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Zach Lund during the FIBT Men's Skeleton World Cup Race

American Skeleton Racer Zach Lund was on the verge of achieving his dreams. For the past 12 years, he trained in hopes of piquing athletically just in time for the 2006 Torino Olympics. At 26 years old, the stars aligned. Lund was first in the world and the gold medal favorite in his sport. With the games nearing, he was informed that he tested positive for a banned drug. Propecia was the cause. The same hair restoration product Lund had been using for the five years prior without incident. Even though it was blatantly clear he didn’t cheat, Lund was ultimately forced to miss the Olympics and serve a yearlong suspension. The prohibited drug, Finasteride, the source of all his trouble, was just recently removed from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list.

This week, Graham Bensinger caught up with Zach Lund to go “In Depth.”

Graham Bensinger: Your reaction to the drug being removed from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list.

Zach Lund: I got an email from my marketing director and I was quite surprised. I laughed about it until I started crying. I kind of expected it, but I never thought it would really happen.

Bensinger: Have you heard from anyone from the World Anti-Doping Agency [WADA] since it has been removed?

Lund: Oh, no. They’ll never admit their faults. They would never apologize or anything for what they’ve done.

Bensinger: Why was it removed?

Lund: For the exact reasons that I brought up in my court hearing. I know you’ve talked to [the world’s most renowned anti-doping scientist] Don Catlin before. He actually testified at my case. The exact science he brought up in my case is what got it removed. In my hearing, they said they weren’t there for the science, but rather, they were there because I had a positive test.

Bensinger: They weren’t there for the science, they were there because you had a… What does that mean?

Lund: It means that they don’t give us, as athletes, many rights… especially in our hearings, to prove our innocence. They don’t give us much time to prepare. They don’t allow us to bring in science or star witnesses or anything, even though they’re allowed to do so. The system is broken and stacked against the athlete. They want to keep the Olympic movement looking so pure and the anti-doping movement pure and perfect, when it’s far from.

Bensinger: There have been a lot of athletes caught cheating, especially recently. Many athletes use performance enhancing drugs. Basically, what you’re saying… When an athlete is innocent, and instances may be few and far between, there’s very limited ability that the athlete has to prove that.

Lund: Exactly. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in anti-doping agencies and what they stand for. The only problem is they’re kind of on a witch hunt. They want to take down anyone they can to prove their existence, to prove they need funding, to prove that they’re working. They don’t care if they take down honest athletes with the dirty ones. They want to make it look like they’re doing their job perfectly.

Bensinger: Why was the drug banned to begin with?

Lund: They said that it could be used for masking steroid use. The problem is there was no scientific proof and no peer-reviewed science that proved that. They kind of just went out on a wild hair and said we’re going to put this on the [banned] list. They do that all the time. There have been multiple athletes who have had medals taken away or have had Olympics taken away because of a banned substance and then the next year they say, “Oh, our bad. We put that on too soon and we’re taking it off now.” It’s a little unfair.