The news that Armitstead is now free to compete for Team GB in the women’s road race at the Olympics in Rio on Sunday was welcomed by most in the United Kingdom, although as one Cycling Weekly reader noted: “If Lizzie were Russian but you kept all the other details the same, I’m sure the press reaction in the United Kingdom would be a fair bit more cynical”.
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On Tuesday, Armitstead – who stated she has been tested 16 times in 2016 and has a clear blood passport – was cleared to compete at the Games by CAS, although the decision was met with surprise by some, while UKAD itself asked for an explanation of the ruling.
The ruling centred on an anti-doping test attempted on August 20 previous year, when the Briton claimed she was staying at her team hotel, during the International Cycling Union (UCI) Women’s Road World Cup in Vargarda in Sweden.
“At the Cas hearing, Ms Armitstead raised a defence in relation to the first whereabouts failure, which was accepted by the panel. Why did British Cycling fund appeal?”
“Meanwhile, I hope that UKAD can now return to the important job of making sure all athletes are clean and that Rio is the clean Olympics that we all want”.
In a statement released on Monday, the 2015 world champion claimed the UK Anti-Doping official trying to find her in Sweden had not been given her hotel room number and had then tried to contact her on her mobile, which was switched off.
“CAS ruled that the UKAD doping control officer had not followed required procedures nor made reasonable attempts to locate Armitstead”, a statement on behalf of Armitstead read.
The legal team of reigning world champion Armitstead, who hails from Otley in Yorkshire but now lives in Monaco, successfully argued the correct process had not been followed for the first of three adjudged “whereabouts failures” in 10 months. Imagine the furore – as many have pointed out – if she was Russian.
As this person said: “They can call at anytime, as far as I am concerned – if we don’t comply and have these checks in place, it takes all the trust out of sport”, before adding “I always make sure I can hear the doorbell” when the hour of declared whereabouts arrives.
“A busy post-World Championship period meant I had no firm plans and as such was changing address and plans very quickly”.
She was Britain’s first medallist of London 2012 four years ago with silver in the road race on The Mall and is among a group of favourites for the same event in Rio on Sunday.
The second was an administrative failure on October 5, 2015, and the third was a missed test on June 9 following “an emergency change of plans due to a serious illness within her family”.
“I felt like I was standing on a cliff and I was going to fall off the edge”, she said. “I am very much looking forward to putting this situation behind”.
One of the key questions with regards to Armitstead’s case was why she seemingly did not challenge the first missed test that was later struck off from her record.
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This led to British Cycling official Simon Thornton being assigned to help her, however, “this system fell apart” when Thornton left the organisation three weeks before a third missed test on June 9 without her knowledge.
