Cycling: NZ's Peden withdraws after taking banned drug

8.00am

ATHENS - Sprint veteran Anthony Peden may face disciplinary action from BikeNZ following his shock defection from the Olympic track cycling squad today for using a banned substance to alleviate chronic back pain.

Peden, who switched allegiance from Australia to New Zealand in 1998, withdrew from the New Zealand team hours before he was due to set foot in Athens and five days before he was due to compete in his specialist event, the keirin.

While late arrivals Greg Henderson and Hayden Roulston checked into the Games Village today the 33-year-old former Australian representative was winging his way home from a BikeNZ camp in France to Sydney.

Peden told team officials four days ago he had been prescribed the cortisone-based drug Triamcinolone -- a pain reliever that is on the World Anti Doping Agency (Wada) list of banned substances, although it is not considered performance-enhancing.

BikeNZ high performance director Warren Lister said his first instinct was to accept Peden's explanation that he received bad advice from a German physician when he was in a training camp in Cottbus last month.

However, Peden was likely to face more questions from BikeNZ chief executive Roger Thompson when he returned home to Newcastle.

"In the coming weeks the appropriate people will contact Anthony and see if there's anything we need to do in terms of penalising him for his inappropriate behaviour," Lister said.

"In my mind Anthony hasn't had a positive drug test but we can't condone his lack of attention to detail.

"We're embarrassed to be associated with any kind of banned substance."

Lister could not explain why Peden did not enlist the advice of BikeNZ medical staff before going to the German physician.

"I haven't asked him specifically why we didn't come to us. I don't have any reason."

Lister said Peden could still have had a place on the team had he contacted BikeNZ medical staff.

"As an organisation we're here to help athletes and help them achieve their goals within the rules of the game and we're prepared to do that to any length, but we can't help somebody who doesn't communicate with us on issues of this importance."

Lister estimated BikeNZ spent up to $5000 on the final stage of Peden's Olympic build-up which included training camps in Germany and France.

- NZPA