As you may have noticed, I haven't been including a whole lot of stories about dopers and doping violations lately during the normal Friday posts. And no, it's not because athletes have stopped doping. So here goes...
Let's start with pro cyclists...last summer's surprise Yellow Jersey wearer Stefan Schumacher has indeed been banned for 2 years for his positive test for CERA (3rd generation EPO). But as of yet, he has still refused to admit to doping, and claims he will appeal his suspension. Just what we need, more pro cyclists tying up court rooms and generating headlines. This from a guy who 1) tested positive for an amphetamine in 2005 but was later cleared; 2) was arrested for drunken driving in 2007; and 3) also tested positive for amphetamines during his arrest but was again cleared by German cycling because it was an out-of-competition test. But we are supposed to believe him regarding CERA. Not likely.
His Gerolsteiner teammate, and fellow Tour de France star, Bernhard Kohl, also made news lately. He admitted to taking CERA and to undergoing blood doping "3-to-4 times a week". He also provided authorities with information that led to his manager Stefan Matschiner's arrest last week. Austria has actually passed a new law in late 2008 that allows for up to 5 years in prison for doping offenses, so both Kohl and Matschiner are potentially in bigger trouble than simply sitting out for a couple of years. Interesting....
Austria kept its promise. On March 23 a cycling doctor (who also coaches nordic skiers) was arrested in Vienna for providing an unnamed cyclist with EPO. The cyclist, who wasn't named at the time but is now believed to be Christof Kirschbaum. The two of them, plus a pharmacist, were arrested for "trafficking doping products". Sweet...I like it.
But that's not it...4 days later, Austria released more information regarding a triathlete and doping. A third-tier female ITU triathlete named Lisa Hutthaler tested positive for EPO last fall. In late March, she came clean (previously had refused to admit the offenses) and has implicated a doctor and a coach (the previously mentioned Matschiner, Kohl's coach). She admits to taking EPO six times before getting caught in the fall. Oh yeah, this doctor in question is an Ironman triathlete who has qualified for Kona 2009.
The dominoes just kept falling. Matschiner also has been a manager for a top track athlete in Bulgaria. The 2008 Athlete of the Year in Bulgaria in fact. Ivet Lalova, a sprinter, has predictably denied any "doping" links with Matschiner, claiming that he was only her manager for business dealings. Now a sprinter would not really benefit from Matschiner's normal "blood doping + EPO" cocktail, but who knows now? Austria also arrested 5 more people with connections to doping violations last week, and there are reports that former pro cyclist Georg Totschnig and Olympic Cross-Country skiing gold medallist Christian Hoffmann are being implicated in this scandal. In an ironic twist, Hoffmann was awarded this gold medal after the Spanish winner was disqualified for using EPO. Wow...this story is unbelievable...
Okay, finally done with the dirty Austrians. Let's see what the Spanish are up to...the Operation Puerto scandal refuses to end. Ok, try to follow this. Operation Puerto started in May 2006, and continued through 2006 and 2007, ensnaring a ridiculous number of cyclists, including Tyler Hamilton, Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, Santiago Botero, Oscar Sevilla, and Marco Pantani. Alejandro Valverde has been often associated with Operation Puerto, but has had his name cleared by Spanish authorities (as has Alberto Contador and many others), but now the Italian Olympic organization (CONI) is seeking a two-year ban for Valverde (a Spaniard) due to CONI trying to connect blood samples taken from Valverde during last year's Tour de France when the Tour dipped into Italy. Now many are saying the Italians are simply targeting Valverde as payback for Puerto ensnaring top Italian cyclists like Pantani and Basso. Regardless, there will be lots more to come on this story, since CONI's ban (even it if only applies to Italian soil) would keep Valverde out of the 2009 Tour (again, the Tour enters Italy). Let the lawyers at it and I'll keep you posted...and for those of you who want a glimpse into Operation Puerto, cyclingnews.com has a complete list of articles (250+) listed here...
Ok, not all cheaters are European. Some are Canadian...and outside of Ben Johnson, I doubt any Canadian athlete has been embroiled in a bigger drug scandal than Genevieve Jeanson. For those of you who don't Jeanson, she was supposed to be Canada's female cycling star. She was both 1999 World Junior Road Race Champion AND the Time Trial Champion. She then graduated to Women's Cycling, where she dominated at times (once won 4 stages of a 5-stage race in Californian in 2002). She represented Canada at the Sydney Olympics (finished 11th) and participated in UCI events from 2000-2005. In July 2005, she failed a test for EPO, proclaimed her innocence and threatened to appeal (novel idea), but ultimately retired from pro cycling in early 2006. In 2007, she sat down with a reporter and told her story, admitted to everything (taking EPO since age 15!) and that she hated living the lie. Anyhow, Jeanson's coach and her physician both received lifetime bans this week by Canada's Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES). The lifetime bans are because Jeanson was a minor when the doping began. Due to her co-operation with the investigation, Jeanson only received a 10-year ban! Jeanson has repeatedly said she has no interest in ever competing again, so her suspension is meaningless. Also, since her coach and physician are both out of sport anyhow, I do wonder why the CCES spent 12 months (and god knows how much money) on this case...
Some good news on the horizon though...the biological passport system that cycling is using is working well and is making it much easier to detect abnormalities in the doping tests of a particular athlete. For now, until the coaches, doctors, scientists, and managers figure out how to beat it...
See you Friday!
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