HAMMER-THROWER VOWS TO FIGHT OLYMPIC BAN AFTER POSITIVE DRUG TEST

EDMONTON (CP) -- An Alberta hammer-thrower suspended from Canada's
Olympic team after testing positive for an anabolic steroid denies any
wrongdoing and is fighting the decision.

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, which administered the drug
test, confirmed yesterday that Robin Lyons, 23, of Edmonton, tested
positive for norandrosterone, a metabolite of nandrolone, at the
Canadian Olympic trials in August.

"I'm a victim here," Lyons said at a news conference yesterday. "This
isn't right. I'm getting my dreams of Olympics taken away from me for
something I haven't done.

"I think what they're doing is a bogus test.

"I'm not Ben Johnson. I'm not taking steroids."

Lyons is the Canadian national champion in the hammer throw event and
holds the current national record. This was her first positive drug
test.

Anabolic steroids enhance an athlete's performance. But Lyons insisted
she's never taken a banned substance.

"I've never chosen that path just because I think it takes away from
your sport," Lyons said. "I'm trying to grow and be a better person. I
want to do it with my own body."

Athletics Canada says it was bound by policy to suspend Lyons after
being notified of the test results. The organization says it will
support Lyons as she attempts to be reinstated in time for the Games in
Sydney, which begin Sept. 15.

"It appears to be inadvertent from an over-the-counter supplement,"
said Athletics Canada CEO and president John Thresher. "It's a trace
amount only very marginally over the standard acceptable limit.

"She'll protest as soon as possible and we'll do our best to help it be
fast-tracked through the CCES review board."

Lyons planned to lodge a formal protest with the ethics centre today.

"I'm hopeful that her protest will be upheld and she will have the
opportunity still to compete at the Olympics if she can get these
processes through in time," Thresher said.

When asked if there was enough time, he said: "Barely."

One of Lyons' samples showed a level of 9 nanograms of norandrosterone
per millilitre of urine.

When a woman has over 5 nanograms, that's considered illegal, said
centre CEO Victor Lachance. Norandrosterone occurs naturally in the
body but most humans would show a level of 0.5., he said. The highest
natural level the centre has seen in a test is 0.8.

"It's 10 times higher than what you expect to find normally and five
times as to what we consider to be the highest natural level," said
Lachance, who says norandrosterone does not occur naturally in foods
but can be found in nutritional supplements.

"It might not be properly labelled, people may not be informed."

Athletes submit a form when testing for banned substances. Lachance
said Lyons hadn't indicated she was taking a nutritional supplement.

"She indicated other things like multivitamins, but not something that
would lead to this."

Lyons set a meet record in women's hammer throw with a toss of 62.70
metres on Aug. 13. She and Athletics Canada were notified on Aug. 29 of
her positive drug test.

Lyons and her lawyer, Thomas Cooke, suggest her test result may have
had something to do with her menstrual cycle, and that those are her
natural levels.

To bolster their case, they cited an expert on drugs in sports, Dr.
Mauro Di Pasquale, who says the precise amount of norandrosterone
described as a "normal amount" in humans has not been officially
determined by scientific study.