Paris Games 2024: Peter Bol forced to address WADA screenshot issue

Peter Bol is headed for the repechage in the 800 metres at the Paris Games but try as he might, he can’t out-run his past.

Australia's Peter Bol prepares to compete in the men's 800m heats during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on July 31, 2021. (Photo by Javier SORIANO / AFP)

Peter Bol is headed for the repechage in the 800 metres but try as he might, he can’t out-run his past.

The Tokyo Olympic finalist finished seventh in his heat at Stade de France but afterwards was forced to address allegations he had a screenshot on his phone with information about how to micro-dose EPO and evade drug testers.

The screenshot was aired by the World Anti-Doping Authority in a hearing in May involving another athlete. The hearing was told that Bol, - who was suspended in January last year only to be reinstated after his B-sample came back atypical - had a screenshot on his phone with a letter from BALCO boss Victor Conte to British sprinter Dwain Chambers.

Bol’s lawyer slammed the revelations and the 800m runner has now addressed them himself, claiming he is the victim of a political game.

Peter Bol during the heats of the 800m. Picture: Michael Steele/Getty Images

“I’m actually uncertain when they pulled that out and where they pulled it from,” Bol said after his disappointing heat run.

“But I mean, I read every article out there and there’s probably a billion articles - I read a lot on crime and they decided to pull out just the one that suited them, which is again playing that political game.

“If if I wasn’t able to race, they would have banned me a while ago. I’m still here and I’ve got nothing really to answer for. I think you guys should be asking them the questions, and they should be answering for those comments.”

Asked how he was able to focus given what he has been through over the past 18 months, Bol said: “I just let them do what they want to do basically and just try to stay focussed on my game.

“And things that I can’t control, I can’t really focus on. The fact is I’m out here running and I’m grateful for that.”

Bol will be forced to run the repechage in the 800m. Picture: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Bol, 30, ran like a man with plenty on his mind in his heat in Paris, clocking 1min47.5-sec which was three-and-a-half seconds off his best.

The three-time Olympian was near the lead for most of the race but faded badly down the straight and ground to a near halt on the line, albeit with one eye on saving his legs for the repechage.

Three years ago he finished fourth in Tokyo. This time around, he will be lucky to make the semifinals, although the line of questioning after his heat shows how far he has come and how much he has had to endure since he was banned and then reinstated.

“You’re never going in there with the aim to get into the repechage because that happens automatically if you don’t make it,” Bol said.

“So you always go there with the goal of being in the top three. And that was my aim. Obviously the race was a bit slow.

Listen up! Don’t miss the most recent episode of the Matty and Missile podcast as Matthew Johns opens up about his relationship with his brother, legendary rugby league player Andrew in the wake of the Fox sisters winning gold. Listen below.

“It was literally a flashback to Tokyo going through that slow and trying to kick back. I probably don’t have that fitness at the moment.”

Tokyo is now a distant memory.

“That was only three years ago, so everything was just so fast in the last few years,” he said.

“I don’t know - to be to be here again this is my third Olympics - It’s pretty cool to be able to be that consistent and represent Australia three times over three Olympics, and doing this sport for about 12, 13 years now.

“So it’s pretty cool.”

Bol’s former training partner Joseph Deng (1:45.87sec) is also headed for the repechage after finishing sixth in his heat while Peyton Craig qualified for the 800m semifinals by finishing second (1:45.81sec) in the opening heat.

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HOW WILL DRUG SAGA IMPACT PETER BOL

By Scott Gullan

It was State of Origin night in Melbourne and just up the road from the MCG fashion label Ksubi were launching their Australian flagship store.

Boomers captain Patty Mills was the face of the label and he was in attendance as the Australian basketball team had a training camp in town while there was another Olympian present who was keeping to himself at the back of the room.

Peter Bol being at an event wasn’t unusual, since his heroics at the Tokyo Olympics he’d very much been in demand with sponsors and PR agents who wanted him on all their guest lists.

What was unusual was that it was June 26 in the middle of the Australian winter and the Paris Olympics were a month away.

Most of Australia’s track and field team were in various parts of Europe at training camps and competitions, getting acclimatised and ready for the biggest races of their careers.

The fact Bol wasn’t doing the same had many in Australian athletics worried. Some even thought he was going to pull the pin. Given the 18 months he’d endured, it was understandable.

Peter Bol has had a tough road back to the pinnacle. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

The spin his team was putting out was that he’d returned from a training camp in the US because his personal circumstances had changed with his recent engagement and he wanted to spend more time at home.

It was plausible but not the mindset of a man who finished fourth at the last Olympics.

Bol became an overnight hero in Tokyo, setting a national record by winning the 800m semi-final. His gutsy frontrunning style endeared him to the Australian public and the anticipation leading into the final had a Cathy Freeman in Sydney feel about it.

He ran brilliantly again in the final, leading for most of it before being edged out late to narrowly miss a medal, finishing fourth. Not making the dias didn’t do anything to dilute Bol mania.

When he returned home, everyone wanted a piece of him. Bol and his management team were smart with luxury brands getting on board and appearances at everything and anything.

On the track the following year he again lowered his national record to 1min44,00sec, made the world championships final and then won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games.

But in January 2023, Bol’s life changed forever. He was informed he’d tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test and was provisionally suspended.

Bol immediately pleaded his innocence as his career hung by a thread. When the B-sample of the test came back atypical – meaning there was serious doubt over the original finding – the ban was lifted.

But Sport Integrity Australia kept investigating him until finally on August 1 they released a statement saying they were closing the case but made it known they weren’t happy about it.

The whole Bol saga led to WADA changing the way they analysed EPO samples but the damage had been done.

Bol was the surprise story of Tokyo in 2021. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

At the world championships in Budapest, Bol was a shadow of his former self and didn’t get out of the heat of the 800m. He had a legitimate excuse given the lead-up and there was optimism that he would be able to recharge and re-emerge for Paris.

Sadly, that hasn’t been the case.

A niggling injury delayed the start of his 2024 season but he ran impressively at the national championships in Adelaide in April – even though he was beaten – clocking 1min45.08sec to finish second.

It was enough to get him selected in the Olympic team that night courtesy of A-standard qualifying times the previous year. Bol was genuinely excited to get his ticket and his trademark smile was back.

Six weeks later he was back to rock bottom. Secret evidence from his drug case was released by WADA during an international tribunal hearing into an EPO case involving a Croatian soccer player.

It knocked the wind out of Bol’s sails. He went to the US for the altitude training camp but was struggling for motivation and in the only three races he entered since the nationals he’d finished 11th, 7th and 9th.

That’s why many thought he was done when he returned home. But something clicked and not long after the Ksubi launch, he rang his agent and said he wanted to come back overseas.

He raced in Belgium on July 13 and finished fifth, returning again two weeks later – the Paris Games had already started – and took the win running 1:45.91sec.

When he arrived at the athletes’ village there was a spring in his step again. He hooked up with his former training partner Joseph Deng who had also made the team in the 800m and it was almost like old times.

Suddenly there was optimism. “He’s feeling the power in his legs again,” was how one member of his team described his arrival in Paris.

Given there were so many times he looked unlikely to get to the Games – even six weeks ago – the sight of Peter Bol leading out the 800m heat at the Stade de France will be an achievement in itself.

Originally published as Paris Games 2024: Peter Bol forced to address WADA screenshot issue