Turin – Zach Lund once pictured himself with a full head of hair and a gold medal dangling from his neck.
He will have neither.
The U.S. skeleton athlete and medal hope was bounced from the Winter Olympics on Friday for taking a hair-growth product that sometimes is used as a steroid-masking agent.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled – almost reluctantly – that Lund should serve a one-year suspension for taking finasteride, even though Lund has been taking the pills since 1999 and has openly declared his use of the substance on doping control forms. Lund, 26, tested positive at a World Cup event in November.
“I was taking a little harmless product that was helping me grow some hair,” Lund said. “The last thing I ever wanted from this is to be considered a cheater.
“To be in this category, called a cheater and everything, it kills me. That hurts me now more than not being in the Olympics.”
In a press release, the CAS panel said it was “entirely satisfied that Mr. Lund was not a cheat.” Lund regularly checked the prohibited substance list since 1999. In 2005, “he made a mistake and failed to do so,” the arbitrators said. Finasteride was added to the list a year ago.
When filling out his doping control form last year, he again wrote down his use of finasteride.
“Yet this was not picked up by any anti-doping organizations until his positive test in late 2005,” the panelists said. CAS officials found that failure “very surprising” and added they “had the feeling that Mr. Lund was not well served by the anti-doping organizations.”
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency last month decided to give Lund only a public warning. But the World Anti-Doping Agency sought a two-year ban against the slider and appealed to CAS.
The panel heard WADA’s appeal Thursday at a Turin hotel. Lund attended the session with his attorney, Howard Jacobs.
“Finasteride doesn’t enhance your performance,” Jacobs said Friday. “It’s one of the most tragic cases I’ve ever been involved with.”
Lund’s Olympic ban was the latest blow to the U.S. Skeleton squad. After two female skeleton athletes alleged they were sexually harassed by head coach Tim Nardiello, he was suspended and later fired days before the team headed to Italy.
Lund’s spot will be filled by Chris Soule, who was scrambling Friday to arrange flights from Lake Placid to Turin.
“The coaches and teams are devastated by this decision,” said Terry Kent, sports director of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. “Our job now is to get our coaches and athletes back on track.”
Lund said he planned to remain in Turin for “a day or two to get my story out there.”
“It was an honest, harmless mistake,” Lund said. “… (But) I sit here as an Olympian. I feel like no one can take that away from me.”
Bill Briggs can be reached at 303-820-1720 or bbriggs@denverpost.com
