Ironman AG Champ Gets 4yr Doping Ban
The IRONMAN® Anti-Doping Program announced that American age-group athlete Holly Balogh tested positive for a prohibited substance and has accepted a four-year suspension. Ms. Balogh’s positive sample was collected at the 2016 IRONMAN® North American Championship Texas, which took place on May 14, 2016. Her 4-year suspension commenced, according to Ironman's release, on July 11, 2016.
Balogh’s sample tested positive for the presence of an exogenous testosterone and/or its metabolites, according to Ironman, which was confirmed by Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) analysis. Ironman noted that Ms. Balogh did not apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE).
Ironman’s investigation included information provided by two former athlete support personnel who had worked with Ms. Balogh as well as facts gathered in cooperation with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Through this investigation, IRONMAN confirmed that Ms. Balogh was aware of the inherent risks associated with her conduct and proceeded to knowingly take the prohibited substance.
Kate Mittelstadt, Director of the IRONMAN Anti-Doping Program, said, “We applaud the decisions of the athlete support personnel to step forward, first to report Ms. Balogh’s use with disregard to their advice, and also for the conviction to include anti-doping awareness in their coaching. They each recognized the importance of honoring their obligations under the anti-doping rules and cooperated with IRONMAN’s investigation.”
Holly Balogh raced in the women’s 45-49 age group during 2016. She won her age group (result since nullified) at the Ironman Texas race at which she returned an adverse finding. She was the All World Athlete Ironman’s champion in 2014 in the women's 40-44 age group, and won the same honor plus the overall All World Athlete title in 2015 in the 45-49 category.
[The subtitle originally referenced endogenous testosterone. The infraction was for exogenous testosterone.]
