Sue Howland (born 4 September 1960) is an Australian

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

er whose best result was a gold medal at the

1982 Commonwealth Games The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the ...

. Howland won the Australian Junior (under 20) Javelin throw in 1977 and 1978. Her international career began in 1981 with the

Pacific Conference Games The Pacific Conference Games were a quadrennial Athletics (sport), athletics competition, held between 1969 and 1985 and contested by Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. Each of the five nations hosted an edition of the comp ...

and continued to the

1992 IAAF World Cup The 6th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held on September 25–27, 1992, at the Estadio Panamericano in Havana, Cuba. Overall re ...

. She tried to retain her title at the

1986 Commonwealth Games The 1986 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. This was the second Commonwealth Games to be held in Edinburgh. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries (largely African, Asian and Caribbe ...

, but ended up third behind England's

Tessa Sanderson Theresa Ione Sanderson (born 14 March 1956) is a British former javelin thrower. She appeared in every Summer Olympic Games, Summer Olympics from 1976 to 1996, winning the gold medal in the Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Women's ja ...

and Fatima Whitbread. In 1987, just prior to the Rome World Championships, Howland was ranked third in the world for her event and was a medal prospect. However, after having been detected taking banned drugs, she was disqualified from competition for 2 years just prior to the championships. In September 1987, Howland tested positive for

performance-enhancing drugs Performance-enhancing substances (PESs), also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. Many substances, such as anabolic steroids, can be used to improve at ...

. After serving a two-year disqualification for using performance-enhancing drugs, Howland returned to competition in 1989 and in 1990 she won the silver medal in the

1990 Commonwealth Games The 1990 Commonwealth Games () were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January – 3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Participants competed in ten sports: at ...

javelin throw. Howland's career personal best was a throw of 69.80 metres in 1986.

Role in doping in Australia

Howland has been credited with being one of a select few Australian athletes who openly admitted to using drugs and explaining the culture of drug use in the sport. Howland and another former

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

athlete Gael Martin, along with AIS coach Kevin Giles, appeared on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

Four Corners Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. Most of the Four Corners regio ...

program on 30 November 1987 on a segment entitled "The Winning Edge" which examined the use of anabolic steroids in Australia. The two athletes and coach suggested that if an athlete wanted to do well at an elite level it was necessary to use

ergogenic aid Performance-enhancing substances (PESs), also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. Many substances, such as anabolic steroids, can be used to improve ath ...

s, and asserted drug use was widespread internationally. It was this segment, which implied use of steroids at the AIS facility, that led to the eventual

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

enquiry in drugs in sport in Australia. The Channel 9 Sunday Program reported that "To date she is about the only athlete who never denied taking drugs." She gave voluntary evidence at the Senate Enquiry into drug use in Australian Sport in 1990. This enquiry led to the establishment of the independent

Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) was a Australian Government, government statutory authority tasked to protect Australia's sporting integrity through the elimination of doping in sport, doping. The authority was part of the D ...

just one year after the completion of the enquiry. The Senate report (known as the "Black" report after Senator John Black) found that Maurie Plant had asked

Jane Flemming Jane Christina Flemming (born 14 April 1965) is an Australian former Olympic track and field athlete. She completed her HSC in 1982 at Mater Christi College, Belgrave. She was the 1990 Commonwealth Games champion at heptathlon and long jum ...

to provide a urine sample to substitute for Sue Howland's sample for a drug test.Australian Parliament Senate Committee
"Jane Flemming asked to provide a substitute urine sample for Sue Howland"
, ''The Black Report page 22'', May1989

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howland, Sue 1960 births Living people Sportspeople from Mackay, Queensland Athletes from Queensland Australian female javelin throwers Doping cases in Australian track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 1982 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games athletes for Australia Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia Medallists at the 1982 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Sportswomen from Queensland Australian Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Australian sportswomen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics