Ezra Shaw / Getty Images

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

Bensinger: WADA made the decision to remove Finasteride. They said, “These substances have been rendered ineffective as masking agents of steroids.” To what extent does that mean at one point they were effective?

Lund: That’s the thing. I was taking it for five years before it became illegal and I got my positive. I was declaring it on every doping form for five years. They knew I was taking it. Then, it became illegal. I got no notification it was going to [become illegal], personally. They put out a release, but you pretty much have to be an expert in the field to understand everything that’s going on. I did make an error in judgment. I should have checked the list, but after five years of checking, I was pretty complacent with it. I didn’t think that some little pill I was taking to keep my hair from falling out could ever help enhance my performance in any way. It’s just to keep my hair from falling out!

Bensinger: Right, but do you know if other athletes were taking it to mask steroid usage?

Lund: I don’t. I don’t know.

Bensinger: Okay. You said whenever you were tested you let the testers know you were taking the drug. What was their response?

Lund: Every time I get drug tested, which is upwards of ten times per year, you fill out a form and put down every medication you’ve taken in the past three days. I put down the vitamins I was taking and my hair growth [product]. I always assumed that the anti-doping agencies were looking at what I was putting on those forms. They’re there [the agencies] for the athletes. They don’t want you to get a positive test. I figured if there was something illegal, they tell me it had been added to the list and to stop taking it. After I got my positive, I found they don’t look at the list at all.

Bensinger: Tell me about the day you were told you did something wrong.

Lund: (laughs) Oh, it’s hard to explain. I’ve kind of put it in the past and not thought about it much until this recently came out because it was a pretty traumatic time in my life. I was sitting on my bed getting ready for a World Cup. I was all excited because I had already locked in my Olympic spot. I was piquing that year and doing well. I got the call and it literally felt like the floor fell out from underneath me. My heart dropped and I almost started shaking because I was so scared. When my federation told me what the drug was, I had never even heard of it before. Then, I was asked if I’d been using Propecia. That’s when I realized there were going to be some problems.

Bensinger: After you got off the phone and it began to sink in, what was going through your mind?

Lund: I missed the opportunity of my life. At that point, I had been working for twelve years of my life to pique in 2006 as an athlete in my sport and everything was coming together. I was first in the world. I was winning races. I was the favorite in Torino. I had already been there and my times were the fastest. I’ve won two of the three World Cups since there and I actually have the world record there after the Olympics. It felt like all of that hard work was gone. It’s like going to school to become a lawyer and then finding out you did all of your tests with a No. 1 pencil and not a No. 2 pencil so it all doesn’t count.

Bensinger: Initially, did you expect it would keep you from competing?

Lund: I had never been in that situation before and simply didn’t know. I talked to the United States Olympic Committee. I was steered toward the direction of my lawyer, Howard Jacobs, who is an expert in the field. He told me the way the procedures work, what I have to do, and what it is going to take.