By DAVID CARRIGG -- Edmonton Sun
  Robin Lyons was asked yesterday if she would take a lie-detector test to prove her innocence.

 "Yes, of course," she answered to the assembled media at her lawyer's Edmonton office. "I am innocent. I have never taken any prohibited substances or steroids."

 Lyons was cool under pressure, despite just having her Sydney Olympics dreams dashed, her reputation blackened and looming sponsorship deals scrapped.

 But it was a different story for Lyons' mom, Robby, who was trying to control her rage toward the bureaucracy that runs Canada's athletic scene.

 "It's the darkest day in this girl's career and I cannot imagine how she is dealing with this," Robby Lyons said from her workplace in Edmonton.

 "She is an athlete who came out of central Alberta in Grade 11 and said 'I'm going to be something, I'm going to work hard and train.'

 "And this girl has been pushed down and got back up and pushed down and got back up.

 "For five years she's struggled to be something in Canada and now she isn't allowed to defend herself."

 Robby Lyons said the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport has refused to hear any argument against their testing standards because they are part of a bid to make Canada the headquarters of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

 "This has happened to every athlete that comes under their power," she charged.

 "The CCES are going to purify the world. Well they can look at the Olympics and be proud of the two medals they've got."