Syringe
Former Paralympic cycling champion Greg Ball, who had been aiming to compete at London 2012, has been banned for two years after testing positive for the anabolic agent stanozolol at the Australian Track Cycling Championships in February this year.
The ban, imposed by Cycling Australia and recognised today by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) means that Ball, who won gold at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney in the mixed Olympic Sprint LC1-LC3, is excluded from competition until March 2013.
Ball’s results at the championships, in which he set a world record in the C1 men’s kilo, have been annulled, and he must also repay the Australian Sports Commission some A$27,500 in grants and sponsorships that he had received.
Born in Scotland, Simon moved to London aged seven and now lives in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with his miniature schnauzer, Elodie. He fell in love with cycling one Saturday morning in 1994 while living in Italy when Milan-San Remo went past his front door. A daily cycle commuter in London back before riding to work started to boom, he's been news editor at road.cc since 2009. Handily for work, he speaks French and Italian. He doesn't get to ride his Colnago as often as he'd like, and freely admits he's much more adept at cooking than fettling with bikes.