The recently crowned Irish men's cross-country champion has already decided not to join the Irish team at the World Cross-Country Championships in Edinburgh later this month.

 

He was instead expected to focus on achieving the Olympic qualifying standard in the marathon.

 

Lombard missed out on the 2004 Olympics after testing positive for the illegal endurance-boosting hormone EPO shortly before the Athens Games.

 

His two-year ban finished in the summer of 2006.

 

When it became apparent that Lombard might qualify for Beijing it caused panic within the Olympic movement in Ireland.

 

Unlike the British Olympic Association, the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) does not have a rule that prevents it from picking convicted drugs cheats for its team.

 

OCI spokesman Jack McGouran said the body would take "high-level legal consultations straight away".

 

But in a brief statement, he said he wanted to confirm his retirement from competitive athletics while also thanking everyone who had supported him over the years.