Mark French (born 13 October 1984) is a retired Australian sprint

track cyclist Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

. He started cycling competitively relatively late, at the age of 15, in 1999.

Drug scandal

French is most recognised for the 2004 scandal where he was accused of taking drugs, after cleaners found 13 ampoules labelled EquiGen (

equine Equinae is a subfamily of the family Equidae, which have lived worldwide (except Indonesia and Australia) from the Hemingfordian stage of the Early Miocene (16 million years ago) onwards. They are thought to be a monophyletic grouping.B. J. MacFa ...

-derived

growth hormone Growth hormone (GH) or somatotropin, also known as human growth hormone (hGH or HGH) in its human form, is a peptide hormone that stimulates growth, cell reproduction, and cell regeneration in humans and other animals. It is thus important in h ...

, an illegal doping agent), syringes and vitamins outside his boarding room at the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

.The Independent.co.uk: Australian cycling rocked by drugs claims
/ref> On testing some of the syringes were found to contain the EquiGen hormone. At his drugs hearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport French gave sworn evidence that named

Shane Kelly Shane John Kelly OAM (born 7 January 1972) is a former professional Australian track racing Track racing is a form of motorcycle racing where teams or individuals race opponents around an unpaved oval track. There are differing variants, w ...

Sean Eadie Sean Eadie (born 15 April 1969 in Sydney, Australia) is a retired professional track cyclist. He lives in Como, New South Wales. He started cycling at 10 and became a professional in 1990. Despite competitive aggression on the track, he is a ...

Jobie Dajka Jobie Lee Dajka (11 December 1981 – 4 April 2009) was an Australian professional track cyclist from Adelaide, South Australia. Biography Dajka received an AIS Junior Athlete of the Year award in 1999, and an Achievement Award in 2002 ...

and

Graeme Brown Graeme Allen Brown Order of Australia, OAM (born 9 April 1979) is an Australian former professional cycle sport, cyclist, who competed professionally between 2002 and 2016 for the , and teams. A former Australian Institute of Sport scholarsh ...

as riders who often injected vitamins and supplements in his room. Further French said that for months they injected themselves once or twice a week in room 121 at the Australian Institute of Sport. French was banned from cycling for two years after he was found to have taken and trafficked

corticosteroid Corticosteroids are a class of steroid hormones that are produced in the adrenal cortex of vertebrates, as well as the synthetic analogues of these hormones. Two main classes of corticosteroids, glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids, are involv ...

and equine

. No other cyclist were charged with drug offenses but

was found to have lied in his evidence to the inquiry and was suspended and sent home from the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

pre-Olympic training camp. French appealed and in July 2005 was cleared by the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...

due to lack of evidence, and they also rescinded his lifetime ban from competing at the Olympics. The drugs scandal meant French missed competing at the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. French expressed anger at the cycling world and said "It wasn't until after the day after the decision got handed down with the appeal that I started enjoying life."

Return to cycling

After failing to qualify for the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

, French was successful in being selected in the Australian national team for the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

. He achieved 4th and 13th in the team and individual sprints, respectively. He retired after the Olympics and now works as a personal trainer.

Defamation actions

In December 2008 French was awarded a $350,000 payout after being defamed by

James Brayshaw James Antony Brayshaw (born 11 May 1967) is an Australian media personality and retired cricketer working in television for the Seven Network and radio for Triple M. For Seven Sport, he hosts and calls Test cricket during summer and Australian F ...

and Tim Smith who branded French as a "dirty, stinking, dobbing cyclist" by radio station

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back to th ...

. In March 2010 French was awarded $175,000 in a successful defamation action against

The Herald and Weekly Times The Herald and Weekly Times Pty Ltd (HWT) is a newspaper publishing company based in Melbourne, Australia. It is owned and operated by News Pty Ltd, which as News Ltd, purchased the HWT in 1987. Newspapers The HWT's newspaper interests date ba ...

over allegations that were similar to those raised by

.Andrea Petrie
Cyclist Mark French wins defamation payout

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

, 27 April 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2011

Palmarès

;2001: 1st Sprint, World Track Championships - Junior :1st Team Sprint, World Track Championships - Junior ;2002 :1st Keirin, World Track Championships - Junior :1st Sprint, World Track Championships - Junior ;2003 :1st Sprint,

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

Aguascalientes Aguascalientes (; ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Aguascalientes), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and ...

:3rd Team Sprint,

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

:1st Keirin,

Australian National Track Championships The Australian National Track Championships are held annually and are composed of competitions of various track cycling disciplines across various age, gender and disability categories. Men Senior Team Pursuit Team Sprint Madison Junior ...

, Sydney :2nd Team Sprint,

, Sydney :2nd Sprint,

, Sydney ;2006 :1st Sprint, Oceania Games,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

:1st Keirin, Oceania Games,

:2nd Team Sprint, Oceania Games,

;2007 :2nd Sprint,

, Sydney :1st Team Sprint,

, Sydney :3rd Team Sprint, Oceania Cycling Championships,

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

;2008 :3rd Team Sprint,

, Los Angeles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Mark 1984 births Living people Australian male cyclists Australian track cyclists Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists of Australia Cyclists from Melbourne Australian Institute of Sport cyclists Doping cases in Australian cycling