Swimming: Nandrolone test rethink gives swimmer new hope

Trent Bray sees the nandrolone development as vindication for his protests but says it adds to his frustration. Picture / Martin Sykes

The World Anti-Doping Agency has told its laboratories to modify testing procedures for nandrolone in a development which may have implications for former top New Zealand swimmer Trent Bray.

WADA says new evidence shows false positives could in very rare cases arise due to a chemical reaction in a urine sample.

It has told laboratories to do a stability test on certain samples with a reading of less than 10 nanograms per millilitre of urine and to disregard a positive when stability cannot be confirmed.

Bray, who was banned for testing positive but strongly protested his innocence, sees the development as vindication but says it adds to his frustration.

His samples were just above the legal limit of 2ng/ml and fit the criteria declared by WADA for what it terms "unstable urine".

He had spent tens of thousands of dollars on his case. "That's not the worst part. The worst part is putting your family through it and having everyone think you are a drug cheat," he said.

WADA director-general David Howman rated the likelihood of a false positive as no more than 1 in 1000 but could not rule out athletes being wrongly banned.

"We've got no physical, legal or practical way of going backwards," he said. "Everything has been opened, analysed and tested. There is no sample C, if you like."

The news will put a rocket under the controversial subject of positive nandrolone tests.

Studies have shown the presence of the drug in nutritional supplements are at sufficient levels to cause a positive test.

The drug caused a major scandal in professional tennis two summers ago. Briton Greg Rusedski was among eight professional players who recorded levels above 2ng/ml but below 10ng/ml. All were cleared because of the possibility the positives came from tainted samples. Common features of "unstable urine" are a low reading of the drug, a delay in testing, storage at high temperature and the sample having high SGs (specific gravity or density).

The levels in Bray's urine - his A and B samples were 3.5 and 4ng/ml - are among the lowest "positives" reported, his sample sat untested for two weeks at Sydney Airport and it had a high SG.

Auckland lawyer Peter Thorp, who took Bray's case to court in New Zealand and to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, said: "Had we known about this at the time, he wouldn't have been prosecuted and his reputation would have remained intact.

"It was plain to us at that the state of scientific knowledge about nandrolone was unsatisfactory."

Years ago nandrolone was incorrectly thought not to occur naturally in people.

The NZ court ruled Bray's positive was unsafe because of mishandling of his urine sample. His four-year ban imposed by World swimming body, FINA, was halved in 2002. As he had already served two years, it cleared his return to competitive swimming.

Bray, 31, who won Commonwealth Games and World medals, said he would like to compete at national championships again but is held back by his lack of faith in drug-testing processes and administration.

"The frustrating thing is they can't go back and check mine.

"It was the only sample ever left sitting for two weeks - ever."

Bray, who has his own swim school, and Thorp believe authorities will be forced to raising the level before a positive was recorded, because of the risk of "catching" innocent athletes.

Nandrolone

Nandrolone, an anabolic steroid banned in sport, was thought not to occur naturally. After scientific evidence that it can, minimum legal levels were set at 2 nanograms/millilitre for men and 5ng/ml for women, the difference allowing for increased levels produced during pregnancy.

* Charlie Hunter 2000ng/ml

* Linford Christie 200ng/ml

* Greg Rusedski (tennis), Dougie Walker, Brit former Euro 200m champion and Brit 400m runner Mark Richardson, all less than 10ng/ml

* Trent Bray A and B samples: 3.5ng/ml and 4ng/ml