Mark French

Mark French ( born October 13, 1984 in Melbourne ) is an Australian former racing cyclist.

Cycling career

2001 Mark French double Junior World Champion in the sprint and team sprint, with Jason Niblett and Kial Stewart, a success he was able to repeat it with the world titles in the sprint and keirin in a year. In 2003 he was Australian champion in keirin the elite and at the Track World Championships in Stuttgart fourth in the team sprint, with Ryan Bayley and Jobie Dajka. In the Oceania Games 2006 French won two gold medals in the keirin and the sprint.

2007 Mark French Australian champion in the team sprint, with Joel Leonard and Shane Perkins and was runner-up in the sprint; at the track world championships in the same year in Palma de Mallorca, he finished tenth in the sprint. In 2008, he won three national titles in the sprint, keirin and team sprint in, with Shane Kelly and Shane Perkins and was at the track world championships in fifth in the team sprint, with Daniel Ellis and Ben Kersten. In the same year he competed in the Beijing Olympics, was fourth in the team sprint ( with Daniel Ellis, Ryan Bayley and Shane Kelly) and 13th in the sprint. Then he stepped back from active cycling.

Doping affair

2004 Mark French was implicated in a doping scandal, as ampoules with growth hormones in his room at the Australian Institute of Sport were found. At a hearing he accused his fellow athletes Shane Kelly, Sean Eadie, Jobie Dajka and Graeme Brown of doping, but protested his own innocence. You could have set itself the syringes in his room. French received a two -year ban, which prevented him from starting at the Olympic Games in Athens. Besides it only Dajka was punished for making false statement by being dropped from the Olympic squad. 2005 French was acquitted by the International Court of Sport (CAS) and canceled its lock.

In December 2008, Mark was French by a court of 350,000 Australian dollars in compensation awarded. The sum needed by the radio station " Triple M " be paid to him as moderators of the transmitter because of its statement in the doping scandal and accusations of other racers as dirty, stinking him Dobbing cyclist (german = filthy, stinking, petzender cyclists) and had referred to as "un - Australian". In March 2010, the Australian newspaper The Herald and Weekly Times had to pay for similar reasons 175,000 Australian dollars in French.

Honors

2003 Mark French was elected to the Victorian Cyclist of the Year, after he had become 2001 and 2002 junior cyclist of the year from Australia.

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