren't pushed to make a decision quickly.

"We feel they need as much time as possible to review what was a lot of evidence."

Walker, Christie and Cadogan, each tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone but were subsequently cleared by the national governing body UK Athletics. Unhappy with the decisions, the IAAF ordered the cases to arbitration.

Christie and Cadogan have retired although Christie now coaches international athletes.

Christie did not attend the hearing, having stated he considers the case closed because he has been cleared by UK Athletics.

However, if he is banned for two years he will be denied accreditation to the Games and his coaching activities will be severely restricted.

Walker won a High Court order allowing him to run pending the panel's hearing but decided he would not compete in last weekend's British Olympic trials because he did not think he would be ready in time for next month's Sydney Games.

"I hope the decision is soon, I've been away a long time," said Walker, the only one of the three athletes to attend the hearing. "I haven't run competitively in almost two years and I can't wait to get back.

"It was all about what I expected...no surprises.

"We had a proper procedure, now we hope for a proper decision."

Walker is pinning his hopes on the results of a study at Aberdeen University which concluded that abnormal amounts of dietary supplements combined with strenuous exercise could produce excessive level of nandrolone.

Professor Ron Maughan, a member of the group which conducted the study attended the hearing. The IAAF also called up three doping experts to present evidence.

"Every case has its own merit but these three certainly have common issues...the Aberdeen study," said Vedder, who also headed up the arbitration panels that dealt with the drug cases of Cuban high jumper Javier Sotomayor and Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey. "There are some minor individual details and different legal considerations but this is the common issue.

"The IAAF has asked us to make a decision as soon as possible but it is impossible to predict when."

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