By IANS
Sydney : Australia’s anti-doping body has cleared five-time Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe of using banned performance-enhancing drugs, according to reports published in Friday’s edition of The Australian newspaper.
The 24-year-old swimmer returned a drug test in May 2006 with elevated levels of two hormones.
The allegations against Thorpe became public in March when a French newspaper published details of the test. It said his urine sample contained abnormal levels of testosterone and leutenising hormone.
But experts concluded that the hormones were “naturally occurring”, and the paper quoted the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) as saying that Thorpe had no case to answer.
Thorpe, who has retired from swimming, welcomed the decision.
“My reputation as a fair competitor in swimming is the thing I value most,” he said in a statement. “I have always been, and remain, a strong supporter of anti-doping testing.”
ASADA said it sought input from medical professionals and scientists around the world.
“Experts from these internationally respected organisations were unanimous in their opinion that the evidence available does not indicate the use of performance-enhancing substances by the athlete,” it said in a statement.
Thorpe won five Olympic and 11 world championship titles before he retired in November 2006.