Doping News 2006, XX Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy


HOME	HELP	FEEDBACK	RECENT CONTENT	SUBJECT COLLECTIONS	PUBLISH IN DJ	REGISTRATION

DOPING NEWS 2006 (Includes XX Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy)

News on all aspects of doping science, doping usage, anti doping control, and anti-doping code appearing in lay, business and governmental 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.

Legal notice: 'Doping News' page of the Doping Journal is provided for educational purpose only. A reference for news at length of this page is not an endorsement or approval of a news article content. The list below does not make a claim to being comprehensive; It is no substitute for your own research, and should not be relied upon for any purpose. Further info is available at the Doping Journal disclaimer statement. Please note that Doping Journal may inadvertently omit certain national/international news stories due to the lack of information. If you notice an omission please let us know. Each citation may include URL links to related articles.

Document navigation menu and related items:

DJ NEWS 2004 | NEWS INDEX DJ NEWS 2005, PART 1 | PART 2 DJ NOTEWORTHY GOOGLE SCHOLAR GOOGLE NEWS NIH PUBMED XML FEED

DJ NEWS 2004 \| NEWS INDEX	DJ NEWS 2005, PART 1 \| PART 2	DJ NOTEWORTHY	GOOGLE SCHOLAR	GOOGLE NEWS	NIH PUBMED	XML FEED

DJ News pages readership 1 January 2005 - 31 August 2005: 4519

17 March 2006

Original DJ news item
Cobalt salts administration to athletes: a new treat?
Giuseppe Lippi¹, Massimo Franchini², Gian Cesare Guidi¹
¹Istituto di Chimica e Microscopia Clinica, Dipartimento di Scienze Morfologico-Biomediche, Università degli Studi di Verona, Ospedale Policlinico G.B. Rossi,
Piazzale Scuro, 10, 37134, Verona, Italy; ²Servizio di Immunoematologia e Trasfusione, Azienda Ospedaliera di Verona, Verona, Italy.
Doping Journal original Press Release (17 March 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

Full Text: Verona, Italy -- (17 March 2006) -- Competition is connatural to human and animal nature. There is rather a long history of techniques and substances employed to enhance the athletic performance and to achieve unfair success in sport, with little knowledge or acceptance of potential detrimental effects on the health (Ref. 1). Owing to the favourable effects on endurance performance and recovery, blood doping has become commonplace to endurance sport disciplines over the past decade (Ref. 2). The currently accepted definition of blood doping contemplates methods or substances administered for non-medical reasons to healthy athletes for improving the aerobic performances. Therefore, it includes means aimed to produce an increased or more efficient mechanism of oxygen transport and delivery to peripheral tissues and muscles. In endurance sports like cycling, triathlon, cross-country skiing or marathon running, boosting the blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity can enhance performances by over 20%. Following the commercial availability of erythropoiesis stimulating substances, namely recombinant erythropoietin (rHuEpo), a black market for it quickly developed. The numerous physiological and practical advantages of Epo encouraged the wide diffusion of this innovative doping technique, which rapidly emerged as a major issue for the public health (Ref. 3). It was not until some years later that reliable laboratory tests for detecting rHuEpo became available (Ref. 4). Given the elite athlete's innate inclination to experiment with novel doping strategies, the scientific community might be facing a new, unpredictable crisis. It is well established that induction of a mild hypoxic condition generates a wide series of adaptative responses (Ref. 5). In the clinical practice, cobalt chloride is administered to treat some forms of anemia. In animal models, the administration of cobalt chloride promotes selective powerful activation of hypoxic genes, including the Epo gene (Ref. 6). The final result of this cobalt-promoted genetic induction is enhanced Epo production and more efficient stimulation of the erythropoietic response, achievable at the moderate oral dose of 30 mg/kg (Ref. 7).

Although high serum cobalt has been anecdotally reported in athletes (8), there are as yet no definitive evidences of its administration to improve the athletic performances. Nevertheless, we can not rule out that cobalt misuse in athletes might become a serious risk for the very next future, along with gene doping (Refs. 6, 7). Inorganic cobalt salts administration is potential detrimental for the athlete’s health, as it largely accumulates in liver and kidney, promoting organ damage and dysfunction due to enhanced oxidative stress, even at a low dosage of 33.3 mg/kg (Ref. 6). Excessive cobalt administration might also negatively influence the thyroid activity. Owing to this severe and unpredictable side effects, cobalt chloride administration might reveal as a serious threat for the scientific community and for the athletes’ health. Cobalt is not currently included within the list of banned substances issued by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Although, testing for cobalt administration during competition may lead to wasted efforts, as its pharmacodynamic properties discourage misuse near or at the time of competition, effective strategies for unmask this potentially deleterious doping practice are compelling. Accordingly, the WADA is currently working on the introduction of cobalt salts testing within revised antidoping panels (Ref. 8).

References: 1. Lippi G, Guidi G. Doping and sports. Minerva Med 1999;90:345-57; 2. Lippi G, Franchini M. The new frontiers of blood doping. Recenti Prog Med 2002;93:1-8 ; 3. Lippi G, Guidi G. Laboratory screening for erythropoietin abuse in sport: an emerging challenge. Clin Chem Lab Med 2000;38:13-9 ; 4. Lippi G, Franchini M, Guidi G. Second generation blood tests to detect erythropoietin abuse by athletes: effective but not preventive? Haematologica 2004;89(4):ELT05 ; 5. Lippi G, Montagnana M, Guidi GC. Albumin cobalt binding and ischemia modified albumin generation: An endogenous response to ischemia? Int J Cardiol 2006;108:410-1 ; 6. Lippi G, Guidi GC. Gene manipulation and improvement of athletic performances: new strategies in blood doping. Br J Sports Med 2004;38:641 ; 7. Lippi G, Franchini M, Guidi GC. Cobalt chloride administration in athletes: a new perspective in blood doping? Br J Sports Med 2005;39:872-3 ; 8. Arribas C. Alerta, cobalto en la sangre. El Pais, 20 February 2006.

contributed by Giuseppe Lippi | This item permanent URL

23 February 2006

Original DJ news item
Blood journal study suggests IOC testing for erythropoietin is faked
Doping Journal original Press Release (23 February 2006)
[Author contact]

Full Text: Rehovot, Israel -- (23 February 2006) -- The study published in the major international scientific journal on blood science and medicine suggests International Olympic Committee (IOC) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) testing for Erythropoietin (Epo) is based on faked science.

Erythropoietin (Epo) is a glycoprotein hormone that is mainly produced by the kidney. It boosts the production of red blood cells by promoting the proliferation, differentiation and survival of progenitor cells of the erythroid lineage. Recombinant human Epo (rhEpo) is widely used for the treatment of various forms of anaemia. Since rhEpo increases the body's maximum oxygen consumption capacity and endurance by increasing red cell mass, it has also been embraced as an aid in endurance sports. However, this use of Epo was prohibited by IOC and WADA , which has led to the screening of athletes for rhEpo abuse.

Endogenous and recombinant human forms of Epo have different pattern of molecule modification called glycosylation. Such a tiny difference between natural Epo, its' biotechnological and structural analogs (such as Darbepoetin) leads to the molecule electric charge differences that have been exploited to distinguish endogenous and recombinant isoforms by a so called isoelectric focusing technique.

The adopted by WADA urine test for EPO is based on a combination of isoelectric focusing on a gel (a semi-analytical separation of proteins according to the molecules' net electric charge), the transfer of proteins from gel to a special paper and protein detection by a double immunoblotting, not well established complicated and operator-dependent procedure to immunologically detect proteins of interest with an antibody color reaction.

In the Blood journal study research group led by Associate Professor Monique Beullens and Professor Mathieu Bollen (of the Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium) and their colleague Dr. Joris R Delanghe (of the Department of Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital, Gent, Belgium) shows that widely-used by IOC and WADA Epo test can lead to the false-positive detection of rhEpo in post-exercise, protein-rich urine of the endurance sports athletes.

As a result of a disputed case of alleged rhEpo-abuse by an endurance athlete with post-exercise proteinuria, European scientists wondered whether the test for rhEpo can lead to false-positive results, perhaps as a result of cross-reactivity of the Epo-antibodies with unrelated to Epo other proteins of urine.

Straightforward experimental protocol of the reported study leaves little doubt that the major urinary protein that WADA test visualizes with the ani-Epo antibodies is not Epo.

The article by Belgian scientists therefore challenges WADA claim that "the detection method for EPO is valid and reliable." Similarly faulty now sounds another WADA statement that the method for Epo detection "has undergone an extensive scientific validation..." and that "it is a well-established procedure widely accepted by the scientific community, as demonstrated by publication in a number of international scientific journals."

Contrary to WADA claim, the Doping Journal analysis of citation impact of earlier publications on Epo testing in urine indicates IOC/WADA method for Epo testing is not scientifically popular/accepted or well-established. An in depth analysis of the articles behind the IOCs' urine test for Epo shows these earlier publications missed critical control experiments and were not designed to exclude non-specific false-positive misidentification of other non-Epo urine components.

Therefore "The 2006 Prohibited List" section S2 on "Hormones and Related Substances" of The World Anti-Doping Code (stating with regard to Epo that "unless the athlete can demonstrate that the [Epo] concentration was due to a physiological or pathological condition" [an urine sample] deemed to contain a prohibited substance Epo") provides the grounds for blood doping corruption by IOC and WADA, abuses athletes, and obstructs Olympic play true principal.

The study published in an advanced online publication of the Blood, suggest that WADA data on blood doping are invalid, and that innocent athletes could lost their Olympic medals because of IOC and WADA misconduct. Latest possible IOC false detection of Epo took place at Salt Lake City during Winter Olympic Games 2002, when two Russian cross-country skiers (Larissa Lazutina and Olga Danilova) and one Spanish athlete (Johann Muehlegg) were stripped off their medals after testing positive for Epo analog Darbepoietin. The present Blood study published during the XX Olympic Games 2006 in Turin, Italy, indicates Olympic champions could wrongly suffer IOC sanctions.

Other aspects of the misconduct by IOC's WADA are analysed in the leading article of the just published first issue of the newly established International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching.

Blood ( www.bloodjournal.org ) is the Journal of the American Society of Hematology, the major peer reviewed international journal on science and medicine of blood with very high latest impact factors of 10 .

Doping Journal ( www.dopingjournal.org ) is an independent non-profit international peer-reviewed scholar publication on every aspect of doping science. It is a so called Open Access (OA) publication available free of charge to everyone with a computer and an Internet connection. It is indexed by the National Library of Medicine USA, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and a great number of academic and public libraries worldwide. The multinational readership trend of the Doping Journal can be accessed at the journal readers' map.

For more information contact Alexei Koudinov, MD, PhD, editor, Doping Journal, P.O.Box 1665, Rehovot 76100 Israel, tel: (972 54) 796-8607 , postmaster[at]dopingjournal.org

Additional information on the article published in the Blood is provided at the Doping Journal Noteworthy Articles collection 2006.

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

21 February 2006

Two Russian cross-country skiers cleared to compete
Associated Press: Olympics News Wire(16 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact ]

"PRAGELATO, Italy -- Two Russian cross-country skiers were cleared Tuesday to compete in the Olympics after serving suspensions for high hemoglobin levels, while another received a third suspension.

Natalia Matveeva passed a third test after receiving consecutive five-day suspensions, while countryman Pavel Korosteljev lowered his levels and was cleared following a second test. Nikolai Pankratov, also of Russia, was retested last Thursday along with Matveeva and both were suspended for a second time by the International Ski Federation, then Pankratov failed a third test Tuesday and was suspended for five additional days. The only race he now could do is Sunday's 50km mass start -- and that's if he passes a fourth blood test. But Pankratov is doubtful for that event, considering he typically enters the shorter races.

Sergei Dolidovich of Belarus also was hit with a second suspension last week. There were no cross-country races scheduled for Tuesday and only four remaining: Wednesday's individual sprint races, the women's 30km mass start Thursday and the men's 50km Sunday on the final day of the Turin Games. Korosteljev was among four skiers suspended Feb. 10, one day after eight other cross-country athletes were penalized with a five-day start suspension because of elevated levels of hemoglobin, the part of the red blood cell that can increase endurance.

The other skiers to be cleared so far are Kikkan Randall and Leif Zimmerman of the United States; Canada's Sean Crooks; Evi Sachenbacher of Germany; Robel Teklemariam of Ethiopia; Alen Abramovic of Croatia; Aleksandr Lasutkin of Belarus; and Jean Marc Gaillard of France. Athletes with high hemoglobin levels aren't necessarily doping or doing anything wrong. Some have naturally high levels, while others could be dehydrated or adjusting to high elevation. The cross-country venue sits at more than 5,000 feet.

But the test results raised the possibility of blood doping with synthetic hemoglobin or transfusions. As a precaution, FIS routinely suspends skiers with high hemoglobin levels."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

21 February 2006

Anti-doping Highlights IOC-Italian Tussle: Doping rather than sport took center stage over the past three days in Turin
Wei Xiangnan
Crienglish.com (21 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact ]

"Doping rather than sport took center stage over the past three days in Turin after Italian police raided the houses of two Austrian biathletes late Saturday night. The IOC and Italian authorities remained at odds on the issue on Monday. CRI correspondent in Turin, Wei Xiangnan filed this report.

Dozens of armed Italian police stormed three houses of the Austrian biathlon and cross-country skiing athletes in San Sicario and Pragelato late Saturday. While police searched the houses, IOC doping officials took 10 of the athletes to a nearby clinic for drug testing.

The raids and tests were conducted after the World Anti-Doping Agency reported the Austrian team might have been visited by coach Walter Mayer, who was banned from the Games until after 2010 for blood doping at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

The raids and tests again highlighted a tussle between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Italian authorities over who would control and rule on doping cases.

According to the deal struck by the IOC and the Italian authorities, the IOC and WADA will do the anti-doping tests and they will inform the Italians of the doping cases.

Giselle Davies, IOC Director of Communication said on Monday that Italian authorities acted alone after they had received a copy of the WADA report from the IOC, overruling the statement of Italian police that the anti-doping raids were conducted together with the IOC.

Davies said the only collaboration was in the form of giving the police the report and informing them of the time they would test the athletes. She added that the IOC is solely responsible for anti-doping tests.

In the latest development, Italian prosecutors said they found more than 100 syringes and 30 packs of drugs in the raid, including asthma drugs and antidepressants and they also seized devices for blood testing and blood transfusions.

Austria's state television ORF quoted Turin prosecutor Marcello Maddalena, as saying the raids were coordinated closely with the IOC and the WADA.

Doping is considered a criminal offence in Italy, which can be punished with a suspended prison sentence. But IOC insists it should be dealt with inside of the sport circle."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

18 February 2006 2 CHANGE

Police in raid on Austrian quarters
Antonella Ciancio (Additional reporting by Karolos Grohmann and Sophie Hardach)
Reuters.com (18 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

Excerpt: "TURIN (Reuters) - Italian police launched drug raids on the Austrian biathlon and cross-country teams' Winter Games quarters on Saturday after a tip-off from the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC confirmed that unannounced out-of-competition doping tests had been conducted on "a number of Austrian cross-country and biathlon athletes". It added: "In this instance, the IOC has acted on information it received in a report given to it by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which indicates the possible presence of Mr Walther Mayer in the private accommodation of the Austrian biathlon and cross-country teams. "Given that Mr Mayer has been declared ineligible to participate in all Olympic Games up to and including Vancouver 2010, based on his involvement in blood manipulation offences committed in Salt Lake City 2002, the IOC is fulfilling its responsibility to conduct anti-doping controls on athletes who might have been under his influence."

An Italian investigative source told Reuters: "The searches ... were made at the request of the Turin prosecutors." The source added that nothing untoward had been found so far. Later, just before 1am local time (1200 midnight GMT), a Reuters Television crew recorded two men being taken away by police from a building in San Sicario, the venue for the biathlon events at the Games.

A car with Austrian team markings was outside the building. One of the men was carrying Olympic accreditation and the other man's head was covered by a policeman's jacket. They were taken away in a marked police car. Policemen on the scene refused to comment when approached by a Reuters reporter. Secretary-general of the Austrian Olympic Committee Heinz Jungwirth earlier told Reuters they would be protesting to the IOC. He said that police and doping controllers from the IOC had arrived at Pragelato during the course of the evening.

SESTRIERE TEST

From two private buildings housing the Austrian teams, they drove all the country's biathlon and cross country competitors -- 15 in total, all men -- the 5km to Sestriere where they were tested. They were then returned to their bases in Pragelato. "The athletes do not feel guilty -- they haven't done anything wrong," he said.

"We are going to protest vigorously the way this was done." He continued: "We are in favor of controls but these kind of methods, turning up at such a late hour are not acceptable. "We are in competition tomorrow and this is harassment." Jungwirth said he expected to receive the results of the tests "as early as possible tomorrow".

IOC Director of Communications Giselle Davies told Reuters Television the unannounced doping tests on the athletes had been conducted at a clinic in Sestriere near the Olympic village. "Everything went smoothly. There were no complaints given," she said. "It is sad testing has to happen." But she added clean athletes had to be protected from the cheats.

The IOC has run over 500 tests since the Games began, many of them unannounced, she said. "They are an important fight against doping." There are nine cross-country athletes at the Games. Austria have yet to win a medal in any of the three men's races to date. There are three men's cross-country races remaining, including Sunday's 4x10-km relay.

BANNED SUBSTANCES

All six of Austria's biathletes are also men, according to the Olympic News Service. There have been three men's biathlon races so far at the 2006 Winter Games and not one Austrian medallist in the sport. There are two more biathlon men's races due before the end of the February 10-26 Olympics. The next is scheduled for Tuesday.

The Italian government, which introduced strict doping laws before it won the right to host the Turin Olympics, has refused to relax them to correspond with IOC rules which foresee only non-penal sanctions for drugs users.

Even a last-minute compromise between the IOC and the host country on who would handle the doping tests during the Games had failed to include a moratorium on launching criminal procedures against athletes found using banned substances.

That left the IOC concerned that athletes could be subjected to police raids and face prison sentences if they tested positive."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

18 February 2006 2 CHANGE

Police doping raid mars historic day
ABC.net.au (18 February 2006)
[FullText] [Authors contact]

Excerpt: "Italian police have raided Austria's biathlon and cross-country skiing team bases on suspicion of doping, casting a pall over a day that made Olympic history at the Winter Games. International Olympic Committee anti-doping officials tested 15 Austrian athletes for evidence of doping, officials said. An investigative source said that the police had found nothing untoward so far. The Austrian team said they would protest at the raids.

"We are in favour of controls but these kind of methods, turning up at such a late hour is not acceptable," said Heinz Jungwirth, secretary-general of the Austrian Olympic Committee. "We are in competition tomorrow and this is harassment."

Earlier, Kjetil Andre Aamodt and Janica Kostelic were crowned the most successful Olympic Alpine skiers of all time and Shani Davis of the US became the first black athlete to win an individual gold at a Winter Games. Aamodt and Kostelic both romped to their fourth Winter Olympic golds - Aamodt in the men's super-G and Kostelic just over half an hour later in the women's combined. Croatian Kostelic took the combined title for the second time running in an event that had been extended over two days because of the weather.

Having done the first leg with a fever, the 24-year-old's exertions took their toll and she said she would skip the women's super-G. Davis's gold in the men's 1,000 metres speedskating put the US back on top of the medal standings with seven golds."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | DJ Global Newsstand | This item permanent URL

Learn why Doping Journal serves AdWords ads by Google, and how one can be of help

19 February 2006 2 CHANGE

Italian police in drug swoop
The Sunday Times - Sport (19 February 2006)
[FullText] [Authors contact]

Excerpt: "ITALIAN police raided the quarters of the Austrian Winter Olympic biathlon and cross-country skiing teams late last night in a search for banned drugs. Out-of-competition drugs tests were also conducted on 15 athletes. The raids were the result of a tip-off to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that a coach banned for blood doping offences at the Salt Lake City Games four years ago might be in the lodgings.

“The IOC has acted on information it received in a report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) which indicates the possible presence of Walter Mayer in the accommodation of the Austrian biathlon and cross-country teams,” it said. Mayer was banned from all Olympic activities up to and including the next winter Games in Vancouver in four years’ time.

Alfred Eder, a coach for the all-male Austrian biathlon team, said police searched and interviewed athletes for four hours at the team’s lodgings in San Sicaro and Pragelato. “We are very angry,” he said. “It is not very gentlemanly.” Just before 1am, two men were led away from San Sicaro by police. One was wearing Olympic accreditation and the other had his head covered. No Austrian athlete has won a medal in any of the biathlon or cross-country events in Turin, the best performance being Wolfgang Perner’s fourth place in the men’s biathlon 10km sprint.

Events at the Games involving cross-country have been overshadowed by 12 athletes being suspended from racing because their blood had abnormal levels of haemoglobin. The sport’s governing body treats such tests as assessing health, but they are regarded by anti-doping bodies as a proxy for detecting drug use. Last week Olga Pyleva, a Russian who won silver at the women’s 15km individual biathlon, became the first athlete to test positive at the Games, when the stimulant carphedon was detected in her urine.

Italy has strict doping laws that treat offences as a criminal matter. It refused to relax them for the Olympics despite the overtures of the IOC, which wants only non-penal sanctions for drugs cheats."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | DJ Global Newsstand | This item permanent URL

20 February 2006

Biathlon Union Looks for Missing Documents
Arnie Stapleton, AP Sports Writer
Yahoo News (20 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

Excerpt: "CESANA, Italy - Biathlon's governing body is looking into the disappearance of documents that purportedly detail an athlete's positive doping test taken last month.

It's not known if the papers were stolen or simply misplaced. IBU president Anders Besseberg would not confirm reports that they were taken during a vehicle break-in.

"These are just rumors right now. We are missing some results and we are doing some research," Besseberg said Monday. "As soon as we have clarified this case, then we will give out a statement.

Besseberg said the IBU launched the inquiry because Russian star biathlete Olga Pyleva questioned why she hadn't tested positive for carphedon in January. The banned stimulant was found in her system last week, and she was expelled from the Turin Games.

Pyleva, the first athlete caught in the tightest drug net in Winter Olympics history, explained that a doctor treating her for an ankle injury had given her an over-the-counter medication last month that did not list the banned substance.

During the hearing before the sport's sanctioning body, which banned her from competition for two years, Pyleva told the IBU that she already was using the medicine when she was tested at Antholz, Italy, before the Olympics and wondered why the stimulant hadn't been discovered then.

"Pyleva put up the question, 'Why was I not positive on this one?' And this is the mystery we are trying to clear up," Besseberg said.

The World Anti-Doping Agency, which is responsible for all out-of-competition testing, took samples from biathletes training at altitude last month and sent them to a lab, where one showed signs of carphedon, Besseberg said.

He said he is hoping either WADA or the laboratory still have the samples so the identity of the athlete who tested positive can be determined.

If it's Pyleva, the mystery will be partially solved — though there's still the question of how the documents went missing.

"This is a serious case. I want to have an answer on this," Besseberg said. "I want everyone to know that the IBU is not hiding something under the table. When an athlete says she used the same medication in training that she used here and received a positive test, we have to find out about it."

Pyleva was one of the biggest stars in biathlon, the event that combines cross-country skiing and rifle target shooting that typically draws more than 30,000 spectators to World Cup events and is Europe's most popular televised winter sport. She was stripped last week of the silver medal she won at the Turin Games, though she gets to keep her gold and bronze medals from the 2002 Salt Lake City Games."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | DJ Global Newsstand | This item permanent URL

20 February 2006

Finger-Pointing Grows as Pylyova Faces 2-Year Ban
Carl Schreckg
Moscow Times (20 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

Key note: "Already stripped of her silver medal following a positive doping test, biathlon star Olga Pylyova on Friday was banned from the sport for two years and informed that she was under criminal investigation in Italy. The scandal has produced a wave of finger-pointing, conspiracy theories and threats of lawsuits over the prescription medicine that caused her to test positive for the banned stimulant carphedon.

Pylyova, who had planned to retire following the Turin Games, was issued the two-year ban by the International Biathlon Union after a hearing Friday. IBU also banned Pylyova's personal doctor in Krasnoyarsk, Nina Vinogradova, from working with IBU athletes over the next two years. Pylyova called her disqualification "embarrassing" to the entire Russian Olympic team but denied she had tried to cheat.

"It turned out that whether I wanted to or not I cast a shadow on all of the Russian athletes who are competing successfully in Turin," Pylyova told leading sports daily Sport-Express. "And I've never been guilty of doping. In my entire cross-country skiing career and especially in biathlon, I've given hundreds of samples, and not once was anything found. There weren't ever any questions. I told that to IBU officials. I've never been guilty of doping, and what's more, it would be stupid to start doing it at age 30, when I'm just a few months away from the end of my career."

Pylyova on Thursday was stripped of the silver medal she had won three days earlier in the 15-kilometer individual biathlon and tossed out of the Games. She had been considered a contender for a medal in Thursday's 7.5-kilometer sprint. On Friday, Italian prosecutors announced that they were investigating the case under Italy's strict anti-drug laws. Pylyova left Italy that evening and arrived home in Krasnoyarsk early Sunday.

She did nothing wrong in leaving Italy, said Mario Pescante, a member of the International Olympic Committee and the Italian government's top Olympic official, The Associated Press reported. If found guilty, Pylyova would serve no jail time, with the worse-case scenario being a two-year suspended sentence, he said.

Russian Olympic Committee head Leonid Tyagachyov announced Thursday that the ROC was considering filing a lawsuit against the Shelkovsky Vitamin Factory, producer of the stimulant Phenotropil, the drug Pylyova says she took to treat an ankle injury and which doping experts say is simply a brand name for carphedon, which is on the IOC's banned substances list. "There is a lot of work to be done, but our lawyers are currently exploring the possibility of a lawsuit," ROC spokesman Gennady Shvets said by telephone from Turin on Friday.

At a news conference in Krasnoyarsk on Friday, Pylyova's doctor said she had found nothing to indicate that Phenotropil might contain a banned substance and accused the pharmaceutical company of operating in bad faith.

"I was absolutely confident that it was clean," Vinogradova said, Newsru.com reported. She went on to suggest that Pylyova's sample may have been tampered with, though she did not indicate who might have done the tampering. "This is the world of big-time sports, and you all understand perfectly well that anything can happen," Vinogradova said. "Furthermore, our Olga is a frightening opponent at the Olympics."

Andrei Belashov, head of strategic development at Otechestvenniye Lekarstva, which owns the Shelkovsky Vitamin Factory, defended Phenotropil, saying his company had not hidden anything from the drug's users. "It was up to the athlete's doctor to make the final call on what drugs to treat her with, Belashov said in an interview Friday.

He acknowledged that the chemical formula of Phenotropil's active ingredient is the same as carphedon, but said that any doctor should be able to read the formula listed in the instructions and treat athletes accordingly. "Any talk of a lawsuit is completely groundless," Belashov said. Phenotropil has caused positive doping tests in Russian Superleague hockey players in recent years, though the athletes avoided severe punishment by claiming they were not aware it contained a banned substance.

The instructions for Phenotropil give specific indications for athletes. When taking the medication to increase stamina, athletes are advised to shorten the recommended two-week course to three days. Grigory Rodchenkov, a physician and head of Moscow's Anti-Doping Center, said Phenotropil and carphedon were one and the same.

"It produces a legal and effective drug, so you can't take issue with them in that regard," Rodchenkov said of the pharmaceutical company. "But encouraging athletes to use it and making no mention of carphedon is another matter. It's simply a trap for our athletes." But from the perspective of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Pylyova is ultimately the person responsible, Rodchenkov said. "It is up to the athlete to control what she puts in her body," he said.

But Rodchenkov said it was duplicitous of the pharmaceutical company to publish only the chemical formula for carphedon in the Phenotropil instructions rather than indicating the name of the active compound. "Your average doctor won't understand the chemical formula," Rodchenkov said. "It will look like Greek to them."

Rodchenkov said Soviet scientists began working on carphedon during perestroika, and it came to the market in the early 1990s.

David Melik-Guseinov, head of marketing research at Pharmexpert, an agency that analyzes the pharmaceuticals market, said the drug was originally created for use in the military and among cosmonauts but that the collapse of the Soviet Union allowed the patent for its formula to be bought up by Otechestvenniye Lekarstva in the 1990s.

There is no drug called "carphedon" registered in Russia, Melik-Guseinov said. Sales of Phenotropil in Russia last year amounted to $10.6 million, according to Pharmexpert.

The instructions state that the drug can be purchased exclusively with a doctor's prescription. At the first pharmacy he entered Saturday, however, a Moscow Times reporter purchased a package of Phenotropil, containing 10 100-milligram tablets, for 330 rubles with no prescription and no questions asked."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

20 February 2006

Another instance of anti-doping corruption at XX Winter Olympic Games: Drug result documents stolen
FoxSports.News.com.au (20 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

Excerpt: "DOCUMENTS confirming a positive doping test before the start of the Turin Olympic Winter Games were stolen, according to the president of the International Biathlon Federation. Anders Besseberg refused to go into details but it is believed that the banned substance was carphedon - the same drug that saw Russian biathlate Olga Pyleva stripped of her gold medal and thrown out of the Games last week. "We are trying to find out more about this," Besseberg said. "I have simply been told that documents were stolen and I want to know more." World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president Dick Pound said he was not aware of any theft. WADA is responsible for all out-of-competition testing."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

20 February 2006

New Strategy at the Anti-Doping Front: IOC may use Italian police evidence for own Austrian probe
Stephen Wilsont, AP Sports Writer
AP & Yahoo!Sports: Olympic News (20 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

Excerpt: "TURIN, Italy (AP) -- Evidence seized in the Italian police raid on Austria's Nordic ski team could be used by international Olympic officials to conduct their own doping investigation.

A special disciplinary panel may be set up to sanction athletes or coaches based on the criminal investigation by Italian police and prosecutors, International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Giselle Davies said Monday.

"Right here and now, the IOC position is to let the authorities do the work they feel appropriate," she said. "In due course, the IOC can set up a disciplinary commission."

The information-sharing is part of a new level of cooperation between Olympic officials and law enforcement authorities in tracking down suspected drug cheats. Italian Carabinieri forces swept into the rented mountain living quarters of the Austrian biathlon and cross country team late Saturday in search of doping substances and equipment -- the first ever police anti-doping raid on Olympic athletes.

At the same time, IOC doping control officers took 10 of the athletes away for surprise, out-of-competition drug tests.

Davies said she had no information on reports that Italian police seized blood doping equipment, syringes, needles, medicines and other substances. There was no word yet on the results, including checks for the blood-boosting endurance drug EPO, which can take from 24 hours to three days.

The investigation was touched off by the presence in Italy of Walter Mayer, an Austrian coach banned from the games for suspected blood doping at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. The World Anti-Doping Agency found suspected doping equipment connected to Mayer in Austria last month and tipped the IOC, which in turn alerted the Italian authorities.

Mayer had been with the team but was not found during the raids. He crashed his car into a police roadblock across the border in Austria on Sunday, and was released from police custody early Monday.

Two biathletes who had finished their events reportedly left the Olympics following the raids and were kicked off the team. The IOC said any athletes left Italy could still be tested at home under the doping rules.

So far, the IOC has conducted nearly 600 tests, including 250 out-of-competition controls, Davies said. Only one positive case has been announced -- Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva was kicked out of the games and stripped of a silver medal after testing positive for the stimulant carphedon.

There had been tension between the IOC and Italian government in the leadup to the games over the country's strict anti-doping laws, which treats doping as a criminal offense. The IOC endorses only sports sanctions for drug offenses.

Saturday's sweep on the Austrians had the appearance of a fully coordinated operation. Pressed repeatedly on how closely the IOC worked with police, Davies described it as "two parallel courses of action."

Davies said the IOC doping control team arrived at the Austrians' quarters at around 8 p.m., took the athletes by car to the Olympic village in nearby Sestriere for testing, and brought them back to their residences by about 11:30 p.m.

Asked when the IOC knew of the police raids, Davies said, "Saturday evening -- I can't be more precise than that.""

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

20 February 2006

Drugs found in Olympics raid: TV
Yahoo News (20 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

"VIENNA (Reuters) - Italian prosecutors found more than 100 syringes and 30 packs of drugs, including asthma drugs and antidepressants, in a raid on Austrian Winter Olympics bases, an Italian prosecutor told Austrian television. They also seized devices for blood testing and blood transfusions in the raid on Saturday on the country's biathlon and cross-country teams, Austrian state television ORF said on its Web site on Monday, quoting Turin prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello.

ORF also quoted another Turin prosecutor, Marcello Maddalena, as saying the raids were coordinated closely with the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency. Maddalena said officials tried to avoid disturbing the athletes too much. "But a raid is a raid," ORF quoted Maddalena as saying. "You cannot announce it in advance, nor can you put on your velvet gloves.""

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

20 February 2006

IOC and Italian police at odds over doping raids By Karolos Grohmann
Karolos Grohmann
Yahoo News (20 February 2006)
[FullText] [Related articles at Google News] [Author contact]

"The International Olympic Committee and Italian police on Monday remained at odds over two large anti-doping raids at the houses of Austrian athletes competing in the Turin Winter Olympics.

While the IOC says it only found out about them on the same evening they took place, Italian police insist they were a joint operation with the IOC. This contradiction is further proof of an uneasy relationship between the IOC and the Italians, following months of wrangling over who will control doping during the Games.

Dozens of armed Italian police stormed the two houses of the Austrian biathlon and cross-country skiing athletes in San Sicario and Pragelato late on Saturday as IOC doping officials took 10 of them to a nearby clinic for testing.

The raids came days after the IOC received a report from the World Anti-Doping Agency that the Austrian team might have been visited by coach Walter Mayer, banned from the Games until beyond 2010 for blood doping at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. "On Saturday evening," said Giselle Davies, IOC Director of Communication said when asked when the IOC was informed of the raids.

Davies said Italian authorities acted alone after they had received a copy of the WADA report from the IOC. But the police on Sunday stressed the anti-doping raids were conducted together with the IOC. "The operation took place in full cooperation with the IOC which at the same time tested several athletes for doping. This was done with maximum discretion and without any inconvenience, police said in a statement.

"TREATED LIKE CRIMINALS"

But Davies said the only collaboration was in the form of giving the police the report and informing them of the time they would test the athletes. "It seems from their side (police) the timing was matched," Davies said. The operation raised more questions regarding a deal struck between the IOC and Italy over who would be in control of doping tests during the Games. It has also turned into a public relations disaster with even Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel calling the operation wrong and criticizing Italy for treating Austria's athletes "like criminals and interrogating them for five hours." The Italian government, which introduced strict doping laws before it won the right to host the Turin Olympics, refused to change them according to IOC rules which foresee only non-penal sanctions for drugs users.

Doping is considered a criminal offence in Italy, which can be punished with a suspended prison sentence. A last-minute compromise which brought an Italian official into the Games anti-drugs squad failed to impose a moratorium of launching criminal investigations into the athletes found drugged during the Games. Italy has already started criminal investigations in a Russian biathlon athlete who was stripped of her silver medal after testing positive for drugs as well as against Mayer."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

21 February 2006 2 CHANGE

Anti-doping Highlights IOC-Italian Tussle: Doping rather than sport took center stage over the past three days in Turin
Wei Xiangnan
Crienglish.com (21 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact ]

The raids and tests again highlighted a tussle between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Italian authorities over who would control and rule on doping cases.

According to the deal struck by the IOC and the Italian authorities, the IOC and WADA will do the anti-doping tests and they will inform the Italians of the doping cases.

Austria's state television ORF quoted Turin prosecutor Marcello Maddalena, as saying the raids were coordinated closely with the IOC and the WADA.

Doping is considered a criminal offence in Italy, which can be punished with a suspended prison sentence. But IOC insists it should be dealt with inside of the sport circle."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

20 February 2006

New Muscle in Anti-Doping Drive: A police raid on athletes in Italy, with the assent of sports officials, could signal a get-tough trend
Alan Abrahamson, Chris Dufresne in Sestriere, Italy, and Tracy Wilkinson in Rome
latimes.com (20 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

"TURIN, Italy — The unprecedented weekend police search of Austrian Olympic skiers' quarters could signal a tough new approach in the campaign to eradicate doping in international sports, authorities and experts said Monday.

Authorities seized 30 packages of antidepressants, asthma medication and 100 syringes, some used, Italian state prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello told Austrian television.

It was the first time police in an Olympic host nation had raided athletes' quarters during the Games in a search for performance-enhancing substances; until now, enforcement has been handled by sports authorities. Sports doping is a crime in Italy punishable by up to two years behind bars.

Walter Mayer — the banned coach whose suspected presence in Italy triggered the searches — crashed his car into a police cruiser that had been set up as a roadblock Sunday night in an Austrian town 15 miles beyond the Italian border. He was reportedly taken briefly to a psychiatric facility Monday.

Lab analysis on the evidence seized by Italian police is ongoing; no arrests have been made. International Olympic Committee officials are awaiting results from surprise doping tests administered Saturday night on 10 Austrian biathletes and cross-country skiers even as police were searching team quarters in the mountain hamlets of San Sicario and Pragelato about an hour outside Turin.

While the raid's bizarre aftermath grabbed headlines, it was the effort's double-barreled approach — with sports officials and law enforcement teaming up to a degree not seen before at the Olympics — that was the talk of the international sports world.

"It's the first time to my knowledge that sports authorities and public authorities have acted to try to get at a doping situation," said Dick Pound, head of the Montreal-based World Anti-Doping Agency, adding that the Olympic spotlight creates "a deterrent effect out there for everybody to see."

International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Giselle Davies said: "The IOC has always been clear in saying that fighting doping in sports is for the sports authorities, and at the Games for the IOC. But a wider collaborative approach between the world of sports and the world of governments clearly gives a stronger result."

Mayer, 48, had been working as Austria's biathlon and cross-country skiing coach despite being banned from Olympic participation through 2010 — the result of a blood doping scandal four years ago at Salt Lake City.

Mayer was not issued an Olympic credential and was thought to have traveled to the Games on his own. Officers acted on a tip that he was in Turin with the Austrian team.

"Clearly, an intervention like this can inevitably cause a bit of disturbance, but we are using the least-invasive methods possible," Turin chief prosecutor Marcello Maddalena told reporters. "The intervention of the judicial authorities is necessary because sports authorities are not self-sufficient."

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel acknowledged that Mayer should not have been in Turin, but he also voiced concern that Italian authorities had treated Austrian athletes "like criminals."

Others, including athletes and doping experts, expressed concern that enforcement efforts might be going too far.

Austrian skier Hermann Maier, an Alpine star who won a bronze medal Monday in the giant slalom — the fourth Olympic medal of his career — cited a Feb. 9 incident in which he said two doping officials approached him pretending to be fans, then demanded he submit to a test.

The reason for the ruse remains unclear, given rules that permit random, unannounced testing year-round.

"I happily stand for controls and they are good to have," Maier said. "But they should follow certain rules and don't turn out to become a personal attack against certain people. One should not treat athletes as if they were Osama bin Laden."

The prospect of a police raid on the Olympic village caused tension between Italian authorities and the IOC in the lengthy run-up to the 2006 Games. Ultimately, a compromise was reached: The IOC would run doping controls, and the police would make no plans to raid the village while remaining free to enforce Italian law.

The inquiry began when two WADA doping control officers, on a testing mission in late January, discovered what they believed to be blood-doping equipment in the basement of a pension-style hotel in Ramsau, Austria, connected to Mayer.

The raid on the Austrian quarters — located not in the village, but in two chalets — comes amid stepped-up legislative and judicial attention in recent years to the issue of doping in sports.

The BALCO doping scandal in the United States led last year to a number of congressional hearings and to prison terms — albeit short sentences — for BALCO founder Victor Conte and others.

A scandal at the 1998 Tour de France cycling event first signaled the efficacy of police intervention in sports matters. Customs officials at the French-Belgian border stopped an assistant for the Festina cycling team and discovered banned substances in his car. Festina was kicked off the Tour.

The 1998 incident sparked the formation of WADA, funded half by governments and half by the IOC, with a combined projected 2006 budget of $23.8 million.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., assumed oversight of U.S. Olympic doping protocols in 2000 after the Sydney Olympics.

Experts have long insisted that drug testing — the No. 1 tool in the anti-doping campaign — can only go so far, a point underscored by the BALCO scandal, which revolved around the discovery of a "designer steroid" called THG. With a tweak of a molecule, scores of known performance-enhancing chemical compounds can be made undetectable, doping experts say.

The IOC is conducting about 1,200 tests at the 2006 Games, an increase of about 72% over four years ago at the Salt Lake City Games. Only one athlete has tested positive, Russian biathlon star Olga Pyleva, and for the stimulant carphedon.

Even so, introducing the police into the equation is "necessary if the authorities are going to stand a chance in the struggle to save high-performance sport from the doping, both legal and illicit, that is already going on," said University of Texas professor John Hoberman, an anti-doping expert.

Traditionally, however, U.S. law enforcement authorities have not sought to bring the power of the state or federal governments to bear against athletes suspected of doping.

Another expert, Penn State professor Charles Yesalis has maintained for years that police intervention holds "tremendous promise — if you have the stomach to do it." Yet the notion gives him pause.

"Is it American to go banging on somebody's door in the middle of the night?" he asked. "There's a big part of this that does remind me of Gestapo tactics. There's a big part of me that says, is it worth it?""

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

20 February 2006

Who's responsible for drug testing at the Olympics?
Elliott Almond
San Jose Mercury News (20 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

"Who has authority over drug-testing at the Olympics? How it breaks down:

International Olympic Committee: The IOC is the final arbiter on testing and sanctions during the 17 days of the Games.
World Anti-Doping Agency: WADA administers out-of-competition testing during the Games for the IOC. It also sets worldwide policy on testing, including the accreditation of laboratories, creates a banned substance list and works with government agencies to stop drug use.

Turin Organizing Committee: TOROC officials conduct in-competition testing during the Games.

Italian authorities: The Italian Health Ministry works with WADA and organizers when it comes to testing athletes. Local and state police also monitor the activities of athletes because using performance-enhancing drugs is a crime in Italy. Police agreed before the Games not to raid the Olympic athletes' villages in Turin and in the mountains. Authorities have also worked with IOC and WADA officials to deter cheating."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

20 February 2006

Anti-Doping Controversy: Pyleva Questioned Why Carphedon Did not Show Up During the Out-of-Competition Test
Arnie Stapleton
Forbes (20 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

"Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva hoped documents from a January drug test could support her explanation for a doping violation that got her thrown out of the Turin Olympics. The paper trail appeared to have dried up Monday.

A controversy flared briefly when the president of the International Biathlon Union, Anders Besseberg, said he was investigating reports that documents detailing Pyleva's January test had been swiped during a vehicle break-in.

Pyleva, who lost a silver medal when she was expelled from the games, had hoped those results would show she was unwittingly taking the banned substance when a doctor treating her for an ankle injury gave her an over-the-counter medication.

At a hearing before the International Biathlon Union, she questioned why carphedon didn't show up during the out-of-competition test she was given at Antholz, Italy, which would have alerted her to the problem.

But in a release Monday, Besseberg's group said out-of-competition tests generally are not analyzed for stimulants.

"The pre-Olympic out-of-competition tests of WADA and IBU at Antholz/Anterselva did not disclose any forbidden substance on any athlete according to the out-of-competition program," the IBU said in a statement posted on its Web site.

The statement did not definitively say whether documentation of Pyleva's January test had been found. Besseberg didn't return a phone message following the posting of the release.

Dick Pound, head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said even had Pyleva tested positive for the stimulant last month, she wouldn't have been punished because the stimulant is banned only in competition.

All that mattered, Pound said, was that she came back positive during the Olympics.

"The fact of the matter is she took something she knew was on the list and she tested positive and I don't have too much sympathy for that," he said. "Whatever may have happened, she took the stimulant and tested positive in competition."

Pyleva was the first athlete caught in the tightest drug net in Winter Olympics history. She is one of the biggest stars in biathlon, a sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle target shooting. It is Europe's most popular televised winter sport, and typically draws more than 30,000 spectators to World Cup events.

Pyleva also won gold and bronze medals at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

20 February 2006

The Lausanne-based Swiss doping analysis laboratory is carrying out blood tests at the XX Winter Olympic Games
Mathias Froidevaux
Swissinfo.org (20 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

"Swiss scientists are testing blood samples during the Turin Olympics on behalf of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada). The tests form part of the more than 1,000 checks for banned substances being carried out during the Games. While urine samples are being analysed by Italian experts, scientists at the Lausanne-based doping analysis laboratory are responsible for blood testing on athletes. In total 50 analysts will work night and day on the samples. The Swiss team, led by Martial Saugy, is based at a Turin hospital centre and is working closely with an Italian laboratory. At the opening ceremony the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, called on athletes to "compete in a spirit of fair play, mutual understanding and respect, and above all, to compete cleanly by refusing doping".

But just six days after the first Olympic event, the IOC announced the first positive test for a banned substance. The Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva was stripped of her silver medal and excluded from further competition as stringent anti-doping checks came into effect. Martial Saugy, biologist and head of the Swiss doping analysis laboratory.

Good reputation

The Swiss laboratory is attached to the Lausanne University institute for forensic medicine. Saugy said the fact that his team had been asked to analyse tests showed that their reputation in the field had been established. "It is recognition of the work carried out over a number of years by our laboratory," the biologist told swissinfo. But Saugy said that while it was the Wada's decision to call in Swiss help, this had to be agreed with the Turin Games organisers, Toroc, and the IOC.

"The decision to send a foreign team to the Olympic venue was not readily accepted by the Italian government and Toroc," he said. "The IOC normally only deals with the one doping body selected by the organisers," Saugy said, adding that his colleagues from the Italian laboratory had been very cooperative and had made sure the Swiss were accepted in Turin.

Samples

Under Italian law, the samples cannot be sent to Switzerland for analysis. The Swiss laboratory was obliged to prove that it would obtain the same results from testing in Turin as it would at home. Another problem was that the equipment needed for the testing had to brought into Piedmont at the expense of the Lausanne laboratory. Eight Swiss analysts are working on the project, which will earn the Lausanne laboratory around €100,000 (SFr156,000). "We aren't here for the money," concluded Saugy. "Rather we're here for the challenge and the important contacts we can make. What's more, being accredited to the Games is great publicity for us."

Sidebar note:

The International Olympic Committee and the Italian authorities originally disagreed over the doping issue. The IOC wanted doping cases to be given sport-based punishments, but Italy considers it a crime and therefore subject to penal law. A compromise was found for the Games: the IOC is in charge of the tests, but anyone found guilty of doping will be dealt with by the Italians. The World Anti-Doping Agency appointed the Swiss doping analysis laboratory to carry out the blood tests. Urine samples are being analysed by Italian experts in Rome."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

19 February 2006

No banned substances found in Austrian raid
Marcus Armytage
USA Today (19 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

"Italian authorities searching for banned substances found no evidence of doping in overnight raids on the residences of Austrian biathlon and cross-country staff at the Turin Games. While Italian police were searching the residences early Sunday morning, the IOC also conducted unannounced, out-of-competition drug tests on 10 Austrian athletes — six cross-country skiers and four biathletes.

The investigation began when the World Anti-Doping Agency discovered blood-doping equipment in Austria connected to Walter Mayer, a former Nordic team coach banned from the Olympics for suspicion of performing blood transfusions on athletes at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Mayer and Volker Mueller, the German chiropractor who prescribed blood treatments, were banned by the International Olympic Committee from the Torino Games and the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

Pound told the AP that doping control officers went to Austria to test athletes there and could not find them. Instead, he said, they found blood-doping equipment linked to Mayer and were told he was with the Austrian team in Italy. "We were concerned something might be going on in Italy," Pound said.

Roberto Cicatelli, a spokesman for Carabinieri paramilitary police in Torino, said later Sunday morning that "at the moment, nothing of significance has emerged," and that no one had been placed under investigation. However, Cicatelli said he did not know what materials had been seized and stressed that the investigation was now in the hands of Torino magistrates.

Police searched and interviewed athletes for four hours Saturday night, said Alfred Eder, a trainer for the Austrian biathlon team. "We are very angry," Eder said. "It is not very gentlemanly."

The Torino Olympics feature the most rigorous drug testing in Winter Games history. Earlier in the week, a Russian biathlete was stripped of her silver medal and expelled from the Olympics after testing positive for an illegal stimulant."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

19 January 2006

Olympics: Turin doping issues still unresolved after officials meeting
AP
SportsNews24h.com (19 January 2006)
[FullText][Author contact]

"A meeting between government officials on Italy's tough doping law and how it will be applied at next month's Turin Olympics ended Thursday without much progress. "Today's was a first provisional meeting,'' health minister Francesco Storace said, according to the ANSA news agency. Italian law calls for criminal prosecution of sports doping offenders. Under International Olympic Committee rules, athletes can be disqualified and stripped of their medals but face no criminal liability.

Government and sports officials have deliberated for months over the issue. It seemed resolved last month when the games' government supervisor, Mario Pescante, arranged a solution keeping the law in place but letting the IOC oversee testing during the Feb. 10-26 event. But the health ministry quietly issued a decree earlier this month that it said gives its anti-doping commission responsibility for testing at all national and international competitions in Italy.

The Italian Olympic Committee took the decree as a move by the health ministry to conduct tests in Turin, breaking the deal with the IOC. CONI has handed the decree to an appeals court in an attempt to have it cancelled. "The CONI appeal is weighing on us,'' Storace said. "I hope it is withdrawn.''"

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

19 February 2006

Italian police in drug swoop
The Sunday Times - Sport (19 February 2006)
[FullText] [Authors contact]

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | DJ Global Newsstand | This item permanent URL

18 February 2006

Police in raid on Austrian quarters
Antonella Ciancio (Additional reporting by Karolos Grohmann and Sophie Hardach)
Reuters.com (18 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

SESTRIERE TEST

BANNED SUBSTANCES

That left the IOC concerned that athletes could be subjected to police raids and face prison sentences if they tested positive."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

18 February 2006

Police doping raid mars historic day
ABC.net.au (18 February 2006)
[FullText] [Authors contact]

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | DJ Global Newsstand | This item permanent URL

18 February 2006

The nonsense of Olympic doping rules
William Saletan
Slete.com (18 February 2006)
[Links rich FullText] [Author contact]

Leading Text: "A week ago, on the first day of the Winter Olympics, Japanese ski jumper Masahiko Harada was disqualified before he could get out of the gate. The official reason was that his skis were too long for his weight. The real reason was that he had lost too much weight for his skis. Seven ounces too much, to be exact. That's the life of an Olympic athlete. Your most crucial piece of equipment, the one you hone for four years, is your body. It has to be perfect. If possible, better than perfect.

Every athlete knows how to exceed perfection. A steroid here, a hormone there, and you've got the speed, power, or stamina to get the gold. The International Olympic Committee knows it, too; hence the 1,200 drug tests being conducted at the Turin Games. Thanks to pharmacological data on the Internet and a blossoming generation of chemical hackers, athletes are finding new ways every day to alter their bodies for advantage. It's a multiplying mess of techniques and designer drugs, with varying degrees of risk, artificiality, and manipulation. And the dope cops have done a lousy job of sorting it out.

The bible of Olympic drug testing is the World Anti-Doping Code, written and enforced by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The code bans a substance or procedure if it meets any two of these criteria: 1) it endangers the athlete's health; 2) it "enhances sport performance"; or 3) it "violates the spirit of sport." Things that pose clear health risksvery high hemoglobin levels, for instanceare easy calls. But what about things that don't? If all enhancements were forbidden, the code points out, we'd have to ban training, red meat, and carbohydrate loading. That would be preposterous. But in the next breath, the code says enhancement through gene transfer "should be prohibited as contrary to the spirit of sport even if it is not harmful."

How, exactly, does the spirit of sport forbid gene transfer but not carbo-loading? The code doesn't say. It defines the spirit of sport as "ethics," "fair play," "character," and a bunch of other words that clarify nothing. In fact, the definition includes "courage" and "dedication." Doesn't it take more courage and dedication to alter your genes than to snarf a potato? Human-growth hormone appears on WADA's "Prohibited List" of substances and methods, even though the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists have vouched, to varying degrees, for its safety. Evidently growth hormone violates the spirit of sport, but stuffing yourself with steaks doesn't.

That's just the beginning of the confusion. The "Prohibited List" tolerates performance-enhancing substances in your body if they're "endogenous" rather than "exogenous." Endogenous, according to the Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary, means "caused by factors within the body." Exogenous means "not synthesized within the organism." That seems clear enough: You can use what's yours, not what's artificial. But four pages later, the list bans the use of "autologous" blood, which means blood "derived from the same individual." You can use what's yours, except when you can't.

What counts as artificial? Training at high altitude boosts your red-blood-cell count; the code says it would be absurd to ban this practice just because it enhances performance. Yet the IOC bars athletes in Turin's Olympic Village from using hypobaric tents, which simulate high-altitude air, and WADA is debating whether to ban them worldwide. Athletes from flat countries say they need the tents to match the conditioning of athletes from mountainous countries. You'd think that WADA chairman Richard Pound, who vows on his Web page to "level the playing field," would appreciate that rationale. If Mohammed can't go to the mountain, why shouldn't the mountain come to Mohammed? Instead, Pound rejects the tents as "artificial" and "tacky." He neglects to explain how putting thin air indoors makes it artificial.

Manipulation is another ill-defined target of doping regulators. The Prohibited List says you mustn't build up hemoglobin or other helpful substances through "chemical and physical manipulation." But if your hemoglobin count gets too high, you're allowed, even expected, to knock it back down through chemical and physical manipulation. Athletes who busted the hemoglobin limit on their first drug test in Turin have been interviewed while guzzling water to lower their counts for the next test. If water doesn't do the job, doctors point out, you can always bleed yourself; the rules don't seem to preclude it. Between tests, Canadian skier Sean Crooks of Canada corrected his hemoglobin level by relocating from the ski-training venue in the Alps to the Olympic Village, where he could get low-altitude air. Good thing he didn't do it in a tent. That would have been cheating.

The IOC's doping rules for Turin say that WADA's Prohibited List is "final and shall not be subject to challenge" by athletes. But every year, with little or no explanation, the list changes. Adrenaline and intravenous injections are prohibited; caffeine is now OK. A week ago, American sledder Zach Lund was bounced from Turin for failing to notice that Line 3 of Section 5 on Page 3 of last year's changes to the Prohibited List"Alpha-reductase inhibitors (finasteride, dutasteride) have been added as masking agents"made the baldness pills he'd taken and disclosed for six years suddenly verboten. Even the selective applications change. Last year, substances previously banned "in men only" became illegal for both sexes, while two hormones previously banned in both sexes became illegal only for men.

The list, which also applies to leagues outside the Olympics, differs nonsensically from sport to sport. In billiards, you're allowed two-tenths of a gram of alcohol per liter of blood. In power-boating, you're allowed three-tenths. At a quarter of a gram per liter, you're sober enough to operate a flying death machine but not a cue stick. Often, the limits change for no stated reason. Last year, keeping your alcohol level below a tenth of a gram per liter would get you into skiing but not motorcycling. This year, you can get into motorcycling with the same alcohol level, and you can ski plastered.

I understand the doping cops' predicament. Performance enhancement is mutating so fast, they're just trying to ban what they can and make sense of the rules later. But as we've seen in figure skating and other aesthetic competitions, judges' irrational decisions can discredit the entire Olympics. Maybe that's the nature of art. Science should do better."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

17 February 2006

Irresponsible Pound suggests there's cheating at Games, wants new blood test system in place by 2010
Jeff Lee, with files from Cory Wolfe, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Vancouver Sun, with files from the Saskatoon StarPhoenix
CyclingNews.com (17 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

Excerpt: "TURIN -- The World Anti-Doping Agency hopes to have a test ready in time for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics that will identify athletes who deliberately boost their hemoglobin blood levels, Canada's Dick Pound said Thursday.

Pound, the agency's chief, said he wants sports federations to provide data on past blood tests of competitive athletes, to try to document the prevalence of illegal hemoglobin-boosting.

"What we want to know is when an athlete has had suspiciously high spikes in hemoglobin levels, and when it's just a result of training or other legitimate factors," he said.

Pound made the comments after expressing skepticism earlier in the day that 12 cross-country skiers testing positive for high hemoglobin levels -- including Canadian Sean Crooks -- could be written off as a coincidence. Crooks passed a retest on Wednesday after his hemoglobin levels declined.

"It's too coincidental," he said. "What are the odds of 12 healthy people, two days before the Olympic Games, having these levels naturally? You say, 'Wait a minute, what's wrong with this picture?' "

Pound's comments also came the same day Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva was kicked out of the Games after testing positive for carphedon, which can increase physical endurance and resistance to the cold. Pyleva was stripped of the silver medal she won in the 15-km individual pursuit.

However, the remarks were roundly criticized by Dr. Bob McCormack, chief medical officer of the Canadian team.

"The way it comes across, he's accusing them all or it's insinuated or implied they're all doping. Certainly, in the case of the Canadian, we're comfortable that's not the case," McCormack said. "He is tarring everyone with the same brush and that's not fair."

Sometimes high hemoglobin levels are hereditary [as is the case with Crooks]. It's also the result of high-altitude training and athletes who live at higher elevations are recognized as having higher levels. "If you say nobody is allowed to train at altitude, what do you do with people who live at altitude?," Crook said.

A high count benefits endurance athletes such as cross-country skiers, biathletes, cyclists, speed skaters and track athletes because it enhances oxygen transfer in the blood, allowing athletes to go farther and faster. Hemoglobin levels can be elevated naturally by dehydration, training at high altitudes, using hypoxia tents or through a congenital condition.

The body also produces erythropoetin naturally, which boosts oxygen-carrying capacity in red blood cells but synthetic EPO and chemicals have been used in the past to illegally boost hemoglobin levels. Under WADA rules, such deliberate enhancement is illegal.

The fact the largest number of athletes in Olympic history were suspended for high hemoglobin levels two days before the Games concerned Pound.

"It makes me suspicious," Pound said. "Instinctively you know something is wrong. What's the chance 12 normally healthy people all have abnormally high hemoglobin levels?"

However, Dr. Ken Kirkwood, an assistant professor of health sciences at the University of Western Ontario, also said Pound doesn't know what he's talking about.

"Having the measures [Pound] wants won't help discover who is cheating," Kirkwood said. "I can train at altitude legally to boost my hemoglobin levels and you can't determine the difference.""

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

17 February 2006

Problems At World Anti-Doping Agency Will 'Drive Innocent Athletes Out Of Sport
Press Release
University of Bath (17 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

"The current approach of the international agency responsible for fighting the use of drugs in sport will drive innocent athletes out of the Olympic Games, according to an article in the new International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching edited by Dr Simon Jenkins from the University of Bath.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was set up in 1999 by the International Olympic Committee and publishes the list of banned substances and monitors drug use in sport through random tests.

In a review of some of the practices and procedures used by WADA, a leading sports scientist from the USA and a top marathon coach from the UK have identified major problems that they believe will lead to innocent athletes paying the price for a flawed anti-doping system.

Key to their finding was a lack of scientific evidence and protocol at the heart of WADA’s operations.

“Drug testing and classification should be a scientific affair, unfortunately WADA appears to have little to no understanding of the criteria for science,” said Dr Brent Rushall from San Diego State University, a four-time Olympic Team psychologist for Canada, who co-wrote the article with Max Jones, a multiple age-group world-record holding runner who has studied the drugs in sport movement.

“The actions and scope of WADA are causes for grave concern for the anti-drugs in sport movement. It is inevitable that if WADA continues its practices, professional athletes will be driven out of the Olympic Games.”

Problems identified by the authors include:

* Substances included in WADA’s banned list are based on speculation rather than scientific evidence
* WADA’s clandestine sample collection procedures appear to ignore basic scientific guidelines
* The way WADA lists banned substances does not conform to usual scientific practice, leading to confusion for coaches and athletes

The authors cite the hysteria surrounding Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS) as an example of WADA’s poor use of science. There is no consistent evidence to suggest that AAS directly enhance sports performance, yet they remain a key feature of the WADA banned substance list.

WADA’s clandestine testing procedures appear to ignore basic scientific protocols. One high profile example of this was the former British middle-distance runner, Diane Modahl, whose urine sample was left at room temperature for more than 48 hours – allowing bacteria to change the nature of the sample.

“WADA’s procedures for collecting and analysing samples do not usually follow the minimal guidelines for preserving the integrity of samples,” said Dr Rushall.

“Similarly, the WADA banned-substances list is falsely assumed to include all of the substances that enhance sporting performance. That assumption is false. The WADA method of adding substances to its banned list appears to be based on speculation.

“Athletes are threatened and punished on the basis of the false premises involved in the inclusion of substances and methods on the WADA banned list.”

Max Jones added: “Sport will change, possibly forever, because of the actions of WADA.”

“The activities of WADA and its affiliates, having gone unquestioned for so long by governments, the media and the public, need to be exposed, and a better anti-doping agency installed in its place, one which is ethically based and accountable to the world’s finest athletes.”

Dr Simon Jenkins from the Department of Sports Development and Recreation at the University of Bath, who founded and edits the International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, said: “Coaches and sports scientists have a moral responsibility to educate athletes about the perils and folly of taking drugs that are purported to enhance performance in sport.”

“Organisations have this responsibility, too. Brent and Max draw attention to serious problems with doping control in sport and a failure of the World Anti-Doping Agency to embrace the ethics and methods of modern pharmacology and medical science.”

The International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching is a new peer-reviewed journal, which aims to bridge the gap between coaching and sports science. The journal aims to support the development of a community in which sports coaches and scientists learn from each other, with scientific research being embraced in practice.

Other articles in this issue include an insight into the importance of control in coaching, original research on the determinants and reactions to athlete dissatisfaction, and a review of common misunderstandings about endurance exercise."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

16 February 2006

Russian Pyleva stripped of biathlon silver over doping
John Bagratuni
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (16 February 2006)
[FullText] [Related articles at Google News] [Author contact ]

"Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva was on Thursday stripped of her 15-kilometres silver medal and kicked out of the Turin Olympics by the International Olympic Committee for submitting the first positive doping test at the Winter Games.

Pyleva, who won pursuit gold and relay bronze at the 2002 Games, tested positive for the banned stimulant carphedon after Monday's 15km race. Pyleva was suspended from Thursday's sprint race and an IOC panel later in the day found her guilty of using a prohibited substance. Monday's race was won by Russian Svetlana Ishmouratova ahead of Pyleva, German Martina Glagow and another Russian, Albina Akhatova. Glagow now gets silver and Akhatova bronze.

'I am not pleased with this. I was happy with my bronze. It's brutal that this is now happening in Biathlon,' said Glagow.

The IOC said Pyleva reportedly told the panel, made up of Denis Ostwald, Sergey Bubka and Gunilla Lindberg, that she took the substance for an ankle injury she sustained while jogging January 23- 25 and used it again February 10-12. The race was February 13.

She said she got the medication named phenotropile (sold as vitamines) from her personal physician Nina Vidogradova and not a team doctor.

Russian team doctor Nikolay Durmanov told the IOC that Russian Olympic officials tried in vain several times to make the manufacturer indicate carphedon was in the medicine but also warned athletes on several occasions of the medication.

'Nikolay Durmanov admitted that the finding was a violation of the rules. The athlete expressed her regrets for this incident,' said the IOC.

Carphedon is said to have been designed in the 1990s in Russia to be used by the military and cosmonauts. But the Cologne-based doping lab, one of the official IOC labs, said on its website the designer stimulant may have also been made to enhance athletes' performances.

Apart from being kicked out of the Olympics Pyleva also faces a two-year ban from the ruling biathlon body IBU which is due to meet over the issue on Friday.

But in 2003, the IBU allowed Akhatova to compete at the world championships and only sanctioned her coach when she tested positive for a stimulant.

All medallists and other athletes have to undergo doping tests at the Turin Games. The IOC said Thursday it has so far conducted more than 400 from a total 1,200 tests at the Olympics.

Pyleva is the first athlete to fail a doping test in Turin, but 12 cross-country skiers received a five-day start prohibition after submitting too high haemoglobin values last week.

Brazilian bobledder Armando dos Santos was sent home ahead of his Olympic competition after testing positive for the steroid nandrolone at pre-Games tests in his home country.

At the 2002 Games, Pyleva's fellow-Russian cross-country skiers Larissa Lazutina and Olga Danilova were stripped of all their Olympic medals along with Spaniard Johann Muehlegg after testing positive for the blood doping substance darbepoetin in the most prominent of seven doping cases in Utah."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

16 February 2006

Wada to close EPO loophole? Or to generate more controversy? Doping scandal rocks Olympics
News24.com (16 February 2006)
[FullText] [Related articles at Google News] [Author contact]

"Dick Pound, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), is determined to close the loophole that allowed 12 cross country skiers who failed a blood test to escape sanctions.

Pound, a Canadian lawyer and a senior member of the IOC, has no doubt there was something suspicious when the athletes were found to have haemoglobin values that were "too high" in pre-competition blood testing.

The exact same readings are also found when athletes take the banned substance EPO.

"What is going on here? Two days before the Winter Games we have got 12 athletes with these high level haemoglobin counts. Is this just a coincidence?" asked Pound.

"You just intuitively know something is wrong," he added.

Pound admits Wada then tested some of the sample later but they proved negative.

"Perhaps we were too late or it was just natural, who knows," he said.

But what he does know is that he is determined that such a case will never happen again.

Now Pound is planning to get the world's leading haemoglobin experts to try and reach agreement on a maximum reading of the red blood cell count and anything above will be considered as being caused by doping.

Avoid using the word "doped"

Under the present system, athletes are simply prevented from racing for a certain period on medical grounds.

Although the latest results came from anti-doping tests of all athletes involved in the cross country and Nordic combined, the International Skiing Federation (FIS) carefully avoided using the word "doped".

"The prohibition from participating in the competitions is not a sanction, but is considered to serve to protect the health of the athlete. Consequently no disciplinary measures will be taken," said a spokesperson.

Pound wants an end to such suspensions, although he agrees it acts as a quick fix to prevent suspected athletes competing.

He added that he would seek advice and help from the FIS and the International Cycling Union (UCI) who also carry out such screening.

The Wada president is hoping the new agreed accepted levels of haemoglobin can be included in the 2007 Wada list of does and don'ts.

"If we can get in on the fast track and get in on the 2007 list it would be great," he said.

Pound is convinced the clamp down in Salt Lake City and Athens, as well as better testing, is showing results.

"The chances of getting caught are better now. I don't care if people don't take drugs because they fear they might get caught. It would be nice if they didn't take drugs for the right reasons but the key is - as long as they don't do it," he said."

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

16 February 2006

Anti-drug Chief Irresponsibly Suspects 12 Skiers of Doping
CTV.ca (16 February 2006)
[FullText] [Author contact]

"Dick Pound, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, is calling it "a strange coincidence" that 12 cross-country skiers -- including a Canadian -- showed elevated levels of hemoglobin.

"This is statistically so improbable that maybe we're dealing with doping. How do we go about solving it?" Pound, a Montreal lawyer asked.

"Doping cases are not accidental. Most of them are planned and deliberate. And you've got to protect the athletes that are playing fair," he told CTV News.

The 12 skiers -- including Sean Crooks of Thunder Bay, Ont. -- were suspended for five days after health tests revealed they had elevated levels of hemoglobin.

Hemoglobin, which is part of the red blood cell that can increase endurance, can be raised naturally. It can also be boosted by dehydration or training at high altitudes, something most skiers do as the cross-country venue sits 1,500-metres up.

But the tests raised the possibility of blood doping with synthetic hemoglobin or transfusions.

Pound, also a member of the International Olympic Committee, said he is going to investigate with blood specialists whether elevated hemoglobin cases should be treated as positive doping offences.

The International Skiing Federation (FIS) said high altitude training was the most likely cause for the rise in hemoglobin levels. It said the five-day suspensions were for health reasons.

Pound disputed that, saying the FIS was just pushing the problem aside by calling it a health issue.

"I think they are probably concerned that they can't prove doping, so the way they deal with it is kind of a Solomon-like solution," he said earlier Thursday.

"They say it would be to dangerous for you to start under these conditions, you might have a stroke or a heart attack or a blood clot so go home and come back in five days and see if you are still healthy enough to start," he said.

As of Thursday, seven of the skiers have been retested and cleared to compete, including Crooks. One failed a retest and four others had not yet been retested.

Crooks, who is set to race in the individual sprint event on Feb. 22, feels like he is being unfairly lumped in with this group. He has naturally high levels of hemoglobin, which has been documented by his doctors.

"A high hemoglobin result can be partly brought on by being dehydrated, and when they did test him he had just come in off a long high intensity training session at a high altitude. All of those are contributing factors," Crooks' father Jim told CTV.

Some Canadian officials are fuming that such accusations have been levelled, leaving athletes with little recourse to prove they're clean.

"I'm not in a position to say that all athletes are clean. I'm not naive enough to say that. But to say that they're all guilty or imply that they're all guilty of doping is unfair," said Bob McCormick, Canadian Olympic team doctor.

Al Maddox, executive director of Cross Country Canada agrees.

"It's quite disturbing honestly to hear someone like Dick Pound who should be more informed of the reality. I find it a little bit irresponsible to make a blanket kind of statement," he told CTV.

Pound, a long-time advocate of fair play, recently enraged the National Hockey League when he suggested 30 per cent of players were using banned substances.

He said most of the hockey players coming to Turin would be clean, but criticized the League for failing to introduce a anti-drugs policy sooner.

"My take is that, as soon as you know that you are going to be tested you know that, as soon as you say I am willing to play for Canada, for Sweden, whatever it is, you stop, it is easy. But if you know during the NHL season that you never going to be tested, that they are not allowed to test you, there is no incentive not to do it.""

contributed by Alexei Koudinov | This item permanent URL

Watch latest original research on doping published in other journals. Click here.


HOME	HELP	FEEDBACK	RECENT CONTENT	SUBJECT COLLECTIONS	PUBLISH IN DJ	REGISTRATION

Learn why Doping Journal serves AdWords ads by Google, and how one can be of help