Olympian Peter Bol’s provisional doping suspension lifted after B sample test returned

Peter Bol, whose athletics career was in the balance after failing an out of competition doping test last year, has said he has been cleared after a B sample did not match the original A sample, as Sport Integrity Australia continues its investigations.

Bol, who finished fourth in the 800m at the Tokyo Olympics, was provisionally suspended by Athletics Australia in January after a urine test showed signs of synthetic EPO, a performance-enhancing agent that is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list.

The national 800m record holder and Commonwealth Games silver medallist strongly denied he had ever taken any banned substance and requested a B sample be analysed, as per Australian national anti-doping policy guidelines.

On Tuesday he tweeted a statement to say the B sample did not back up the original result, and that he is now free to return to training and competition.

“Last month I told everyone that I was innocent and asked that everyone in Australia believe me and let the process play out,” he said. “I was hopeful that the process would exonerate me. This morning I am relieved to report that it did.

“I was just informed that my B sample did not confirm my A sample. My provisional suspension has been lifted by Sport Integrity Australia. The relief I am feeling is hard to describe.”

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Sport Integrity Australia confirmed it had received the results of Bol’s B sample but “the investigation into the matter remains ongoing”.

The B sample returned an atypical finding (ATF) for EPO that SIA said required further investigation as per Wada rules, and it would now seek a second opinion from a Wada-accredited laboratory.

“An ATF is not the same as a negative test result,” a statement read.

“Sport