<\/p>\n
Peter Bol says he has suffered permanent damage to his reputation after testing positive to EPO, but has vowed to push on and chase 800m gold at the Paris Olympics \u201cto prove a lot of people wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n
The national record holder steadfastly maintains his innocence, despite being informed by Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) on 10 January that he had tested positive to performance-enhancing synthetic EPO.<\/p>\n
Bol\u2019s training and competition ban was lifted last month<\/a> when his B sample returned an \u201catypical finding\u201d, meaning it was neither positive or negative.<\/p>\n SIA is still investigating the case. If it determines that Bol has no further case to answer, he is set to return to the track in Europe in the next couple of months to chase the qualifying standard for the world championships in Budapest in August and next year\u2019s Paris Olympics.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s always going to be speculations, there\u2019s always going to be noise out there,\u201d Bol told the Seven Network\u2019s Spotlight program in an interview aired on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n \u201cBut at the end of the day, whether I perform well, people are going to think you\u2019re on the juice.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd if I don\u2019t perform well, people are going to think you got off it, and you can\u2019t control that narrative each way.<\/p>\n \u201cI might as well go out there and run and break a few more records.\u201d<\/p>\n One theory that has been expounded for the Sudanese-born Bol\u2019s elevated EPO level is his ethnicity.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s in our genetics of course,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re fitter, we\u2019re faster, we\u2019re more resilient because of how much we\u2019ve been through and gone through.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s our genetics; it\u2019s who we are. We can get back in shape pretty fast (but) it doesn\u2019t mean we are cheating. It\u2019s how we\u2019re born.\u201d<\/p>\n EPO is a hormone that is produced naturally by the body and stimulates red blood cell production, but can also be taken illegally in a synthetic form.<\/p>\n Bol and his camp remain furious that the news of his initial positive test was leaked, believing the culprit had to be associated with SIA or Athletics<\/a> Australia.<\/p>\n The news scuppered his hopes of being named the Young Australian of the Year.<\/p>\n Bol shot to prominence at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, twice breaking the 800m national record before finishing a close fourth in the final.<\/p>\n He was disappointed to miss out on a medal at last year\u2019s world titles in Oregon but bounced back to claim silver in the 800m at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to focus on getting to Paris,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I can, I want to go win the damn thing. I\u2019m trying to prove a lot of people wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n