Paris 2024: Peter Bol has been vindicated but his trademark grin is yet to return
Peter Bol has been cleared of any wrongdoing by Sports Integrity Australia. His coach believes it’s not yet enough to shrug the impossible weight placed on the athlete’s shoulders.
Justin Rinaldi is searching for one thing when he touches down in Andorra today.
And it’s not to be blown away by the vast natural parks, stunning ski slopes or high-end duty-free shopping which the tiny independent principality, situated in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, is renowned for.
Peter Bol’s coach is after a smile.
He wants to see that trademark grin which won over the hearts of the Australian public at the Tokyo Olympics but has sadly been missing from the moment Sports Integrity Australia drug testers knocked on Bol’s door back in January.
The EPO charge and the long drawn-out mess of an investigation which eventually led to Bol being cleared on Tuesday of any wrongdoing, nearly broke the 800m champion.
While at times he put on a brave face after the initial provisional suspension was lifted, Rinaldi could see the pain.
“The longer it went on the harder it was for him to deal with,” Rinaldi says. “ At the start you think I can get through this then it’s like, ‘Hang on this is dragging on, it’s starting to impact me’.
“He does hide it really well but when he said to me he’s struggling, you know he really is struggling. It’s not just a throwaway comment, it actually means a lot.”
There were the practical issues like having enough money to pay his US-based lawyer on top of the shame he felt because he knew in the eyes of many he was now forever going to be seen as a drug cheat.
This was despite him saying from day one he was innocent and despite there being no evidence found to back up the initial assessment of a positive urine test.
Bol opened up his life to the SIA investigators. He handed over his phone and iPad immediately, provided five years of bank statements, sat through an intense interrogation – the transcript went for 62 pages – while having every test he’d ever done re-examined.
Even in June, more of his samples were being sent to overseas WADA laboratories for further examination.
“It was a drain on him,” Rinaldi says. “Every time they (SIA) send an email to his lawyer, Pete pays for it. Pete doesn’t have the deepest pockets in the world so the financial stress was putting a bit on him too.
“He’s done a good job to just get on with it but it was such a heavy weight on his shoulders.”
Melbourne-based Rinaldi hasn’t seen Bol for months. There were plenty of times where he thought he wouldn’t be making the trek over to Europe to put the finishing touches on a world championships campaign.
“A few months ago it looked like he was never going to be running again,” Rinaldi said. “I literally thought he wasn’t going to go to Europe, then he got the green light to run but making the world championships looked like a long shot.”
Some niggling injuries had also put them on the back foot, the first coming after Bol travelled to the Middle East for the Channel 7 reality series SAS Australia. He only did that for the cheque Seven dangled in front of him – believed to be around $500,000 which included an exclusive interview – so he could pay his legal bills.
Bol did some altitude training in Flagstaff in the US before heading over the Europe where he had his first race for 2023 in early June. He gradually got better and then last month ran 1min44.29sec in Barcelona, qualifying him for the world titles which start in Budapest, Hungary on August 19.
He will go there not as the Australian record holder, that title again belongs to his training partner Joseph DEng who ran 1:43.99sec in Lyon to beat Bol’s mark by .01sec.
At the same meet, Bol produced a 1500m personal best and according to Rinaldi, there was no-one happier to see DEng succeed than his old housemate.
“They are so supportive of each other, I think you probably see after Joe broke Pete’s record, Pete was just as happy for him as anyone,” Rinaldi said.
“He was jumping up and down and then had to get back to his own race.
“There is no rivalry between them, I think they both realise that the Australian record isn’t that good so there is no point getting too sheepish about it.
“They need to keep breaking it and get it down to low 1:43s before they can really be precious about it.”
The scenario for Budapest is tough. Making the final in the 800m is harder than many other events given only the top two in each semi-final get through.
“The semi’s in the 800 are really tough, you can be in good shape, get a tough semi and you’re out,” Rinaldi says.
He knows Bol, 29, is in good physical shape but the unknown is the toll the previous six months has taken although the coach believes competing in Budapest is crucial for next year’s Paris Olympics campaign.
Being back among his peers has been good for him and he’s shared dinners with a number of his fellow competitors in recent times. There is no angst from them, more sympathy for going through every athlete’s nightmare.
There is an underlying issue with Athletics Australia who Bol hasn’t engaged with since the drug scandal broke as he felt they didn’t support him enough although this week AA have come out condemning the EPO testing procedures which WADA are now going to review in the wake of the Bol finding.
Bol has described the clearing of his name as “a dream come true”. Rinaldi sees the world championships as a bonus with a smile attached.
“Whatever happens is a bonus to be honest, just being there is a bonus.”
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