Olympic runner Bol cleared of doping

A doping investigation into Australian Olympic 800 meters runner Peter Bol was dropped yesterday, with the middle-distance star calling it "a dream come true" as athletics officials questioned the testing process.

Bol, who narrowly missed bronze when he finished fourth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, returned a positive result for performance-enhancing EPO in January.

He was suspended from all competition, but later analyses of his B-sample - including from a World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited laboratory - returned an "atypical finding," meaning it did not confirm the original test.

The Sudan-born athlete, who always claimed innocence, has now been cleared. He said would now focus on the world athletics championships in Hungary later this month.

Athletics Australia said the matter raised serious questions about "the accuracy of EPO analysis."