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DOPING NEWS 2005, Part 2 (July-December 2005)
News on all aspects of doping science, doping usage, anti doping control, and anti-doping code appearing in lay and business press are vitally important. The Doping Journal fulfills its obligation to inform interested scientists, athletes, funding agencies, regulatory bodies and legislators about the news stories on doping.
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News pages readership 1 January 2005 - 31 August 2005: 4519
Tour
de France 1999 Doping Story: Three more names published. Does Cyclist ask
French State, WADA to prohibit investigation?
CyclingNews.com
(12 September 2005)
[FullText]
[Author contact]
Excerpt: "...French newspaper Journal du Dimanche (JDD) has now done what L'Equipe dared not to do, publishing the names of the three other riders that tested 'positive' to EPO at the prologue of the 1999 Tour de France, and linked their names to the three other positive samples allegedly taken after the prologue.
Until now, sports newspaper L'Equipe has not revealed these names because it lacked sufficient evidence to verify that the samples tested by the doping laboratory in Châtenay-Malabry were indeed those of the three riders named by Le Journal du Dimanche. [Also see: Interview with L'Equipe's Damien Ressiot] According to the paper, the three other riders that tested positive after the prologue in Puy-du-Fou on July 3, 1999, are: Manuel Beltran (currently Discovery Channel), José Joachim Castelblanco (formerly Kelme, now suspended for two years under another doping charge) and Bo Hamburger (currently Acqua & Sapone), the latter rider also testing positive for cortisone that day, but later proving he was allowed to take the drug according to his medical certificate.
Manuel Beltran has already issued a statement denying the allegations, saying that "neither the laboratory of Châtenay-Malabry, nor the French state (through its Council for fight against doping and its prevention), nor WADA, nor the UCI should allow this situation to happen. It is very regrettable that some people and institutions betray all the legal and ethical principles that should govern their actions, while at the same time they ask me for an irreproachable behaviour - which I have shown in the hundreds of controls that I've passed without problems...""
contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL
CyclingNews
interview with L'Equipe's Damien Ressiot
CyclingNews.com
(7 September 2005)
[FullText]
[Author contact]
Leading Text: "After August 23, 2005, L'Equipe's Damien Ressiot, already a busy journalist, was hard to get hold of. The author of several articles published in the first three pages of the paper that day that claimed there was proof Lance Armstrong took the banned doping substance EPO to win the 1999 Tour de France. Ressiot based his claim on the results of the French WADA-accredited laboratory Châtenay-Malabry, which had conducted retrospective testing of the leftover B samples from 1999 and 1998 in order to improve its methods of detecting EPO, as well as Lance Armstrong's doping test protocols of the first of his seven Tour victories.
While the French journalist has not revealed the sources of his information - and shouldn't be forced to do so - many have questioned Ressiot's approach on handling his alleged revelations: Armstrong himself called the course of action a witch-hunt, as four of the eight positive samples associated with his name, and no others were identified. Why didn't this happen? This was just one of the questions Cyclingnews' Hedwig Kröner was finally able to ask Damien Ressiot, when she got a hold of him on the phone last week...
Damien Ressiot: The testing on EPO at the laboratory did indeed take a certain amount of time. Every test took them two and a half days and there were nearly 150 samples to test from the 1999 and 1998 Tours. Nevertheless, and even before I got hold of the results which were communicated to the two instances concerned (WADA and the French Ministry of Sport) on August 22, it took a very long time to obtain the doping test protocols [official forms to be filled in by the UCI Antidoping inspector in charge of the post-stage tests at the time these took place - ed.]. This explains the time gap..."
contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL
Seven-times
Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong linked with the usage of the forbidden
substance EPO in the 1999 edition of the race in French L'Equipe: 'Do you
think I'm doped? Then prove it!'. Journalist replies to criticism
CyclingNews.com
(4 September 2005)
[FullText]
[Author contact]
Excerpt: "Damien Ressiot, journalist with the French sports newspaper L'Equipe, and author of the article published which linked seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong with the usage of the forbidden substance EPO in the 1999 edition of the race, has said that he understands the public reactions of the Texan champion faced with these allegations. "I admit that it's a little cruel to stigmatise him only," Ressiot told Cyclingnews' Hedwig Kröner on Saturday, who asked him what he thought of Armstrong's and the public's criticism of the conduct of his investigation.
"But Armstrong made several declarations in the past that he would open his medical dossier, and he never did. Of course, the information we published is very personal, but then you shouldn't announce that you're ready to reveal it any time if you're not going to! While I was working on the current revelations, I asked him to, but he didn't," the French journalist explained.
While Ressiot admitted that his research targeted Armstrong in particular, he also added that his information wasn't sufficient to publish the identities of the six other riders who tested positive in the 1999 Tour de France.
"I did focus on him as a person, on the challenge that he threw at the journalists by repeatedly saying 'Do you think I'm doped? Then prove it!'. Besides, I don't have the means to publish the identities of the other six samples - if I had them in my hands, they'd be in the newspaper, that's for sure. It's not in my habit to protect anybody," said Ressiot, who also exposed the Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano salbutamol case in the middle of the 2002 Tour."
contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL
International
Cycling Union (UCI) issued an official declaration regarding French newspaper
L'Equipe's alleged doping allegations from the 1999 Tour de France
Edited
by Hedwig Kröner
CyclingNews.com
(9 September 2005)
[FullText]
[Author contact]
Excerpt: "Late this afternoon, the International Cycling Union (UCI) issued an official declaration regarding French newspaper L'Equipe's alleged doping allegations from the 1999 Tour de France, which most notably concern seven-time winner Lance Armstrong. The UCI has stated that it is currently investigating the matter, but hasn't gathered enough information to judge the circumstances properly. It also deplored the fact that the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), president Dick Pound, had already spoken out publicly about the alleged use of EPO by Armstrong at the 1999 Tour.
The full statement reads as follows:
As we announced on Monday, August 29, 2005, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is undertaking an investigation into the recent press reports from France. The article published by the French newspaper L’Equipe concerned testing apparently conducted by a French laboratory of urine samples from the 1999 Tour de France. Our initial investigation has identified a great many issues and we are in the process of gathering the information we need. The UCI is currently unable to express any judgement on these cases, as it does not have sufficient information.
The UCI has not, to date, received any official information or document.
WADA believes that they have no jurisdiction over this matter, given that it apparently relates to urine samples collected in 1999, before WADA was created. Moreover, WADA has told the UCI that on the basis of the reports of the research done and methods used in this case, no disciplinary procedure could be opened against the riders concerned and that in their view, the organization responsible for investigating is the UCI. In light of WADA’s position on this matter, the UCI has assumed all responsibility for investigating the matter. WADA has stated its willingness to assist the UCI with its investigation
We have substantial concerns about the impact of this matter on the integrity of the overall drug testing regime of the Olympic movement, and in particular the questions it raises over the trustworthiness of some of the sports and political authorities active in the anti-doping fight. The UCI reiterates that at this point we have no information at all about the testing apparently done in Châtenay-Malabry, who authorized or commissioned that testing, the reason for the testing or the manner in which the testing was conducted.
We have sent letters to WADA, as well as an initial questionnaire to the French laboratory, seeking comprehensive information about the background facts and what brought about the situation that we are investigating. Amongst the significant questions we have, the most important which remain unanswered are the following:
We regret once more, that WADA’s President Mr. Pound made public statements about the likely guilt of an athlete on the basis of a newspaper article and without all the facts being known, and we appreciate that WADA’s Vice-President Mr. Mikkelsen has stepped in to state that Mr. Pound’s allegations were unwise.
As for the article itself, the author claims to have been working on the story for four months, when in fact it seems that his 'investigation' was limited to receiving confidential information related to testing conducted by the laboratory and confidential doping control documents, including confidential documents which he was able to consult at the UCI after receiving, under false pretext, the authorization of Lance Armstrong. His subsequent public statements tend to confirm that he was targeting a particular athlete and that the newspaper was only given doping control forms relating to this athlete.
We are awaiting information that we have requested from WADA and the laboratory, and we may be seeking information from the French Ministry of Sports and others. Once we have received all of the documents that exist about the testing and the disclosure of information, and depending on the cooperation we receive from the individuals and organizations involved, we are aiming to conclude our investigation as soon as possible.
Finally, the UCI wishes to express the wish that governments, sports authorities and anti-doping authorities, which rightly expect honest and irreproachable ethical behaviour from sports men and women, themselves respect the fundamental obligation of fair play and examine possible sanctions which could be adopted, should infractions be discovered on the part of any of those bodies."
contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL
Triathlete
to sue World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA): Triathlete seeks damages from WADA
AP
Daily
Times - Lahore, Pakistan (8 September 2005)
[FullText]
[Authors contact]
Excerpt: "Belgian triathlete Rutger Beke is suing the World Anti-Doping Agency and two drug labs for $155,000 in damages after his 18-month doping suspension was lifted due to doubts over the accuracy of his EPO test, his lawyer said on Wednesday.
Beke, the 2003 Ironman runner up, won an appeal against his suspension last month arguing a positive test for the EPO endurance drug was inaccurate. His case has raised possible doubts over the accuracy of the test. Beke’s lawyer Johnny Maeschalck said in a telephone interview the damages are for both the material and moral damages the athlete suffered during his suspension and the appeal process. Maeschalck sent letters to Montreal-based WADA and the doping labs in Ghent, Belgium, and Cologne, Germany, about ten days ago and said legal action could be pursued if the replies were deemed insufficient. “I will have to discuss this with my client.”
Last month, a Belgian regional disciplinary board agreed that Beke’s EPO tests did not provide sufficient proof of guilt and overturned the March 4 suspension. That ruling has not been appealed. Beke, the then-Belgian champion, tested positive in two of seven EPO tests during a competition in Belgium last year. He finished second in the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii in 2003 and ended fifth last year. Beke resumed competition last week and won Monaco’s half-Ironman this weekend."
contributed by Alexei Koudinov | DJ Global Newsstand | This item permanent URL
Pundits
debate wisdom of Lance return
People's
Daily Online - Beijing,China (8 September 2005)
[FullText]
[Authors contact]
Excerpt: "Lance Armstrong's possible comeback in quest of an eighth consecutive Tour de France triumph had US television sports pundits wondering what the American cycling legend still had to prove... Armstrong said allegations of doping raised by the French sports daily L'Equipe over what they claim are EPO-positive urine samples from Armstrong's 1999 Tour triumph have prodded him into reconsidering his retirement plan. "The recent smear campaign out of France has awoken my competitive side," Armstrong said in a statement released Tuesday. "I'm not willing to put a percentage on the chances but I will no longer rule it out."
ESPN sports television commentators found Armstrong's return a hot topic Tuesday, with Tony Kornheiser doubting that even another Tour de France victory by Armstrong will silence critics. "If Lance Armstrong does come back, he will be tested 10 times a day," said Kornheiser. "This will happen again and again and even if he wins again it won't prove anything to his doubters, most of whom work at L'Equipe." Kornheiser, also a Washington Post newspaper columnist, also questioned Armstrong's anger at the French people as opposed to the newspaper and his desire to return because of a newspaper story.
"He was steadfast. All of a sudden he's back because he's mad at L'Equipe? Come on," Kornheiser said, adding, "If he hates the French so much why did he support the French bid for the (2012) Olympics?" Columnist Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times, speaking on another show, backed Armstrong's move and asked, "Why not put it in the face of everybody who says he is not clean?" "He has every right to defend his reputation," said columnist Jackie MacMullan of the Boston Globe. "The only way to prove to the French all this is taken care of is to go back there and win this race again." Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist Jay Mariotti wondered why Armstrong would "want to put himself back through Lance-mania? He has nothing left to prove. He has done all he can in cycling." But Mariotti also summed up the feelings of many US onlookers regarding the latest doping revelation about Armstrong by saying, "They could keep sabotaging him."
Quoting related report "Could Armstrong un-retire?" (Kfdx.com, 7 September 2005): "Lance Armstrong plans to train with his Discovery team this winter, only increasing speculation he will end his retirement and go for an 8th straight Tour de France win. When Armstrong retired in July after his 7th straight Tour win, he said he was finished, ready to spend more time with his kids. But Tuesday, Armstrong confirmed he is considering a comeback thanks to recent doping accusations by the French media."
contributed by Alexei Koudinov | DJ Global Newsstand | This item permanent URL
Hamilton
doping case now lies in hands of sports' high court: If allegations upheld,
Olympics cyclist's ban would continue
Jody
Berger
Medical
Clinic and Policlinic, Department of Sports Medicine, University of Tubingen,
Silcherstrasse 5, 72076 Tubingen, Germany
Rocky
Mountain News - Denver, CO, USA (7 September 2005)
[FullText]
[Author contact]
Excerpt: "Tyler Hamilton's last best hope to resume his career began Tuesday in a Denver hotel. Ever since the 34-year-old cyclist was accused of blood doping after the 2004 Olympics and Tour of Spain, he has maintained his innocence. Now, one year later, his case is being heard by the Court for Arbitration in Sport, the final authority on the topic. When the positive tests were announced, Hamilton first appealed to the American Arbitration Association, but in April, a three-member panel from that group heard his arguments and sided with the anti-doping officials.
Hamilton received a two-year suspension from his sport, and in June, he appealed to the Court for Arbitration in Lausanne, Switzerland. This week, lawyers for Hamilton and the U.S. Antidoping Agency meet with CAS arbitrators, who will ultimately decide Hamilton's future. "Out of respect for this process, I can't talk about it now," Hamilton said as he returned to the hearing after a short lunch break. The hearing is expected to last all week, but there is no indication how quickly the CAS arbitrators will return their decision."
contributed by Alexei Koudinov | DJ Global Newsstand | This item permanent URL
Has
Conflict of interest poisoned US cycling, sports heros, and sport at large?
Armstrong Empire
Tour
de Farce - Lance Armstrong, Thom Weisel, and questions about [corrupted?]
anti-doping efforts in American cycling
SF
Weekly - San Francisco, CA, USA (9 June 2005)
[FullText]
[Author contact]
Key note: "Johnson, the widely quoted USA Cycling official, appears to suffer from a serious conflict of interest between his organization's role as a doping cop and his personal, institutional, and financial ties to the diversified business world surrounding Lance Armstrong. Financier Weisel is Armstrong's longtime patron, employer, investment manager, and friend. Weisel is also Johnson's longtime patron and friend and the founder of a nonprofit entity that employs him... The web of financial ties that connects USA Cycling, Lance Armstrong, and the businessman who backs both -- San Francisco's own Thom Weisel -- may offer some explanation" why US Cycling and Anti-Doping officials are not interested to investigate allegations of sports ethics break by Lance Armstrong.
Excerpt: "While lounging on Taylor Street this past Sunday watching America's biggest bike race make its way around North Beach, you might have allowed your mind to wander to the recent doping scandal involving Lance Armstrong. After all, the story -- published in the French sports daily L'Equipe last month -- was pretty shocking. It detailed laboratory reports showing that the seven-time Tour de France winner used banned performance-enhancing drugs to aid him in his first Tour victory in 1999. The allegations dominated international sporting headlines for a couple of weeks.
The French newspaper's report was taken seriously in Europe, with cycling's international governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale, and the World Anti-Doping Agency both announcing they would launch probes of possible drug use at the '99 Tour.
A few days after the story broke, though, Armstrong spent an hour on CNN's Larry King Live dismissing the L'Equipe report, contending it was unfair because it came from a tabloid newspaper reporter's efforts, rather than through formal anti-drug protocols. A few days later, the chief operating officer of USA Cycling, the governing body responsible for punishing bike-racing drug cheaters in this country, was quoted in more than 100 newspapers dismissing the L'Equipe piece as the scandalmongering of a French tabloid newspaper, adding, in a remarkable echo of Armstrong's public position, that the positive drug results were unfair because they had been exposed by a news reporter, rather than through formal drug-policing protocols.
"To me, this is an issue for the French people. They seemed very concerned about it, and frankly I don't care what they think. And I don't think Lance does either," Reuters quoted USA Cycling COO Steve Johnson as saying last week. "This is just a publication in a French tabloid newspaper. That's our perspective."
And there the story seemed to peter out. And why not? There's no point bothering with drug allegations that the doping cops of American cycling say are bogus, right?
By week's end, the story had disappeared from the U.S. media, just in time for the Barclays Global Investors Grand Prix SF, the bike race local investment banker Thom Weisel brought to the city four years ago with the help of Armstrong, who lent his prestigious presence to the race during its first two years. The unsavory subject of doping faded. Lance Armstrong, and the massive publicity empire that surrounds him, remained relatively unscathed, able to enjoy his July 2005 retirement with the inspiring tale intact of his comeback from cancer to win the first of seven Tours de France in 1999.
There happens to be more to USA Cycling's pooh-poohing of the charges against Armstrong than the news headlines suggested, however. This isn't merely an instance of U.S. doping cops repelling spurious French charges against an American superhero.
Johnson, the widely quoted USA Cycling official, appears to suffer from a serious conflict of interest between his organization's role as a doping cop and his personal, institutional, and financial ties to the diversified business world surrounding Lance Armstrong. Financier Weisel is Armstrong's longtime patron, employer, investment manager, and friend. Weisel is also Johnson's longtime patron and friend and the founder of a nonprofit entity that employs him.
And then there's this little fact: Johnson essentially works for Armstrong. In addition to serving as chief operating officer of USA Cycling, Johnson is executive director of the USA Cycling Development Foundation, an affiliated nonprofit organization founded by Weisel, who serves as president of the board of directors, according to the foundation's most recently available IRS returns, filed in 2003. According to the foundation's current Web site, the board of directors now includes Lance Armstrong.
"This whole thing isn't a big deal for Americans," Reuters quoted Johnson as saying of Armstrong's doping troubles last week.
That may or may not be true. It's safe to say, however, that it's a very big deal for Johnson's bosses.
According to Capital Instincts: Life As an Entrepreneur, Financier, and Athlete, the book Thom Weisel co-wrote in 2003 with business journalist Richard Brandt, Weisel took up cycling in 1983, and by 1985 wanted to be a player in both the commercial and athletic ends of the sport. That year Weisel entered his first race and started the U.S.-based amateur Montgomery Cycling Team, sponsored by his San Francisco investment bank at the time, Montgomery Securities. In 1987 Weisel started a company called Montgomery Sports Inc., the predecessor to Tailwind Sports, to serve as a commercial vehicle for running his team.
In 1990, Weisel brought on Subaru as a sponsor and turned his team pro, hiring a young Lance Armstrong, who would leave for the stronger Motorola team in 1992. Weisel would take steps to see that this kind of thing didn't happen again. In 1995, he hired Olympic gold medal cyclist Mark Gorski to build from scratch a much grander team. The U.S. Postal Service was impressed with Weisel's vision and in 1996 signed on as the team's lead sponsor.
In 1997, the team raced the Tour de France; its best rider, a French hired gun, finished a lackluster 15th place. Things improved dramatically from there. In 1998 Weisel hired back Lance Armstrong after the cyclist's French Codifis team dumped him on the belief that he would not recover from advanced testicular cancer. That year began Armstrong's storied comeback from his deathbed, with high placings in prestigious races such as the Vuelta de Espana. To show his gratitude, Weisel augmented Armstrong's meager 1998 starting salary with $1 million in bonuses out of the financier's own pocket.
In 1999, Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France with Weisel in the follow car. The financier accompanied the team on a victory lap on the Champs d'Elysée. Weisel's venture stake in the once-obscure sport of American cycling had turned up gold.
The next year Weisel took control of the governing side of bike racing, establishing the USA Cycling Development Foundation and placing himself and two other members of his foundation on the board of USA Cycling's predecessor, the U.S. Cycling Federation. Weisel now controlled America's top team as well its top cycling regulator.
The next year Weisel's team backed Armstrong to another Tour win, with Weisel in the pace car. Four more Armstrong Tour wins, and four more Weisel pace cars, followed.
In 2005, after Armstrong had retired upon winning his record-surpassing seventh Tour de France, Weisel's old cycling buddy and cycling-official protégé, Steve Johnson, fielded press calls and publicly dismissed allegations that Armstrong had won the 1999 Tour using banned drugs.
If you've been following the L'Equipe doping story as closely as I have, you may have noticed something a little weird about the short arc of Lance Armstrong's August PR crisis in the United States.
While the head of USA Cycling was dismissing L'Equipe's allegations, cycling's international governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale in Aigle, Switzerland, was announcing that it took the reports seriously enough to launch its own investigation into drug use at the 1999 Tour de France. The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, the planet's top sports-drugs cop, likewise said his group would analyze 1999 Tour drug-test results. The director of the Tour de France characterized the report as hard evidence Armstrong had cheated in 1999, saying Armstrong may have deceived fans.
Was this just another case of America against Europe, of french fries vs. Freedom Fries? Not really. According to L'Equipe -- which enjoys the sort of high-journalism reputation in Europe that Sports Illustrated does in the U.S. -- a drug-testing lab developed a urine test for the banned endurance booster erythropoietin in 2001. The lab recently examined frozen urine samples from 1999 Tour doping tests to gauge the test's effectiveness. The lab figured that the lack of a test for the 1999 Tour might have led some riders to use the drug, which thickens athletes' blood so that it can carry more oxygen to muscles. Sure enough, one cyclist came up positive for the drug in six separate doping tests of urine given for the 1999 Tour. L'Equipe journalists obtained a leaked copy of the anonymous results of the tests. They compared the athlete identification number on the results with the number on Armstrong's other drug-testing records -- and found a match. The results at least seem definitive -- and damning.
So why have those results gotten little traction in the public mind here in the U.S.? The web of financial ties that connects USA Cycling, Lance Armstrong, and the businessman who backs both -- San Francisco's own Thom Weisel -- may offer some explanation. In the U.S., organized cycling is a small world where many roads lead to or through Armstrong and Weisel.
In 2000, the sporting team Weisel owned backed Armstrong as he won the Tour de France for a second time. That same year, Weisel orchestrated the equivalent of a leveraged buyout of the regulatory side of bicycle racing in the United States. The U.S. Cycling Federation was suffering a $1.4 million budget deficit, with no solvency in sight, when Weisel made the organization an offer it couldn't refuse, according to an account from Weisel's authorized biography. By helping to make the organization solvent, Weisel was able to fill the board of directors with his friends and set up a peculiar arrangement in which the bailout and future fundraising for the renamed bike-racing regulator, USA Cycling, would be conducted through the USA Cycling Development Foundation, a nonprofit that Weisel set up, staffed with his friends, and led as president. "Weisel spent over three years reorganizing USA Cycling, and his team is largely in charge," the book explains.
In exchange for the bailout, Weisel demanded that his new nonprofit's executive director, Steve Johnson, also be named chief operating officer of USA Cycling, which is charged with participating in drug investigations and handing out punishment. The president of USA Cycling is Jim Ochowicz, who is also a broker at Weisel's current investment bank, Thomas Weisel Partners, according to reports in Outside magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, and other publications. Meanwhile, USA Cycling has a marketing arrangement with Carmichael Training Systems, the company owned by Lance Armstrong's coach, Chris Carmichael, through which USA Cycling does mass mailings on Carmichael's behalf in exchange for discounts on coaching services for USA Cycling members.
At the same time that he wields influence over bike racing's regulator, Weisel has an important financial connection to the most famous racer in the world, Lance Armstrong: For the past eight years, Weisel has owned the team employing the champion. Additionally, Weisel brought to San Francisco the San Francisco Grand Prix, the culmination of America's most important pro bike racing series. Armstrong helped get the event off the ground in 2001 by suiting up for the start line, allowing the event to be promoted as a chance to "come watch Lance Armstrong." Armstrong did not race the event this year because he's retired.
Given the financial and organizational links among Weisel-related entities, it seems reasonable to assume the financier might be irked if USA Cycling officials in his employ did anything to acknowledge drug allegations against Armstrong. Weisel's book mentions his "protégé and friend" Armstrong 100 times. It notes that Weisel's office is dominated by poster-size photographs of the cycling hero. During Armstrong's post-cancer career, Weisel has served as founder, architect, motivator, companion, and sugar daddy for Armstrong's team, according to Weisel's book.
However, Johnson, with all his links to Weisel, Armstrong's primary patron, sees no problem with denouncing the L'Equipe report on behalf of USA Cycling.
"Why would that be a conflict of interest? Explain it to me," Johnson said.
Sure. The USA Cycling Development Foundation is a nonprofit entity set up by Weisel and dedicated to raising money for USA Cycling. The foundation provides around a quarter of USA Cycling's $4 million annual budget, according to the group's IRS filings from 2003, 2002, and 2001. The nonprofit employs Johnson as executive director, the filings say.
The USA Cycling Development Foundation is overseen by a board of directors that includes Armstrong and is presided over by Weisel. Johnson runs the nonprofit out of the same Colorado Springs office as USA Cycling, the governing body.
Weisel is founder and owner of Tailwind Sports, which co-owns Armstrong's new Discovery Channel Team. The team has the retired champion under contract beyond 2006 in a public relations role, Armstrong said during an April press conference transcripted on the team Web site. This role would seem likely to lose significant value in the event of any U.S. anti-drug action involving the superstar.
In his book, Weisel makes clear the connection between Armstrong's reputation and his own financial interests. Armstrong's role as a Tour de France champion and Armstrong himself "make up our brand," Weisel boasts in a chapter on business philosophy that he penned himself.
Though Reuters headlined its story quoting Johnson "USA Cycling lashes out at Armstrong allegations," it would have been just as accurate to say "A Thom Weisel-supported official lashes out at Armstrong allegations harmful to Thom Weisel investments in Armstrong."
A spokeswoman for Weisel said he would not comment for this column.
Johnson and other Armstrong supporters have fretted in print that the discovery of banned chemicals in Lance Armstrong's 1999 urine samples did not follow the official protocol for exposing drug cheating. But the L'Equipe reporters certainly followed standard protocol for journalists wishing to get at the truth.
Allegations that Barry Bonds and other Major League Baseball players used banned steroids might not have seen the light of day if it weren't for San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Faiinaru-Wada and Lance Williams, who worked tirelessly to persuade people who had inside information on a federal steroid investigation to bend protocol and leak some of that information. The first time America really confronted the issue of drug use in sports was when Associated Press reporter Steve Wilstein wrote that he'd observed in slugger Mark McGwire's locker a bottle of the steroid Androstenedione, which was not then banned by Major League Baseball. This, too, was a horrible violation of protocol, baseball officials, athletes, and fans said back in 1998. Since then, the reporter's been vindicated by events.
"On behalf of the journalism profession, I want to apologize to Steve Wilstein today," wrote Orlando Sentinel sports columnist Mike Bianchi recently, in reference to widespread claims that Wilstein had created a "tabloid-driven controversy."
When I spoke with him last week, Johnson repeated his press message regarding protocol.
"As I've tried to point out, there is a well-established international protocol for handling samples and adjudicating doping cases. We adhere to that protocol and support it. This is not one of those cases," he said. "What you've got to realize is that you've got a publication in a French newspaper. From our perspective, that's not valid."
From the perspective of this particular tabloid journalist, Johnson's statements violate protocol. The fact that Johnson represents a so-called drugs regulator while serving a boss who would be financially harmed by any real drugs regulation invalidates his perspective entirely."
contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL
Beerbaum
doping appeal rejected
BBC
Sport, UK (5 September 2005)
[FullText]
[Author contact]
Excerpt: "Show jumper Ludger Beerbaum's appeal against the doping disqualification that cost the German team gold at the Athens Olympics has been rejected. The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a decision that found Beerbaum and his horse, Goldfever 3, guilty of a doping offence. The CAS said Beerbaum had made "a mistake by administering a medication containing a prohibited substance".
The horse tested positive for a banned substance, betamethasone, in Athens. Beerbaum denied cheating, saying the substance was in cream used to treat a skin irritation on the horse. The FEI accepted that the substance was connected to a legitimate medical treatment and agreed that Beerbaum had not tried to enhance the horse's performance or gain any unfair advantage. But it said the rider failed to ensure Goldfever was free of prohibited substances during the event.
The CAS statement added: "He had thus committed a doping offence in accordance with the FEI [International Equestrian Federation] regulations. "The presence of a banned substance in the urine of an athlete will automatically lead to his/her disqualification from the event in question, whether the ingestion of that substance was intentional or negligent and irrespective of the effect of that substance on the performance." Beerbaum's disqualification saw Germany stripped of the medal, giving the gold to the United States. Sweden moved up to silver, and Germany dropped to bronze after the FEI erased Goldfever's results."
contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL
Players
forced to used steroids in SAF training camps
Inside
Triathlon Interactive, USA (12 June 2005)
[FullText]
[Author contact]
Excerpt: "LAHORE: Steroids are being given to the players during training camp set up in Lahore for preparation of SAF games scheduled to be held in April in Sri Lanka. Reliable sources told Online that that a camp has been set up in Lahore for the preparations (physical and mental training) of players including sixteen boys and 5 girls for athletics, however the coach is forcing the players to use steroids in view to enhance their performance and make them stronger. It is pertinent to mention that before the prestigious games, doping test will be initiated and any player found guilty of usage of steroids will be disqualified from the games besides a bad impression will be left on the country."
contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL
Form
anti-doping body, specialist tells Ocgam
Oris
Chimenya
The
Nation, Malawi - Chichiri, Blantyre, Malawi - Press release (5 September
2005)
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[Author contact]
"Zimbabwean sports medicine specialist Nicholas Munyonga has recommended the formation of an anti-doping body to encourage Malawian athletes perform with natural abilities and avoid embarrassments at international competitions. Munyonga made the recommendation on Friday when he closed a three-day sports medicine workshop organised for the first time ever by the Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association of Malawi (Ocgam).
Munyonga
said the main objective of the anti-doping body would be to detect, deter
and prevent doping. “No one is immune to doping and with the oncoming Olympic
Games [Beijing, 2008] and the Commonwealth Games [Melbourne, 2006], the
chances of doping are very high. “The national anti-doping body would therefore
be responsible for doping control, provision of information and education
on doping, doing research and cooperating with global bodies such as the
World Anti-Doping Agency,” he said. He also noted that most athletes who
succeed in most developing countries are been exposed to doping tests abroad
and such tests should not be a surprise.
Ocgam
interim committee president Floriano Massa was noncommittal on the idea,
but said the association will consult within itself on the issue.
“We know that if we are developing an athlete, the most important thing is to see that the athlete is fit at all times. Because of this, we will get recommendations from Ocgam technical commission on the way forward,” he said. Malawi’s Henry Moyo had to be tested for doping to prove he was not taking any performance enhancing drugs when he emerged champion in the Malaysia’s 42 km marathon last year. He passed the test. "
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English
weightlifters fail doping tests
Doug
Gillon
The
Herald - Glasgow, Scotland, UK (last viewed 7 September 2005)
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Leading text: "Four winners of men's titles at the British Weightlifting Championships are under investigation for elevated male hormone levels, which is indicative of banned performance-enhancing drugs. If they are convicted, it would rank as the biggest single anti-doping bust in the history of British sport, and the greatest embarrassment to UK weightlifting since Andrew Saxton and Andrew Davies were sent home from the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. The doping infractions were reported from samples taken at the British Weight Lifters' Association Championships at Lilleshall, on July 16. This was England's Commonwealth Games qualifying event, though not all winners achieved the standard.
In response to inquiries by The Herald yesterday, the governing body issued the following statement: "The BWLA has received information from UK Sport which suggests that tests on the A sample have proved positive in the case of four lifters. "In accordance with BWLA procedure and rules, further investigations are being made. BWLA rules require us to keep confidential all information it obtains about an individual sportsman as a result of its drug testing programme." Subsequent analysis of the so-called B sample must replicate the first, and almost always does.
The Herald knows the identities of the four, prominent names in UK lifting, and will divulge them in due course. An offence would carry a two-year suspension, and routine ineligibility from future Olympic and Commonwealth Games. The sport's chief executive, Steve Cannon, will meet UK Sport today. "This could go on for quite a few months," he said. "Because the testosterone could occur naturally, and not by administration, tests will have to be conducted over three or four months." Raised testosterone can indicate testicular cancer, but four instances among a handful of weightlifters at one event would constitute an epidemic.
"Commonwealth Games selection dates would overtake a long inquiry," said Cannon. "I will also need to talk to the England Commonwealth Games Council . . . It's shocking and disappointing that four guys can do this to us." A spokesman for Drug Free Sport at UK Sport said there was a desire to process the matter speedily, but that is up to the governing body. Commonwealth Games nominations are imminent, which may force the sport to out the guilty in the near future. "People may not be selected if the time needed for the longitudinal study exceeds the selection process," added Cannon. "It would not look good for the Commonwealth Games Council for England if a medal were won and then had to be stripped away."..."
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Sports
doping explored during half-day symposium entitled "Preventing Doping in
Sports: A Herculean Task"
EurekAlert
- Washington, DC, USA (30 August 2005)
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[Author contact]
"WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 Nearly every major sport has been plagued by scandals involving the use of banned substances by athletes. In the wake of this growing problem, a group of researchers at the American Chemical Society’s 230th national meeting in Washington, D.C., will discuss scientific and regulatory aspects surrounding the controversial topic of sports doping during a special half-day symposium on Tuesday, Aug. 30, from 8:55 a.m. – 11:35 a.m. at the Washington Convention Center, Room 156. The symposium is entitled "Preventing Doping in Sports: A Herculean Task." Highlights of the symposium include:
"Gene doping" in sports: A future challenge 'Gene doping’ is defined as the non-therapeutic use of genes, genetic elements and/or cells that have the capacity to enhance athletic performance, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency. Experts believe that these scientific advances, although still experimental, will some day be used by athletes to gain a competitive advantage. For example, certain growth factor compounds designed to treat muscle wasting disease might be used to boost muscle mass; erythropoietin (EPO), a hormone that regulates red blood cell production, might be genetically engineered to increase endurance; and 'PGC-alpha,’ a gene involved in muscle signaling, could be used to activate specific muscle fibers to optimize performance. Rosario M. Isasi of the Université de Montréal in Canada will explore the cutting-edge issue of gene doping, including its scientific, regulatory and social implications. (CHAL 27, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 9:00 a.m.)
Designer steroids pose testing challenge Designer doping agents, including steroids, are available that allow athletes to gain a competitive advantage and evade normal testing controls. Christiane Ayotte of INRS-Armand-Frappier Institute’s Doping Control Laboratory in Canada will discuss strategies for testing challenging steroids, identifying new substances and their properties, and obtaining information about sources and distribution of these steroids. (CHAL 29, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 10:00 a.m.)
U.S. Anti-Doping Agency: Setting high standards The U.S. Anti-doping Agency (USADA) has emerged as one of the most effective agencies in the world dedicated to "preserving the well being of Olympic sport, the integrity of competition, and ensuring the health of athletes." Jean L. Fourcroy, a USADA board member, will describe ongoing efforts to develop a comprehensive national program to fight sports doping, including testing, education, research and policies related to the organization’s mission. (CHAL 30, Tuesday, Aug 30, 10:30 a.m.)
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization, chartered by the U.S. Congress, with a multidisciplinary membership of more than 158,000 chemists and chemical engineers. It publishes numerous scientific journals and databases, convenes major research conferences and provides educational, science policy and career programs in chemistry. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio."
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Lance
Armstrong disputes French doping results
Juiceenewsdaily
- Jasper,AL,USA (last viewed 4 September 2005)
[FullText]
[Related articles: 1 | 2]
[Author contact]
Key note: Former cycling professional Rolf Jaermann on Sunday told a German newspaper that EPO doping was widespread amongst cyclists up to the 1998 Tour de France.
Excerpt: "Accused of EPO doping by the French cycling daily L'Équipe in a four page story on Aug. 23, cyclist Lance Armstrong appeared on CNN's Larry King Live TV show Aug. 25, saying he did not trust the French testers or the French testing system, and that his urine was manipulated to falsely accuse him of doping.
Dr. Christiane Ayotte, director of a Montreal doping detection laboratory said that ethically critical and important scientific questions were raised by the EPO doping allegation against seven-time Tour de France winner Armstrong. USA Cycling official Gerard Bisceglia said these L'Équipe charges were unfair and lacked credibility. Bisceglia is chief executive of USA Cycling, principal authority over Armstrong for cycling sports in the United States. [DJ: make sure you read SF Weekly article (7 September 2005), available here]
L'Équipe released Paris lab data allegedly finding banned EPO in five year old samples of Armstrong's urine, originally taken after he won the 1999 Tour de France. No official source would confirm medical identification of Armstrong as provider of the anonymously tested urine, and to do so would be a violation of World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) regulations.
Armstrong suggested motivation for such manipulation is a French national hatred of all non-French sport winners, and specifically because a French rider has not won the Tour de France for a quarter century. As evidence of malice toward him, Armstrong cited a French newspaper poll in which he was named the third most hated sportsman in France.
Dr. Ayotte is Doping Control director at Canada's Institut National de la Recherché Scientifique in Montreal, which is a WADA certified lab nearest to WADA's Montreal headquarters... L'Équipe reported that the EPO detection method used was experimental, which raises a scientific question. All experimentally based forensic evidence is subject to the close scrutiny of scientific opinions before it can be used in a disciplinary or legal proceeding. Ayotte expressed surprise that chemical testing of 1999 urine could have been done in 2004 at the French national anti-doping laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry. She said that she routinely instructs all doping laboratory organizations, that previously detectable EPO protein deteriorates and disappears after two or three months, even if the urine is frozen. Ayotte thinks that a new statistical mathematics model was used to reanalyze numerical data resulting from earlier chemical testing. "My interpretation is that retesting itself must have been conducted in 2000 or in 2001, but the results were reviewed using the new mathematical model that is now being developed in Paris." Ayotte does not question whether the new type of analysis is correct; rather she questions the ethics of long-delayed test results.
The first ethical problem is that this adverse finding cannot be confirmed with second samples. There are normally available two urine samples, "A" and "B". The Châtenay-Malabry EPO findings were based on Armstrong's "B" samples. Armstrong's "A" samples were depleted in 1999 for tests that did not include EPO, because no EPO test was available that year. Without addressing the ethics problem, Dick Pound, the head of WADA, said. "You can count on the fingers of one hand the times a "B" sample has not confirmed the result of the "A" sample".
Both France and USA officials observed that L'Équipe's unofficial adverse finding was not consistent with WADA regulations. French Sports Minister Jean-François Lamour said that without the "A" samples, no disciplinary action could be taken against Armstrong. USA official Bisceglia confirmed that WADA regulations require a confirming "A" test to prove guilt.
The second ethical problem, according to Ayotte, is that an athlete charged with doping long after the athletic event, has no way to submit to additional testing to disprove an adverse finding...
The third ethical problem for Ayotte is that L'Équipe disclosed Armstrong's medical identity. "It seems to me," Ayotte continued, "that this whole thing is breach of the WADA code. We are supposed to work confidentially until such time that we can confirm a result. By no means does this mean that we sweep a result under the carpet, but it has to meet a certain set of requirements." In a further ethical complication, the medical identification of Armstrong is completely unofficial and is made only by L'Équipe. Ayotte characterized the disclosure as "leaked".
Châtenay-Malabry's lab refused to confirm L'Équipe's claim that the urine samples belonged to Armstrong. Nor is it likely that Châtenay-Malabry will ever identify Armstrong, because WADA regulations require that all single "B" samples used for experimental testing must remain permanently anonymous. Ayotte said, "I'm worried, because I have a great deal of respect for my colleagues in Paris. I am concerned that they did not cover their backs before being dragged into a very public issue of this kind."
Lance Armstrong has responded on his LanceArmstrong.com website, branding L'Équipe's reporting as being "nothing short of tabloid journalism." Armstrong says: "I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance enhancing drugs."
Further confusing public understanding of the EPO doping claim is Armstrong's statement in his autobiography, It's Not About the Bike: he said he received EPO during his cancer chemotherapy treatment. "It was the only thing that kept me alive," he wrote. Armstrong last received chemotherapy EPO in late 1996. Apparently speaking from his knowledge of conventional EPO testing, Armstrong agrees that traces of 1996 synthetic EPO should not have been present in his 1999 urine. There are now tests to distinguish natural from synthetic EPO. But it remains an unresearched scientific question whether the sensitivity of the experimental new method could detect use of synthetic EPO from three years previously. By scientific analogy, the polymerase chain reaction process can detect as little as a single molecule of DNA.
Jean-Marie Leblanc, the director of the Tour de France, said that Armstrong owes cycling fans an explanation. Armstrong subsequently provided an explanation claiming urine test manipulation. Leblanc also said; "For the first timeand these are no longer rumors, or insinuations, these are proven scientific factssomeone has shown me that in 1999, Armstrong had a banned substance called EPO in his body."
"When people start using comments like, 'irrefutable scientific evidence,' that's a pretty strong statement to make," said Bisceglia, "when the person you're making it about has never been given the opportunity to refute the statement. You're making claims about something that took place in 1999. Based on what I've read, it's pretty clear that any opportunity to have a black-and-white resolution to this case has been destroyed."
Bisceglia said that USA Cycling, the governing body in the United States, lacks the officially required evidence, and therefore will not investigate the L'Équipe report."
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Two
doping tests reported from Athletics World Championships in Helsinki
EiTB
- Euskadi, Spain (29 August 2005)
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[Author contact]
Excerpt: "The International Association of Athletics Federations confirmed positive tests for Ukrainian hammer thrower Vladyslav Piskunov and Indian female discus thrower Neelam Jaswant Singh. Athletics' world governing body on Monday reported two positive doping tests from the Aug. 6-14 World Championships in Helsinki. The International Association of Athletics Federations confirmed positive tests for Ukrainian hammer thrower Vladyslav Piskunov and Indian female discus thrower Neelam Jaswant Singh. Piskunov tested positive for the anabolic steroid Drostalone on Aug. 8. The positive test was confirmed after the championships ended. He placed 12th with a throw of 74.78 meters. The Indian thrower tested positive for the stimulant pemoline. Her result was announced during the championships. Her best throw of 57.60 meters failed to advance her to the finals. The IAAF said it carried out 884 doping tests - 416 before the competition and the remainder during - on 708 athletes. A total 1,849 participated in the championships."
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Cycling
News: EPO doping widespread till 1998
Supersport
- Zambia (28 August 2005)
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Excerpt: "Former cycling professional Rolf Jaermann on Sunday told a German newspaper that EPO doping was widespread amongst cyclists up to the 1998 Tour de France. The Swiss cyclist was speaking after French newspaper L`Equipe last week claimed that seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong had tested positive in 1999 for EPO, a drug that increases oxygen rich red blood cells. Armstrong has denied ever using performance-enhancing drugs.
The 39-year-old Jaermann told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that EPO use was widespread amongst professional cyclists. In the time during which I rode, the use of EPO was widespread. As a result we all had the same chances. I had the feeling my opponents used the same," Jaermann said. The Swiss, who retired in 1999 after 13 years as a professional cyclist, used EPO until 1998. "Thereafter I no longer touched it," he said.
The Swiss, who won two World Cup races, also competed in the team of Bjarne Riis, who won the Tour in 1996. "Not everybody was checked, but one had the feeling that everybody took it. It was only after the 1998 Tour, when police intervened, that the policy changed." Jaermann said that blood tests, which became widespread after the 1998 Tour, had probably saved many lives. "It would have been dangerous if we had not accepted blood tests. We realised that it could not continue without blood tests. "I am pleased that I was a cyclist. Through tests we were relatively secure, but we also had the most scandals."
About the Armstrong scandal Jaermann said: "1999 was another time. The use of EPO could not be proved. I am certain that he is no worse nor better than all other cyclists. "At the end the cyclist who trained the most and was cleverer than other riders won. I think that Armstrong is a special athlete who has the will to win and he has much more professionalism than most other riders."
Meanwhile the editor of L`Equipe, Claude Droussent, said that the Armstrong case was probably just the tip of the iceberg and that several other cyclists could be named. He said that they had not yet managed to put names to the other positive tests that remained from 1999, but: "We are working on it." The newspaper is said to have 52 positive tests in the possession, which have also been forwarded to the world anti-doping agency, WADA."
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Greg
Rusedski was cleared of a doping offense last year, but is still trying
to overcome the stigma. Federer fueled by prime-time snub
Bob
Considine
Asbury
Park Press - Asbury Park, NJ, USA (31 August 2005)
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[Author contact]
Excerpt: "He's the world's No. 1 men's player, the most dominant player in his sport and the defending U.S. Open champion, but Roger Federer still didn't get a prime-time slot for his first-round match Tuesday. But as long as the rain didn't delay his 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 rout over Ivo Minar, Federer was fine with it. "I was a little bit surprised I had to come out at 11 (in the morning)," Federer said. "But it's good to know your time. "Of course, if the rain comes along, you have a long day. I think (playing) second would have been worse today because then you don't have no clue what's going to happen."...
Ruing the day Greg Rusedski, ousted by James Blake in the first round, was cleared of a doping offense last year, but is still trying to overcome the stigma. "It was the injustice I was being put through with the whole situation," Rusedski said. "I think it was very unfair... Plus, the (ATP) tour gave me absolutely zero help." An ATP anti-doping panel upheld Rusedski's contention last year that his positive test for the steroid nandrolone came from contaminated supplements supplied by ATP Tour trainers. "It's just something where you want to fight back and prove people wrong and show you can still play well," Rusedski added..."
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Doping
allegations can't hurt the Legend of Lance, Tim Layden of CNN's Sports
Illustrated says: Does it mean he supports doping?
Tim
Layden
CNN
SI - USA (24 August 2005)
[FullText]
[Author contact]
Excerpt: "1) A French newspaper says Lance Armstrong used performance-enhancing EPO in 1999, during the first of his seven Tour de France victories. Should we believe this or should we ignore this? Not just any French newspaper, but L`Equipe, the respected daily sports newspaper and sports magazine. L'Equipe reported in its Tuesday edition that it had obtained copies of six medical documents from the '99 Tour that showed an unnamed Tour rider had tested positive for red blood cell-boosting EPO, a popular drug among endurance athletes (runners, cyclists) until a test for detecting the substance was developed in 2001. The paper said the samples were Armstrong's and that they had been preserved and tested last year. The report should be neither believed nor ignored. It should not be accepted outright because L'Equipe has not provided first-hand evidence that the samples are Armstrong's. The laboratory that performed the test has not verified that the samples were Armstrong's. It should not be ignored because, despite Armstrong's profile and popularity, it would be naïve -- in any high level sport in '05 -- to dismiss the possibility that a successful athlete used performance-enhancing substances. Fans should be relentlessly skeptical, and the larger the performance, the more skeptical they should be. Armstrong, who has been the subject of numerous allegations of doping, has always denied using them, and repeated that denial Tuesday on his website.
2) Will the report seriously damage Armstrong's credibility? Not likely. There is little doubt that sports fans are living through an era of unprecedented doping exposure... Armstrong is a more fascinating case, because he is far more than just a star athlete. He is a source of hope and belief for millions (count the yellow wristbands) of cancer survivors and patients. Through his victories in le Tour, through the publication of two bestselling books, through the yellow bracelets, Armstrong has grown into a larger-than-life folk hero in the U.S.A. He is nearly bulletproof against any allegations of doping, short of an admission on his part. I don't think any media investigation can damage the Legend of Lance in this country..."
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Doping
mystery of Mossmann Gorge
Marcus
Armytage
Telegraph.co.uk
(25
August 2005)
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Excerpt: "British Racing is facing a new doping scandal after the Jockey Club confirmed yesterday that Mossmann Gorge, a horse which was prevented from running at Newmarket in July because it had been given an intravenous injection in the racecourse stables, has failed the subsequent dope test. It is Jockey Club policy to wait for the result of the B sample counter-analysis, which may take two months to complete, before confirming the prohibited substance. However, Mossmann Gorge's trainer David Flood, who is in the process of re-applying for his licence, said yesterday he had been told it was the anti-inflammatory painkiller, phenylbutazone, otherwise known as 'bute.' Apart from Mossmann Gorge testing positive to a prohibited substance in both urine and blood samples taken at Newmarket on July 24, it is against the Rules of Racing to administer an intravenous injection while in racecourse stables.
The injection mark was found when one of the racecourse vets went to check the horse's identity chip. He discovered a trickle of blood coming from its neck and, on his advice, the local stewards ordered the horse to be withdrawn, dope tested and the case referred to the Jockey Club. Paul Struthers, the Jockey Club press officer, confirmed the positive test and said: "The aim of the investigation will be to establish the source of the prohibited substance." To that end, security staff have interviewed those close to the horse and will review CCTV footage of Newmarket's racecourse stables on the day.
But in light of the recent case of Cheltenham winner King Harald failing an 'A' sample but passing the 'B' counter-analysis, Struthers was reluctant to say any more at this stage.
Following the Newmarket incident, Flood, one of the rising stars of the training ranks with a reputation for improving other people's cast-offs and ruffling establishment feathers, had a major fall-out with Mark Serrell, Mossmann Gorge's owner and the trainer's business partner. Because of the split, Flood had to leave his rented yard, Uplands in Lambourn, and hand in his licence at short notice earlier this month. He has moved his remaining six horses to Badgerstown, a yard near Swindon, where he hopes to start up again.
Apart from Mossmann Gorge, who is now with Mark Wellings, Serrell withdrew several other horses from Flood, including Jonny Ebeneezer, who won eight races last year, and Coeur Courageux, and sent them to Jeremy Noseda. I'm Spartacus, who beat subsequent Grand Prix de Paris winner Scorpion in the Gallinule Stakes to give Flood his biggest victory, is now in training with David Barker.
Flood said yesterday: "The horse has tested positive for bute. In statements to the security department, we made it clear that it was not administered by myself or my staff. All I can say is that it is very frustrating. I'm trying to press on with my career with six horses and orders for other horses from some loyal owners."
A prominent vet claimed yesterday that intravenous bute is hard to come by in Britain because it is no longer manufactured here. The powdered form is often used in training to ease lameness, and its use in races is legal in certain States of America. The drug, a non-steroid, takes about a week to leave a horse's system and when it is found in a dope test, it can usually be traced back to a mix-up at home with feeds.
There can have been no 'mix-up' if it has been given intravenously. Whoever administered the injection on July 24 did so on purpose and in the knowledge that, if the horse won, it would be guaranteed to show up in a test. However, investigators will not necessarily presume that the intravenous injection was the source.
If, as he strenuously maintains, Flood or his staff did not administer the injection and some unknown party did, then this case has major implications for stable security at Newmarket, home of two Classics and this autumn's biggest races, including the Cheveley Park Stakes, Champion Stakes, Dewhurst and, this season, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes transferred from Ascot."
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Women's
Sports Administration Course in progress
Staff
Report
DailyTimes.com.pk
- Lahore, Pakistan (25 August 2005)
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contact]
Excerpt: "On the third day of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Women’s Sports Administration and Leadership Course, in progress here at Amer Hotel, Abdul Khaliq Khan, secretary general of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and national course coordinator, delivered his lecture on the topic of ‘Olympic Symbols of Olympic Movement and Olympic Games’ to the participants.
While elaborating his topic, he highlighted significance and importance of the Olympic Symbols in terms of their value and usage by the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) around the globe. He also apprised the participants of the history of the ancient and modern Olympic Games with modalities as well as the role of international federations in holding the competitions of different sports on these occasions.
Dr Muhammad Asghar Javed, Chairman of the Sports Sciences and Physical Education Department of the Punjab University, presented thoughtful lecture on physical fitness urging the participants to think high about this programme relevant to the framework of preparation of athletes for competitions.
Prof Painda A Malik, IOC qualified national course director, deliberated upon the topic of ‘Government and Sports’. In the afternoon session, Mian Muhammad Rafiq, IOC qualified national course director, gave his lecture on ‘Sports for All.’ Touching upon the philosophy and spirit of sports for all, he urged the participants to be mindful of the contribution of sports in the human life in terms of health, fitness and cultural values.
Dr Syed Meesaq Hussain Rizvi discussed the topic of ‘Doping and Drug Control’ and made the participants realise the negative aspects of doping and also the methods introduced by the IOC to check and eliminate this menace."
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