S12 Ep49: An interview with Lizzy Banks
The Cycling Podcast
The Cycling Podcast
4.7 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 22 May 2024
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
She was informed of the test result 79 days later. The two substances were formoterol, a medication she'd been using within the permitted level to treat asthma. The second, chlortalidone, was a diuretic she had never heard of. Unless she could prove contamination the twice Giro stage winner faced a two-year suspension.
Her investigation cost her career, her life savings and took a huge emotional toll on her and her family. When she could no longer afford full legal support, she investigated the case herself. Her medical training helped and the case she compiled led the UK Anti-Doping Agency (UKAD) to drop a scheduled tribunal and return a verdict of no fault, no negligence and no suspension.
Nevertheless, the rules state she has four anti-doping rule violations against her name, her career as a pro cyclist is over, and her reputation is harmed.
Lizzy has worked for The Cycling Podcast and so in the interests of transparency we asked Tom Cary, senior sports correspondent of The Telegraph, to conduct this independent interview. The episode is introduced by Rose Manley.
A warning, this podcast does contain references to suicide and suicidal thoughts.
A few abbreviations will come up, so just to give some clarity:
• WADA is the World Anti-Doping Agency
• UKAD is the UK Anti-Doping Agency, which is responsible for making sure that British athletes comply with the WADA code
• CAS is the Court of Arbitration for Sport, an independent institution involved in resolving legal disputes in the field of sport
• AAF is an Adverse Analytical Finding - commonly known as a positive doping test
• MRL stands for Minimum Reporting Limit. The concentration below which a substance will not trigger a positive test
• ADRV stands for Anti-Doping Rules Violation
Reference is also made to the cases of Shari Bossuyt and Toon Aerts. Both riders were given two year suspensions for testing positive for letrozole, which both claim is the result of food contamination.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are listening to the cycling podcast. |
| 0:22.0 | Welcome listeners to this special episode of the cycling podcast. |
| 0:25.6 | Now as I'm sure many of you will have noticed we haven't heard from our |
| 0:28.7 | colleague Lizzy Banks on the podcast for several months. |
| 0:32.1 | Earlier this week Lizzy made public that for the last 10 the against her in July last year. UCAD, the UK Anti-Doping Agency, |
| 0:45.0 | notified Lizzy that she had returned an adverse analytical finding, |
| 0:49.0 | an AAF, more commonly known as a positive test for two substances. |
| 0:53.7 | One for Motorola, an asthma medication that she was permitted to use |
| 0:57.9 | and had been using for four years previous, |
| 1:00.2 | and the second one more crucially was Clotallidone, a diuretic on the prohibited list of the world |
| 1:06.7 | anti-doping agency, better known as WADA, for its potential as a masking agent. |
| 1:12.0 | Despite the diuretic being found at a low level, she was told that |
| 1:16.1 | she would be facing a two-year suspension unless she could establish a source. Since then, |
| 1:21.5 | Lizzy has been investigating, researching and writing submissions to establish how the |
| 1:26.4 | contamination occurred, not to mention suffering physically, mentally and financially |
| 1:31.9 | from the huge toll that the situation had placed on her. |
| 1:35.2 | Her case was to go to tribunal in April this year, but five days beforehand, Lizzy was |
| 1:40.1 | absolved of any blame with Yukad concluding that Lizzy bore no fault or negligence for the positive |
| 1:46.5 | test. For this episode and in the interests of transparency we've asked Tom Carey, senior |
| 1:52.4 | sports correspondent at the Telegraph, to interview Lizzie for the |
| 1:55.7 | Cycling Podcast. A few abbreviations will come up, so just to give some clarity, WADA is the |
| 2:01.9 | World Anti-Doping Agency, |
... |
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