Peter Bol’s fractured relationship with Athletics Australia ahead of world championships

He’s the biggest name in Australian athletics, but Peter Bol is refusing to talk to the national governing body. SCOTT GULLAN reveals how the relationship has deteriorated.

In a dramatic fallout from the drug scandal which threatened his career, Peter Bol is refusing to talk to Athletics Australia.

As the Australian team prepares for the start of the world championships in Budapest, it can be revealed one of its biggest star’s is still at loggerheads with the sport’s leading body.

Despite numerous attempts by AA, the Tokyo Olympic 800m finalist remains bitter at how the organisation handled the leaking of the false positive EPO test back in January and what he perceives a lack of support in the fight to clear his name.

Bol was finally cleared of any wrongdoing on August 1 after Sport Integrity Australia officially closed its exhaustive six-month investigation.

They were forced to admit that world doping scientists reanalysing Bol’s drug tests now believe the original test was a false positive, meaning he should never have been charged or provisionally banned.

Peter Bol is refusing to talk to Athletics Australia. Picture: Getty Images

It has been a harrowing year for Bol who despite being allowed to train and race after his B-sample came back “atypical” in February, has struggled with the mental and physical toll of the scandal.

The 800m champion has battled a series of niggling injuries and only confirmed he would race at the world championships last week following a positive training block in Andorra.

After considering staying away from the team in Budapest, Bol has reluctantly agreed to stay in the same hotel where he is rooming with his training partner Joseph Deng.

But attempts by officials to engage with him have been unsuccessful.

High performance manager Andrew Faichney even travelled to Lyon in France last month to try to smoke the peace pipe at a meet where Bol produced a personal best in the 1500m.

But when Bol learnt of his pending arrival he changed hotels to avoid bumping into the AA boss who he’d previously had a good relationship with.

Bol’s coach Justin Rinaldi is desperate to limit the stress around his athlete who he points out is a much-loved figure by his teammates.

“We don’t want to put Pete in a situation where he walks into an Australian team and doesn’t feel comfortable so we just have to work through how we manage that,” Rinaldi said.

“I want him to be a part of the team, the people in the team love Pete, they genuinely support him so I think it is good to have that support around him.

“I just hope they (Athletics Australia) learn from this and handle it differently if it ever happens again.”

Most of Bol’s anger is directed towards AA chief executive Peter Bromley, as the leader of the organisation, he blames for the bungling of the initial test result being revealed and then what he sees as a lack of support as SIA turned his life upside down.

In many ways the AA’s hands were initially tied given that it relies on government funding and they had to be seen to be toeing the line when government-employed drug testers were zeroing in on one of the sport’s biggest names.

Bromley and AA president Jan Swinhoe have both reached out to Bol’s manager James Templeton in recent weeks, sending messages of support after Bol was officially cleared.

They also came out with a strongly worded statement, attacking SIA and the whole EPO testing process.

“This case raises very serious questions about the accuracy and consistency of EPO analysis,” Bromley said.

“Peter Bol has been trapped in a very difficult and damaging no-man’s land for the last seven months. He, and every other high-performance athlete, deserves clear and transparent answers to explain what went wrong and what is being done to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

Bol, who finished seventh at last year’s world championships in Eugene, kicks off his Budapest campaign in the 800m heats on Wednesday morning.