Q&A with Rebekah Keat
After winning Ironman Western Australia in November 2004, Rebekah Keat tested positive for trace amounts of 19-norandrosterone, a urinary metabolite of the banned steroid precursor norandrostenedione - aka nandrolone. Despite an appeal hearing where the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled the result was likely due to supplement contamination, Keat was given a two year ban from competition.
During her ban, Keat and her twin sister Simone dug deep to find evidence that might offer definitive proof of her innocence. After two years of negotiations, the Keats convinced the Malaysian WADA-approved lab to test the June 2006 samples of the Hammer Nutrition Endurolyte supplement she had been using in November 2004. The Keats assert the lab tests showed that the Endurolyte samples she provided contained amounts of norandrostenedione “consistent with Rebekah Keat’s positive drug test.”
On February 11, Keat joined Canadian XTERRA triathlete Michael Vine and U.S. cyclist Amber Neben in a lawsuit against Hammer Nutrition seeking damages due to supplement contamination. The suit was filed by prominent attorney Howard Jacobs, who has defended many top athletes accused of doping violations. While Hammer Nutrition CEO Brian Frank vehemently defends his products and denies any liability - citing chain of custody issues with testing a sample that had been stored in Keat’s garage for years - both Keat and Vine have expressed relief at being able to defend their reputations in court.
In Keat’s return to competition last year, she won Ironman Australia in record time and took sixth at her first try at the Ironman world championship in Kona.
Inside Triathlon catches up with the iron star to discuss the test, her ban from competition and the struggle to clear her name.
Inside Triathlon: How did you deal with the initial shock of the positive test result at Ironman Western Australia? How much did it take over your life?
Rebekah Keat: I remember answering the phone and just dropped to the ground. I could not even talk and had to get a friend to take the call. I remember asking "What is Nandrolone?" I didn’t even know what it was! This has consumed my family and I for the last four years. We spent countless hours researching what nandrolone was and how this could have happened!
IT: After the news of the positive test came out, what sorts of comments were made publicly and in random encounters with fans and others in the sport?
RK: Overall, there was a very supportive response. Everyone who knows me knew I was innocent and knows the ridiculous training I had put in to get to where I was. It was by no means a fluke. I had a personal best of four hours, 13 minutes for a half-Ironman. I had been training for the event for over a year and had been in the sport for 10 years and was undefeated over the half-iron distance!
IT: How did you deal with the negative comments? How much did they hurt you and the rest of your family?
RK: I was drained from crying and lack of sleep from being up on the computer all night trying to research the causes of my result. I had to stop myself from reading the crap that had been written on chat sites, from people who had nothing better to do and were obviously very uneducated and were quick to judge.
IT: You had a spirited public defense by Rod Cedaro of Australia in the March 2005 issue of Australian Triathlon and Multisports. Cedaro pointed out that your urine sample has a higher-than-recommended specific gravity (a higher level of concentration due to severe post-race dehydration that makes certain metabolites appear to exist at banned levels) and that you’re A and B samples, supposedly split from the same original sample, differed by an amount that indicated that the testing procedures were inherently unreliable. How much did his article help?
RK: It did help as it educated people on my situation. Unfortunately you are judged in the court of public opinion no matter what, so Rod shedding light on the subject was good for me.
IT: How did Triathlon Australia respond in your opinion?
RK: Triathlon Australia did what they had to do at the time, but they also agreed with the CAS ruling that it must have been contamination due to the micro amounts that were found. They know I have proven my innocence and have been very supportive recently.
I am also working closely with Australian Sports Drug Agency educating athletes on risks of supplement use and inadvertent doping. For me this is a huge honor to be able to help educate young athletes, and stop them from going through what I went through.
IT: I understand your case was made to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Did the CAS panel stipulate that your positive test was a result of contaminated supplements? That seems like an unusual step.
RK: The CAS hearing was in Brisbane, Australia, and they concluded at the end of the hearing that my positive test was most likely due to a contaminated supplement.
IT: How did you bear up under the two-year ban? Was it hard to work out and maintain your hard-won race fitness under discouraging circumstances?
RK: It was the hardest thing I have faced, but I got up every morning at 5 a.m. for two straight years knowing that I am innocent and one day justice would prevail.
IT: What do you think of the effort your sister Simone made to clear your name?
RK: My sister is my rock and without her I am not sure I would still be here!
IT: How hard was it to find a lab to test the Endurolyte samples?
RK: I understand most labs are reluctant to do so because of potential legal liability in a very delicate and precise procedure.
IT: Have you received positive response when the suit was filed?
RK: It’s more of a relief for myself to finally know I can move forward and put all this pain behind. Unfortunately, it will always be at the back of my mind—the pain I went through being given the same sentence as a deliberate doper. It’s too late now I have proved my innocence but will never get my two years of loss back!
IT: Most of all, what changes would you recommend in the fight against doping
after your experience?
RK: WADA, I believe, has already adopted a new code in which an athlete such as myself tests positive and the amounts are extremely low (7micrograms or 0.007 of a gram) then the result may be considered inadvertent. I think some athletes were over 1,000 times this amount.
IT: Do you feel you could train at an elite level without supplements?
RK: I think in an Ironman you need to be able to replace your body's electrolytes such as sodium, magnesium and potassium. You lose massive amounts when you are working hard for nine or more hours. If you don't replace lots electrolytes you can suffer hyponatremia and even death!
IT: What would you tell the casual reader who suspects that all pros are on
the juice and any explanations offered for adverse analytical findings are just lame excuses?
RK: A positive test does not mean you’re a drug cheat. I am the perfect example. The only thing I am guilty of is hard work!
IT: Do you have any comment on Hammer Nutrition CEO Brian Frank’s remarks defending his company and casting doubt on your lawsuit?
RK: The truth will prevail. I am 100 percent confident that all three of us will be vindicated.
For more on Keat and the Hammer Nutrition lawsuit, check out the May issue of Inside Triathlon, hitting news stands this week.
