Two Australian athletes will be facing a two-year ban from their respective sports. Weightlifter and former sprinter Jane Dike and sprinter Andrew Muhlhan were identified by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) to have tested positive for anabolic steroids banned in sporting competitions.

Muhlhan raised the fact that the timing of the test was not within international standards of sample collection. He protested the charge by ASADA and raised this argument in court. ASADA, however, submitted an appeal to the Australian Federal Court and eventually managed an overturn.

From FoxSports.com:

NSW Weightlifter Jane Dike and sprinter Andrew Muhlhan were both banned for two years after testing positive to banned substances.

Dike, a former Nigerian sprinter who competed in the 4x100m relay at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, tested positive for methandienone on three separate occasions between July and September 2008.

Muhlhan, a finalist in the 2006 Stawell Gift and a noted sprint coach, tested positive for the prohibited substances androstenedione and testosterone in an in-competition sample collected by ASADA at the Run for the Willow athletics event in Daylesford, Victoria on December 6.

ASADA is Australia’s doping control authority. Richard Ings, ASADA’s chairman, hopes that steroid testing will continue in Australian sports and that the investigations would serve as legitimate control over performance enhancing drugs. ASADA used target testing on Muhlhan. This means that he was chosen based on abnormal biological parameters (blood and steroid profile), injury, sudden changes in his career, or sudden improvement in his performance. Unfortunately for Australian athletes, ASADA can conduct tests whether a few hours before the competition or completely outside the competition

Tags: Andrew Muhlhan, ASADA, australia, Jane Dike, Performance enhancing drugs, steroids, target testing

Posted in steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Sports