IRISH OLYMPIC MEDAL hopeful Michael O’Reilly is reportedly preparing an appeal to the results of a failed drug test.

It emerged yesterday that the middleweight boxer failed a test taken before he left Ireland for the Olympics games in Rio. O’Reilly has been provisionally suspended pending further investigation and the conclusion of the anti-doping process.

RTÉ reports he intends to fight the ban on competing.

He is left with three options in the process at this point:

• He can accept the findings reported in his A sample and be sanctioned for the doping violation.
• He can request that his B sample be tested to ensure that the findings from both samples match.
• He can appeal the provisional suspension on the grounds that he was not at fault or negligent, or if the violation was brought about by a contaminated product.

O’Reilly also has the right to request an expedited hearing on his case.

Former president of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association Dominic O’Rourke told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland he was “shocked to hear that a boxer tested positive” because of the education in boxing and the programmes in place in the association.

“The boxers in particular are the most tested athletes in Ireland at the moment”.

He said when the news broke that a boxer had tested positive yesterday, it “put a slur on all the teams”.

“At least now they’ve identified the person involved,” he added, saying it would have been a relief to the other boxers.

“It’s a major task, these guys have been training for the last four years to get a shot at the Olympic games and it’s a chance of a lifetime for them.”

Read: Michael O’Reilly doping controversy: what happens next?>

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