Athletics: Anti-drug duo irked at backing for runner

The support given to Liza Hunter-Galvan by New Zealand athletics greats Sir Peter Snell and Lorraine Moller has disappointed anti-drug campaigner Dr Dave Gerrard and World Cup marathon representative Shireen Crumpton.

Snell and Moller appeared on TV3's 60 Minutes on Monday night.

United States-based Hunter-Galvan was handed a two-year suspension in August after becoming the first New Zealander to test positive to the use of banned substance erythropoietin (EPO).

Snell and Moller did not condone the actions of Hunter-Galvan in taking the drug but were critical of athletes and people in New Zealand who had tried to blacken her reputation.

"We need to look at ourselves and the way we helped her to get to this point," Moller told 60 Minutes.

"I believe Liza is not a cheat at heart."

Snell admitted being disappointed by Hunter-Galvan's action.

"But she is one of us and we don't want to pillory her," Snell said. "She regrets what she did."

Dunedin-based distance runner Crumpton told the Otago Daily Times yesterday that "I can't believe that they support her at this time. They put in a submission to get her to the [2004 and 2008 ] Olympics. I thought they would have felt let down."

Moller and Snell both backed Hunter-Galvan's appeals after her two non-selections for the Olympics, and their submissions turned the tide in her favour.

Dunedin-based Gerrard, the chairman of Drug Free New Zealand, said there was no excuse for taking EPO.

"All the educational material about the drug is readily available to elite athletes," he said.

"She knowingly chose to take the substance in an attempt to beat the system. It is a setback for the education programme of Drug Free New Zealand."

The Sports Tribunal of New Zealand announced the ruling against Hunter-Galvan after a five-month process that began with an out-of-competition test conducted at her San Antonio home on March 23.

The 40-year-old teacher admitted taking EPO three times in February and March this year, the last dose just three days before her positive test.

On the TV3 programme, Hunter-Galvan said she took EPO to speed up recovery from an injury.

Gerrard indicated there was no medical evidence to suggest that EPO would enhance recovery from injury.

He said those who cheated by using EPO today took a more sophisticated approach to athletes in the 1980s and '90s, when it caused the deaths of cyclists in Belgium and Holland.

"But the risks of blood clots, strokes and heart attacks are still there," he said.

Mistakes had occurred in the past with sportsmen taking marijuana or asthma-type drugs after getting infections. But EPO was not something taken by chance.

"I'm disappointed that an Olympic athlete has acted in this way," Gerrard said.

"Liza Hunter-Galvan has been apologetic but this does not excuse her actions."

Crumpton said there was no excuse for an athlete taking drugs.