Janine Whitlock Secretly Competing in Weight Lifting

[rainbowgirl28]

http://ichuddersfield.icnetwork.co.uk/0 ... _page.html

Secret shame of top athlete Nov 28 2003


Banned star's bogus identity

By Ed Reed, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner


DISGRACED Olympic athlete Janine Whitlock, who was banned from the pole vault for doping offences, has been competing in weightlifting competitions under a false name.

The 30-year-old from Liversedge, banned from athletics for two years last summer after testing positive for taking anabolic steroids, lifted in two events in the south east, helped by a leading official in the sport.

Whitlock, the British pole vault record-holder, was a member of the national squad in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The positive test came last year at the Commonwealth Games on June 16.

Her ban ends on June 19 next year.

She claimed a drink had been spiked but a UK Athletics disciplinary panel ruled she was guilty of the drugs offence.

The British Weightlifting Association upholds drugs bans made in other sports.

BWLA chief executive Steve Canon said it took months to uncover the deception.

Brian Hamill, who was the chairman of the south east division of the BWLA has been suspended for two years for bringing weightlifting into disrepute.

He was disciplined for knowingly allowing Whitlock to compete under the assumed name Ginny Howgate.

He believed she was innocent of the doping charge and permitted her to take part in events including the South East Divisional Championships.

Other competitors and spectators recognised Whitlock.

[rainbowgirl28]

http://ichuddersfield.icnetwork.co.uk/0 ... _page.html

`My accusers have got wrong end of the stick'

Dec 3 2003


Disgraced sport star's own story

By Ed Reed, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner


DISGRACED pole vault champion Janine Whitlock today spoke for the first time about her drugs ban - and her appearance under another name in contests.


Whitlock was spotted at weightlifting contests around the south of England under a false name but was caught.


She has denied competing but admits she was training and warming up with competitors.


Janine, 30, who began her athletics career at Longwood Harriers, was tested positive for steroids last summer after breaking her 37th UK record in the pole vault.


She was banned from athletics until July 2004 as well as being given a lifetime ban from the Olympics.


Janine is currently based in London, living on benefits, while she waits for the day when she can return to competition.


Last week it was discovered she had been spotted at weightlifting events using the alias Ginny Howgate.


Janine last night claimed all she was doing was weight training under competition conditions, to maintain her edge.


"I was in a room where there was a competition going on, people have seen me and they have got the wrong end of the stick," she explained.


Brian Hamill, chairman of the south eastern division of the British Weightlifting Association, was suspended for two years for bringing the sport into disrepute.

He was disciplined for knowingly allowing Janine to compete under the false name.


"They must have recognised me and thought: `She's lifting and there she is competing with everyone else'," said Janine.


The BWLA upholds bans made in other sports.


"You train to compete," explained Janine's father Tony, who still lives at Liversedge.


"What she did was competition training but not in competition and there's nothing wrong with that.


"She was advised by Brian Hamill. He set it up. She trusted him.


"Brian Hamill said it was OK so what is Janine supposed to think? Brian Hamill suggested an alias."


Janine has maintained a punishing training programme since last summer, all the while trying to discover reasons why she could have tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid methandienonethe.


Recent research has shown that steroids are found in some off-the-shelf supplements.


"We have found out that contaminated steroids are rife in this country," said Mr Whitlock.


"We are not talking about an isolated incident. We are talking 15 per cent of all supplements tested in an IOC (International Olympic Committee) accredited laboratory in Cologne.


"Our message to every single sports person out there is do not take any supplement because if you do you are talking your whole career being ruined and life being ruined."


Meanwhile, Janine gets on with her own daily routine.


"I get upset quite often. I'm better about it but I get angry. I can't go back on what's happened. I have lost so much."

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.j ... sport.html

Athletics: Whitlock appeal on BOA ban is dismissed
By Tom Knight 
(Filed: 17/03/2004)

The queue of athletes hoping to challenge the British Olympic Association's stance on drug cheats grew yesterday when Janine Whitlock had her appeal against her lifetime ban rejected.

Whitlock, the UK record holder in the pole vault, was banned for two years in 2002 after testing positive for the banned anabolic steroid methandienone, also known as dianabol.

She is due to return to competition in July, just two days before the final qualifying date for this summer's Olympic Games in Athens. As Britain's best vaulter, Whitlock was hoping to make a last-minute attempt at being included in the British team. But a BOA bylaw introduced in the Nineties means that she is banned from ever representing Britain at the Games. The same ban applies to the shot putter, Carl Myerscough, who was banned for two years in 2000, and Dwain Chambers, whose ban ends in November 2005.

Simon Clegg, the BOA's chief executive said: "As always, cases before the BOA's appeals panel are considered on the merits of the individual circumstances. There's no doubt that Janine has considerable athletic potential, but this decision means she will not be able to be selected for Team GB in Athens or beyond.

"The BOA continues to believe that its anti-doping bylaw sends the strongest possible message to British athletes that any athlete found guilty of a doping offence will not represent our country at the Olympic Games."

In the meantime, the prospect of Whitlock and Chambers ever competing for Britain at an Olympics rests with Myerscough's plans to challenge the BOA bylaw at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. According to the BOA, however, no such challenge has yet materialised.

[rainbowgirl28]

http://sport.independent.co.uk/general/ ... ory=501924

Athletics: Pole-vaulter Whitlock loses appeal against life ban from Olympics

By Mike Rowbottom

17 March 2004

Janine Whitlock yesterday lost her appeal against a life ban from the Olympics following a positive doping test in 2002.

The British pole vault record holder, who was banned for two years after her sample showed traces of the anabolic steroid, methandianone, will return to competition in July, but the British Olympic Association, which bans all those guilty of serious doping offences from the Games under its by-law, has rejected her plea to be allowed to compete in Athens this August.

Whitlock claimed her test result was due to a drink being spiked, but the BOA, one of only three national associations which imposes a life ban from the Games for doping offences, is standing firm.

According to a spokesman, the BOA independent appeals panel found "no significant mitigating circumstances" in Whitlock's case, and came to its decision unanimously.

Whitlock now finds herself in the same territory as her former international colleague Carl Myerscough, whose appeal against a BOA life ban was turned down last July. The shot putter hinted at the World Indoor Championships that he intended to challenge the decision either in the High Court or the Court of Arbitration for Sport. But a BOA spokesman insisted yesterday although there had been a regular exchange of correspondence with Myerscough's legal representatives, nothing definite had happened.

"There are now just 150 days to go until the Athens Olympics and we have had no papers from any court served upon us," the spokesman said.

There is still speculation, too, that Dwain Chambers, who received a two-year ban last month, may choose to contest his life ban under the BOA by-law, which was introduced at the request of the Athletes' Commission in the early 1990s. The BOA, however, believes resolutely that the measure is both widely popular and justified.

[rainbowgirl28]

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/athletics/s ... 34,00.html

Olympic door is shut on Whitlock

Duncan Mackay
Wednesday March 17, 2004
The Guardian

Janine Whitlock
 
In a decision that could have serious repercussions for Dwain Chambers, the British Olympic Association has turned down the appeal of Janine Whitlock against her lifetime ban from representing her country in the Olympics.

The UK record holder for the pole vault had wanted the ban lifted so she could compete in the Olympics after the completion of her two-year suspension for testing positive for an anabolic steroid.

UK Athletics suspended Whitlock, who has set 37 British records, after she tested positive for Dianabol at the Commonwealth Games trials in Manchester in June 2002.

The BOA bans from its Olympic squads for life any athlete found guilty of a drugs offence without sufficient mitigating circumstances. Its independent appeals panel, chaired by Charles Hollander QC, unanimously concluded that Whitlock, 30, had not proven there were significant mitigating circumstances in relation to her doping offence.

"As always, cases before the BOA's appeals panel are considered on the merits of the individual circumstances," said Simon Clegg, the BOA chief executive. "In this instance the panel unanimously decided against allowing Janine Whitlock's appeal.

"There is no doubt that Janine has considerable athletic potential but this decision means she will not be able to be selected for Team GB in Athens or beyond."

Whitlock is the second potential member of Britain's Olympic squad to be ruled out of the games by the BOA's tough stance. Last year Carl Myerscough, the UK shot put record holder who tested positive for a cocktail of banned steroids in 1999, had a similar appeal turned down. He has threatened to take the BOA to court over the decision but it is believed he is struggling to raise the funds to launch what might be a costly legal action.

After his two-year ban for testing positive for the designer anabolic steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), Chambers was urged to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne to appeal against his potential lifetime ban from the Olympics.

[rainbowgirl28]

She's baaacck

http://icteesside.icnetwork.co.uk/0200s ... _page.html

Whitlock to end drug ban in Baltic event

Aug 12 2004

By Bill Mcguirk, The Evening Chronicle

First it was Top of the Pops now it's high-flying pole vaulters who will be in action at Gateshead's Baltic Square.

For the third time, a specially-prepared runway will be laid for the Sage Baltic Pole Vault Challenge this Sunday.

This year promises to be the best yet, with a strong entry, including six vaulters who have soared over five metres, among the line-up.

As well as some of the country's leading performers, which includes UK women's record holder Janine Whitlock, Germany's Torben Meins adds an international flavour to proceedings and spectators will be thrilled by being so close to the action.

Whitlock, whose UK record clearance of 4.44m was achieved in 2002 just before she received a two-year ban for a drug-related offence, will have her first competitive outing since taking an enforced leave of absence from the sport.

Whitlock, who celebrated her 31st birthday yesterday, was Britain's leading female pole vaulter between 1996 and 2002, when she set 37 national records.

North East regional development co-ordinator Richard Hunter, who is once again organising the event, is looking forward to seeing some exciting competition on a runway made specially from the surface used for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

"Thanks to the support of Sage and the investment made by Northumbrian Water and Sportsmatch, our third Baltic Pole Vault Challenge will certainly be our best so far," said Hunter, whose last venture saw decathlete Dean Macey compete at Hexham where he qualified for the Olympic Games.

"The athletes always comment on how fast the runway is and how the crowd at Gateshead lifts them to new heights.

"This year we have by far the best line-up ever - Birchfield's Scott Simpson has cleared 5.55m this year - so we should see some superb competition. It would be great if any of the vaulters could attain personal bests, as the runway will be specially surveyed, and we hope to have any records ratified should we need to.

"We also have our first women's competition and it will be interesting to see if the four-metre barrier can be achieved for the first time."

Regional pole vault coach Jamie Scott is also thrilled to see the event return, especially with interest focusing on two of his own athletes, Mark Christie, last year's leading UK under-20 vaulter, and Gateshead's Sally Scott, one of the country's leading under-15s.

"The Baltic event is one of the most entertaining competitions in the country. It brings pole vaulting right to the heart of the people on the street," said Scott.

Spectators, who can watch the proceedings for free, should be in the Baltic Square ready for a noon start.