The ban will end on 9 May 2012 and prohibits Silva from entering or participating in any competition or activity authorised by ITU, its National Federations (NFs) and/or any other signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code. 

Silva's anti-doping rule violation was a result of the presence of demethylpentilamine (DMPA), also known as methylhexaneamine (MHEA).  DMPA is a stimulant and a prohibited substance according to the WADA Prohibited List and the ITU Anti-Doping Rules.

Silva provided a sample, collected in-competition at the 2011 Gijon ITU Duathlon World Championships on 24 September 2011. The certificate of analysis confirmed the adverse analytical finding was received by ITU from the WADA-accredited National Anti-Doping Laboratory in Madrid, Spain and indicated the presence of DMPA.

On 19 January 2012, the Madrid Laboratory reported the analysis of the B sample confirmed the finding of DMPA (MHEA) in Silva's A sample, resulting in an anti-doping rule violation in accordance with Article 2.1.2 of the ITU Anti-Doping Rules and the World Anti-Doping Code.

Silva appealed for leniency provisions on the basis that the finding of DMPA in his sample is the result of his ingestion of Top Fuel Launch, a dietary supplement prescribed by his nutritionist who erroneously confirmed it did not contain any prohibited substances; but which in fact contained important quantities of Geranium Oil also known as dimethylpentylamine (DMPA).

The ITU Anti-Doping Hearing Panel concluded that the documentation and evidence provided by Silva was persuasive and that he took the substance inadvertently with no intent of enhancing his performance. However, the panel also felt Silva must also be held to the same standard as all other athletes. He was warned on the dangers of supplement use, relied on the flawed advice of his nutritionist and did not research further into the reference to DMPA on the supplement's label.

After reviewing all the facts of this case and carefully deliberating on all the issues, the ITU Anti-Doping Hearing Panel concluded the mandatory 2-year sanction for a first anti-doping violation under article 10.2 of the ITU Anti-Doping Rules can be reduced.  The panel decided that Silva did commit an anti-doping rule violation and shall be suspended for 6 months.

As a result, Silva will forfeit his gold medal and all ranking points from the ITU Duathlon World Championships and must return all prize money.

It is the panel's hope that this case will prompt all triathletes to not only become aware of their responsibilities and obligations under ITU Rules and the WADA Code but to take them seriously by being aware of everything they ingest and by avoiding the use of dietary supplements.

The decision of the ITU Anti-Doping Hearing Panel is final but may be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport by Silva, the Portuguese Triathlon Federation or WADA.

ITU is strongly committed to maintaining the integrity of the sport by ensuring athletes are competing on a level-playing field by abiding to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code to help keep triathlon clean.  ITU Anti-Doping Rules are written in compliance with the WADA Code.  For a National Federation (NF) to be affiliated with ITU, it must abide by the WADA Code and ITU Rules.

Marisol Casado, ITU President & IOC Member:

"The triathlon and multisport family is extensive and far reaching and ITU is delighted to form a partnership with XTERRA for our 2012 Cross Triathlon World Championships. We are confident the strong race organization and dynamic course will continue to push Cross Triathlon to a new level."

Dave Nicholas, Race Director, XTERRA Southeast Championships

"TEAM unlimited is excited about bringing the ITU Cross Triathlon World Championship to the USA.  By combining the XTERRA series with ITU we are reaching new heights in cooperation between directors and the federations. Oak Mountain and Shelby County are the perfect place to host this event."

The course at Oak Mountain State Park in Shelby County, located in the southernmost part of the Appalachian Chain, is praised by competitors as being one of the most fun, fast, scenic and difficult on the XTERRA schedule. Pelham will mark the second ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships, following last year's successful event in Extremadura, Spain won by Canadian Melanie McQuaid and South Africa's Conrad Stoltz. Both McQuaid and Stoltz are also the defending champions in Pelham. Click here for more details

2013 ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships

ITU has also awarded the 2013 ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships to Den Haag (The Hague), Netherlands.  The event is slated for July 13, 2013 and will offer 35,000 EUR in prize money for elite athletes and will also hold under23, junior age-group and paratriathlon categories.  In preparation for the event, the city will host the European Cross Triathlon Championships this year.  Click here for more details

 Vancouver, Canada (26 January 2012) - The International Triathlon Union (ITU)--in collaboration with its global marketing partner Upsolut--today announced that DB Schenker has signed on to become the Global Logistics Partner of the ITU World Triathlon Series.

An industry leader, DB Schenker will provide transportation and logistics services for the ITU World Triathlon Series which will visit eight different countries on four continents, beginning with Sydney on April 14. The ITU World Triathlon Series and DB Schenker have agreed to partner for the next three years.

Marisol Casado, ITU President and IOC Member:

"The ITU World Triathlon Series is all about excellence so we are proud to welcome DB Schenker, a new partner that represents just that.  World class delivery and logistics support from DB Schenker is a wonderful addition and will contribute to the continuing success of the ITU World Triathlon Series."

Dr. Thomas C. Lieb, Chairman of the Management Board of Schenker AG:

"We are excited to be partnering with the ITU World Triathlon Series. Triathlon events continue to grow across all five continents and the level of competition at all levels is far reaching. So to that end, to support and provide logistics services to the ITU series is a great honour for us. Transporting the goods and equipment across the eight events is what our service offering is all about - on time and in full."

In 2011 the ITU World Triathlon Series doubled its media figures compared to 2010. The TV duration was 917 hours; the coverage reached an audience of 207 million and made 4.6 billion FASPO contacts. The events had more than one million spectators while 27,500 participants competed in one of the age-group races.

Entering its fourth year, the ITU World Triathlon Series is the premier triathlon series in the world and the most competitive.  Athletes compete in series events with total points added to determine the ITU Triathlon World Champion.  In 2012, the series will be staged in eight different countries, kicking off in Sydney in April and wrapping up in October at the Grand Final in Auckland where the ITU World Champions will be crowned.

The deal is brokered by Upsolut Event GmbH, ITU's commercial and marketing partner. Existing partners and sponsors of the ITU World Triathlon Series are: Dextro Energy, Samsung, Suunto, Skins, Specialized, Oakley and now DB Schenker.

New Zealand Elite Triathlete Tony Dodds is helping to attract leading international triathletes to Wanaka for the Contact Tri Series on Friday 20th January. 

“Cmon guys” says Dodds “I’m always bragging about it, now’s your chance to see first-hand what’s so great about Wanaka. Beat me on my home turf and win not only cash, but the adventure tourism experience of a lifetime, including helicopter sight-seeing, hunting and watersports”. 

Local businesses, a very generous anonymous fan and Tony’s sponsors have all contributed towards the prize. Local support has been helped by Lake Wanaka Tourism who got on board and sent a memo about the ‘Doddsy International’ to dozens of local businesses. 

So far Dodds has managed to triple the prize money to $6,000 and is arranging some adventurous extra-curricular activities for elite athletes that respond to the challenge. 

“On the international triathlon circuit prize money is the biggest draw-card for a professional athlete. I’m gambling that a few of my international rivals will take the bait, $6k will guarantee a few, but $10k would dig up a whole lot!” says Dodds.

And his hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed, big names registered so far include:

Kris Gemmell – Olympian, winner of multiple world cups and fellow NZ elite squad member.

Laurent Vidal - winner of last year’s race, and number 7 in the world and olympian

Ryan Sissons – fellow NZ elite squad member from Auckland

Simon Whitfield - Canada, gold medal Sydney Olympics, Bronze medal Athens Olympics

Adding further incentive for sponsors to part with their money, should Tony win, he has advised that all the additional prize money will be donated to Cystic Fibrosis research.

Hi everyone,

As 2011 draws to a end I am about to close the chapter on my Achilles injury and hopefully never open it again. It has been a tough year mentally, physically and emotionally. Trying to push my body through this achilles injury proved to be impossible, I never got the results I knew I was capable of and I ended up having to resort to surgery. It is times like these that you look deep within yourself to find out what you are really made of and what you want to achieve at the end of the day and for me, Triathlon is what I am truly passionate about and I know I can come back stronger than ever. The fire in my belly has been fed to maximum capacity and I am ready for 2012 to be a year that will not be forgotten. 

The past several weeks have been spent largely on the bike and I have given the cycling legs a couple good tests along the way. 3 weeks ago was the Nutri-Grain Taupo Half Ironman where I competed in the cycle leg for the team "Snap, Crackle and Pop" I was Crackle… I think. I pushed the bike pretty hard but ended up being 20 seconds slower than cycle legend Gordon McCauley (which was not bad even considering he was doing the whole race). Next stop was last weekend at the Waihi midsummer madness bike TT. This was a 130km Time Trial, starting in Waihi and looping around some of the Coromandel towns before finishing back in Waihi. I started last and after riding in the rain, on the rough New Zealand roads, with over 1500 vertical meters of climbing and the last 50kms into a head wind I had lapped the majority of the field to have the fastest time on the day of 3hrs 39minutes. 

For those of you who have not heard I have gradually progressed to running on the road. I am up to 40 minutes most days with no pain in my Achilles. I know I love running, but I never thought I would miss it this much. I cannot wait until I can get back into stomping out my long runs along the coast, but I will take the build up slowly and controlled and be back in shape and ready to give Cameron Brown a run for his money at the Nutri-Grain Ironman New Zealand in Taupo in March.

I wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and all the best for the New year.

1600+ participants took the plunge into Geographe bay, some there to try and win the race, some qualify for kona, some beat a personal best, or just hear those sacred words "you are an ironman". I was there to achieve a top five or better finish. I had trained for this, it is a realistic goal and to cut a long story short I didn't achieve it. I finished 9th in a time of 8.54 and was out of the race after the bike ride. I swam average, started the bike well but tried to stay with a bunch of guys who were far better than me on the day and I paid the price of risking too much early. I was beaten physically and perhaps later on mentally finishing the last 60km at an effort that wouldn't even suffice for an easy training ride. I suffered despite feeling like I was doing everything within my power to ride at my goal pace. (Would I do this again? The short answer is yes! In order get what I expect out of myself I have to take risks, push myself to the brink and get through the other side, but to do this I need to develop my cycling further.) I then went about trying to salvage the race with a decent run. I did this until about the 30km mark, when the wheels fell of and my pace slowed significantly. My day in a nutshell swim 53min, bike 4hr57min, run 2nd 59min total 8hr 54min.

Now this brings me to the point of my blog, I had access to the best equipment through my fantastic sponsors, Trek bikes, Champion system clothing, Saucony runners, Ryders eyewear, Winners sports nutrition, Cecil Walker cycles and Nashypix. I had exceptional support from my awesome wife Tarryn, coach Kristian Mannietta, manager Dan from DTR. At the end of the day nothing was left to chance and I couldn't deliver my expectations on race day. It is now time to look at the whole process, analyse my performance with honesty and integrity, then do what is required to achieve what I know is possible.

You may be thinking I am being hard on myself but I must add that I am exceptionally grateful for the opportunity to race ironman, I still embraced the day and in 10+ years I will look back at all my Ironman performances and be proud. I still immensely enjoyed crossing the finish line, the sound of my 20 month old son yelling "Go Dad" at the top of his lungs, seeing my wife each lap of the bike and run, the joy of being introduced to the start line as a pro, burger and chips post race and the comaradarie amongst fellow athletes pre/post race. I still enjoyed hurting myself, pushing myself and wanting to give up. We had a great 9 days in WA and I cherish every moment I get to travel and race.

Driving to the airport on the way home I was listening to ABC national (showing my age) and the lead singer of Gotye was being interviewed. A week or so earlier I had watched what I thought was a great performance ‘live’ at the Aria music awards from Gotye. I was even imagining how good it must feel to be able to belt out a tune like that at the top of your lungs having your fans, peers etc looking on in ore. In his interview he spoke of how humbling that performance was, he found it incredibly difficult in such a big venue (he was not used to performing in such massive spaces). He listened to the performance the next day and was ‘embarrassed by what he knew was a poor performance’. Despite me the tone death musical enthusiast thinking it was incredible. He was objective and spoke of having a lot of work to do as an artist to be able to handle gigs in such venues. This reminded me of my feelings on the race a few days earlier. Several of my friends, family and colleagues could not understand how I could not be satisfied with my performance. Top 10, sub 9, sub 3hr marathon, "your kidding that's awesome". My good mate Beau Miles even dedicated a space on his blog to what he described as a “laypersons take on elite performance” http://www.beaumilesfilm.com/blog.php . I am grateful for the experience and am grateful for anyone of those around me who might be inspired by not only my performance but my dedication to the process. For me however, the minute I am satisfied with repeating the same performance over and over (my last four ironman's I have finished within a 4min window), stop challenging myself and ultimately tell myself to be content with a performance I know I can do a lot better than is the minute I should find a new challenge. Plus at the end of the day I just love to Swim, Bike and Run.

EMMA Moffatt and her partner Brad Kahlefeldt are Australia's first two triathlon selection nominations for the London Olympics.

Triathlon Australia have announced Moffatt, a two-time world champion, and Kahlefeldt have been nominated for their Australian team at next year's Games.

The Australian Olympic Committee will confirm the team of up to three men and three women in June.

Triathlon Australia's Olympic program had a tough year and there is growing pressure ahead of London.

Moffatt won the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics behind compatriot and gold medallist Emma Snowsill, who has struggled for form and fitness over the last couple of years.

Moffatt also won the 2009 and 2010 world titles.

Emma Jackson was fourth in this year's world championship series and Moffatt was seventh.

But selectors said Moffatt had recorded more consistent results.

"Emma ... has been the most consistent top 10 female performer during the selection period to date," said chair of selectors Michelle Gallen.

Kahlefeldt has been Australia's best-performed male in the world championship series.

He finished 16th at the Beijing Games and this year won the Hamburg round of the series.

Kahlefeldt was the top Australian in this year's championship series, finishing 10th overall.

Bunbury classic 2011, first triathlon of the season. I had been hanging out to race again as I hadn’t had a proper racing season since 2009. Being my 3rd Olympic distance race I was nervous to enter in the open category for the first time. Thoughts constantly going through my head, am I ready? Should I be racing as an age grouper? So before hand, being indecisive my good old mother went ahead and entered me so there was no going back! 

Racing has given me extra motivation and drive to push myself to break those limits 

Along with many others, I’ve spent this last weekend cheering friends and family on in the Busselton Ironman. Seeing everyone out there feeling that pain that many don’t understand – and don’t want to understand or on the other hand crave to experience, this reminds me of my long term goals. I believe there aren’t many other sports that you can find more determination, strength and courage that these competitors show. I’ve never felt more inspired than when my training partners and mother crossed that finish line to be an Ironman. Congratulations to all that went out there, whenever I’m feeling weak I’ll think of the pain you all sign up for. When something feels a little too hard, there is always someone out there doing it harder.