By Riel Hauman
South African marathon record holder Gert Thys has been reinstated and may compete in races again with immediate effect. According to a media release by Athletics South Africa (ASA), Thys has completed the mandatory four out-of-competition tests during his period of ineligibility and all results were negative.
Thys tested positive for the prohibited substance Norandrosterone at the Seoul Marathon in Korea on 12 March 2006, which he won in 2:10:40, and after having carefully reviewed all the evidence presented in his case, an ASA tribunal found Thys guilty of having committed a doping offence and declared him ineligible to participate.
In December last year ASA announced that Thys would be reinstated as soon as he had complied with the obligatory number of tests that have to be done during an athlete’s period of ineligibility/suspension. The Seoul result is the only performance invalidated by his suspension.
Thys, now 37, has completed 35 marathons since he debuted over the distance in May 1988. Not counting the Seoul race, he failed to finish eleven of his last 23 marathons.
Thys won the Seoul Marathon for the third time in four years in 2006. The previous month he had also won the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon in 2:09:45. He set the still standing South African record of 2:06:33 in Tokyo in 1999.
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