Self-confessed drugs cheat Cathal Lombard has announced his retirement from competitive athletics.

The 32-year-old from Cork made his decision just a fortnight after he claimed a shock win at the Irish Cross Country Championships in Belfast.

Lombard had indicated that he intended to achieve the qualifying time for the Olympic Games in Beijing.

He was punished with a two-year ban on the eve of the 2004 Athens Olympics after using banned blood booster EPO.

Little was subsequently heard about Lombard until his Belfast victory.

That earned the Leevale athlete an offer from Athletics Ireland to compete at this month's World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, but READ MORE

BBC MMVIII