Steroid Nation

Harold Connelly dies: Olympic champion and early steroid pioneer

Former Olympian Harold Connolly died at 79 last week.  He died in the gym, with his boots on.

Connolly lived a full and interesting life as documented in the New York Times. He was an Olympic hammer throw champion, a man involved in a huge international controversy based on love, and an early user of anabolic steroids.

In 1991, during a relaxed and lubricated private dinner, I said to Harold Connolly, winner of the 1956 Olympic hammer throw and a perennial world and United States champion: “It’s all timing. If you’d been born later, taken steroids, you could have won a few more gold medals.”

He looked at me incredulously. “You kidding? I was using after 1960. We all were.”

Connolly recognized aggressiveness as a steroids side effect:

When I first met Harold at a Randalls Island track meet in 1966, I didn’t suspect that his crusty demeanor, generally ascribed to fierce competitiveness and self-consciousness about his arm, was probably made even edgier by drugs. Surly that day, he tried to psych out the young hammer thrower who eventually beat him, and he was dismissive when I asked him about reports that he had subverted the youngster’s Olympic training with misinformation.

Twenty-five years later, at that boozy dinner, and then again last October, in a long, sober interview, he admitted that drugs were certainly heightening his “aggressiveness” back then, which he still felt was their only significant downside for older athletes. Harold was against punitive testing, which he thought did no good (“Most of the athletes I have known would do anything short of killing themselves to improve performance”), and he had come around to oppose drugs for youngsters, although I was never sure whether he really thought there were dangers to developing brains and bodies or whether he was finally being politic. 

Connolly relates a day when to achieve at the highest level in the Olympic field events, anabolic steroids was required:

It was after watching American doctors routinely give athletes testosterone injections that Harold decided he could use a little help, too. He started with one or two 10-milligram tablets a day of Dianabol along with proteins. When that had no discernible effect, he moved on to Winstrol and other drugs in “stacking” combinations. It was a standard regimen in the days before testing and prohibition.

As he later told a Senate subcommittee: “I learned that larger doses and more prolonged use increased muscular body weight, overall strength, and aggressiveness, but not speed, flexibility or coordination. My vertical jump went up but so did my blood pressure and cholesterol levels.” 

He had plenty of teammates with whom to compare notes. He remembered that during the 1968 Olympic trials, many athletes “had so much scar tissue and so many puncture holes in their backsides that it was difficult to find a fresh spot to give them a new shot.” 

Although he had some reservations (“Every time I felt unusual physical reactions, a twinge here a twinge there, a headache, disrupted sleep or diminished libido, I retreated from the testosterone or steroids — too apprehensive to take them regularly.”) they were not enough to preclude offering his seven children drug advice in pursuit of their athletic careers. Apparently, they didn’t want to use or they listened to Harold’s second wife, Pat Connolly, a three-time Olympian and coach, whose opposition to drugs has been fierce and unrelenting.

Connolly argued that pro athletes should be allowed to use PEDs.  However like most of these arguments he likely didn't understand the pragmatic issues involved: at what dose, for what period of time, for what indications, and who will pay the malpractice insurance?  (American medicine does not approve medications willy nilly; double blind, controlled research studies are required for EACH indication and EACH compound.  There are not even the preliminary studies on these drugs to begin to delineate the benefits and risks.)

“Pro athletes who can pay for medical guidance should take steroids,” he said. “They can give fans a better performance, a nice luxury. The argument against it is that they are role models and kids will find the black market.

“But the danger factor is ridiculous. How about Nascar and boxers and football players, even without drugs? Maybe some good will come from all this fuss. We’ll find out more about drugs, like we found out more about alcohol and marijuana.”

The romance?  Connolly pursued a Czech discus athlete despite the cold war:

He’s been appropriately celebrated as a role model for disabled athletes (he was born with a withered left arm) and as a lead in one of sports’ most romantic love stories (he married Olga Fikotova of Czechoslovakia, the ’56 Olympic discus winner) but he should also be appreciated as a complex and seminal elder of the Age of Enhancement.

Marion Jones's tainted Olympic gold goes to waste, rather than to Katerina Thanou

The New York Times says that Marion Jones's tainted gold medals from Sydney will in part be distributed and in part will rot in purgatory.

Greece's Katerina Thanou will not be elevated to gold, after her second place finish in 2000 in Australia.  Obviously Thanou's behavior in her native Greece  during the 2004 Olympics left a bad taste in the IOC's mouth.  Thus Thanou, who has never tested positive for steroids but whose behavior reeks of a PED cover up, will be ignored in the record books.  Interesting message from the IOC, and not entirely consistent with logic. (but check out Thanou's photo and one sees why she might fit in better with the men's 100M; those are impressive traps for a female)

However in the 200M, the Jones gold wil be awarded to that 2nd place finisher.

 The International Olympic Committee redistributed the medals won by the disgraced sprinter Marion Jones at the 2000 Olympics on Wednesday, but it refused to award her gold medal in the 100 meters to Katerina Thanou of Greece, who was barred from the 2004 Games because of a missed drug test.

Jones surrendered the medals when she admitted in 2007 to lying to federal investigators about performance-enhancing drug use. Normally, the other competitors are moved up in order when medals are surrendered, but Thanou’s later drug testing issues prompted the committee to leave the top spot in the 100 meters vacant. In record books, Thanou and Tanya Lawrence of Jamaica will be listed as silver medalists and Merlene Ottey of Jamaica, who finished fourth in the race, will hold the bronze.

Thanou did not fail a drug test, but she and her teammate Kostas Kenteris missed drug tests  before the 2004 Games in Athens and were kept from competing by Greek Olympic officials after it was determined they had staged a motorcycle crash to cover up their absence. Track and field’s international federation, the I.A.A.F., barred them for two years.

Jones’s gold medal in the 200 meters was awarded to Pauline Davis-Thompson of the Bahamas, with the silver going to Susanthika Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka and the bronze to Beverly McDonald of Jamaica. Jones’s bronze medal in the long jump was given to   Tatyana Kotova of Russia.

Apparently  if the IOC can't catch a drug cheat the first time, they may make a statement some 10 years later...

The fate of the Jones relay medals remains tainted at this point.

The fate of the two medals won by United States relay teams that included Jones in the 2000 Games is still being decided by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. When those medals were stripped from the American teams by the I.O.C., the other members of the relay appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration, which is expected to issue its ruling by Dec. 18.

Hungarian Olypic class wrestler stung in doping disqualification: Sándor Bárdosi stirs up a hornets nest with doping penalty

Newspapers report Hungarian wrestler Sándor Bárdosi-- once an Olympic wrestling medalist -- lost a recent medal in "Sumo wrestling" following treatment for a wasp sting.

Sumo wrestling world champion Sándor Bárdosi tested positive in a doping test at July's World Games in Taiwan, the National Sports Federation told MTI.

Organisers at the World Games have stripped Bárdosi of his gold medal and fined him €3,000. Former Olympic silver medalist Bárdosi claims that he had been given an injection to treat a wasp sting.

What would cause disqualification?  Usually a sting producing an allergic reaction would be treated with epinephrine, which should be quickly metabolized.  However, it could be that a physician injected prednisone to reduce swelling.

The next report talks about a soccer player with a similar problem,  If these athletes are being harassed for and epi pen, it is ridiculous.  Should the doctor delay treatment for an allergic anaphylactic  reaction before he receives clearance from a bureaucracy?

The organisers of the World Games have decided to strip the wrestler of his gold medal requires him to pay a fine of 3,000 euros, the Hungarian Sumo Federation said.

Bardosi denied the charge, saying that he had been treated for a wasp sting in Kaohsiung.

"The last test I had in Hungary was negative. Just before leaving for Taiwan, however, I was stung by a wasp. Suffering from hand pain, I went to the doctor who gave me an injection and medicine, enabling me to recover by the time of the World Games a week later. Concentrating on the competition, I forgot to mention the affair at the doping test. Anyway, I don't need any doping as I am able to outperform all my opponents," he said.

As a graeco-roman wrestler, Bardosi won a silver medal in the Sydney Olympics nine years ago.

In the Sumo World Games, he triumphed in the under-85 kg, lightweight category.

Italy's world champion soccer player Fabio Cannavaro had a similar wasp bite a few weeks ago. The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) dropped the charge but his club, Juventus, held out the prospect of some sanction as the player should have consulted with CONI before being treated for a wasp sting.

Female nigerian sprinter Amaka Ogoegbunam tests positive for steroids at Berlin world championships

A Nigerian hurdler reportedly tested positive for an anabolic steroid at the Berlin world championships this week.  To the AP:

Nigerian hurdler Amaka Ogoegbunam has tested positive for steroids and has been suspended for the rest of the world championships.

She is the second athlete to fail a drug test at the worlds following steeplechaser Jamal Chatbi of Morocco.

Ogoegbunam was disqualified from the semifinals of the 400-meter hurdles Tuesday. Track and field's governing body says Ogoegbunam tested positive for the anabolic steroid metenolone after the race.

The 19-year-old Nigerian also was to have run in the 1,600-meter relay.

'Greatest athlete of all time' -- Usain Bolt -- sets world record time of an 9.58 second 100M in Berlin

Jamaica's Usain Bolt once again lowered the world 100M record by a full 0.10 seconds from his 2008 Beijing Olympics mark to an astonishing 9.58 in the Berlin IAAF world championships yesterday.  Bolt's startling times ignited world controversies about the legitimacy of his mark.  However, controversy is all naysayers have at this point.  Bolt has never tested positive for PEDs, had never been caught in a buy, and has never admitted to illegal drug use.  Nonetheless, obliterating world marks in the 100M with astonishing regularity is such an incredible feat, doubters are working overtime.  (from the Telegraph)

That's what athletic miracles do today. They bring as much suspicion as awe, as much skepticism as joy. Yet, while Bolt was being hailed by the head of world athletics Lamine Diack as the greatest athlete of all time, the subject of all the frenzy, last seen being pursued by screaming fans down Jesse-Owens-Allee outside the stadium, just ignored it all.

A breakdown of the Bolt run goes like this:

It is the "you never know" bit which he knows tantalises us. Yesterday, the biomechanical analysts from the IAAF produced a statistical breakdown of the final which suggested that what we saw in Sunday was Bolt's Bob Beamon moment, a barrier-shattering, never-to-be repeated annihilation of the sport's blue riband record. But you never know...

Eleven hundredths of a second slashed off the mark in one hit was sprinting's equivalent of the moment in Mexico City in 1968 when long jumper Beamon decided to bypass the 28ft barrier altogether as he took the world record to 29ft 2½in with one leap.

But the IAAF's split times confirmed that Bolt's astounding improvement on the 9.69sec record he had set exactly a year earlier in Beijing was due almost entirely to the fact that this time he did not showboat over the last few of his 41½ strides as he had done in China.

He was actually slower over the first 20m than in Beijing (2.89sec to 2.87sec) but what made the vast difference was his lack of concentration as he covered the final 40m in Beijing in 3.37sec. On Sunday, in contrast, he covered the equivalent stretch in 3.27sec, a whole tenth of a second quicker. Between 60m and 80m, he topped 46kph (28.58mph).

There was one quick look right and a glance left towards the clock, so perhaps he could even have gone a fraction quicker but, realistically, there looks to be no section of the race where he can in future trim off more than the odd hundredth of a second at a time. He has just made those $100,000 (£60,700) world-record bonuses hellishly difficult to annex now.

Until proved otherwise, the Bolt record must be considered legitimate.  The athlete apparently has the neuro-muscular development to produce stride frequency times stride length to generate sprint speeds never achieved in recorded history at sanctioned track meets.

 All the logical arguments in the world about doping hold no merit if the athlete maintains clean testing.  Other factors come into play -- a better track surface, improved shoes, perfect conditions,  high quality competition -- to push these world records into new territory.

There was a Roger Maris to beat Babe Ruth's single season home run record.  There was a Mike Powell to surpass Bob Beamon's long jump record.  It appears the thrust of DNA and technology to lower or lengthen previous marks in performance.  Thus, it is not impossible to go where no man has gone before in history.  Just damn tough to do it twice.

Doping in track is alive and well: Five Brazilian track athletes named as drug cheats

A number of Brazilian track athletes will receive an early exit from the world championships in Germany, reported as doping suspects.  To the AP:

Brazilian officials say five athletes preparing for the upcoming world track and field championships in Germany have failed doping tests.

The Brazilian athletics confederation says Bruno Lins Tenorio de Barros, Jorge Celio da Rocha Sena, Josiane da Silva Tito, Luciana Franca and Lucimara Silvestre presented "adverse results" in out-of-competition tests conducted by the confederation on June 15.

The athletes, who were already in Germany for this month's competition, requested their B samples be tested and are returning to Brazil to present their defence.

Three of the five athletes were at the Beijing Olympics last year - Barros helped Brazil finish fourth in the 4x100 metre relay, Silvestre competed in the women's heptathlon and Tito was in the women's 4x400 relay.

A number of Beijing 2008 Olympians included in this group.  One would not expect them to have suddenly become dopers in the past year...if you catch our drift.

The photos of Franca and Tito appear a bit strange....androgen influence?

UK 800M champ Jemma Simpson looking for redemption, and weighing in on doping

After suffering stress fractures in her foot, British 800M runner Jemma Simpson is looking to get back on track during the UK's upcoming national trials.  A article in the Times documents her comeback. We look at her doping attitudes.

In Simpson's event -- the 800M -- Russians form a major component of the competition, and a major part of the doping contingent.  Her opinion:

It may be this optimism that informs her opinions about doping. The 1,500 metres, which is likely to be her ultimate destination, has been destroyed by Russian drug cheats. The IAAF, the world governing body, is awaiting the Court of Arbitration for Sport to decide whether to indulge Russia’s cynicism and backdate bans to free the cheats to compete at the World Championships in Berlin next month. With 29 Russians banned for doping, isn’t that depressing?

“No, it’s good,” Simpson said. “The more they catch, the better. You talk about it with other runners and you have suspicions, but you can’t let it affect you. It’s not a level playing field, but the more positive tests there are, the more likely we are to have a clean Games in 2012. You need the stigma. Japan never seems to have a problem and I think that’s probably because it would be considered a terrible thing there. That’s the way it has to be.”

What?  A country with honor?  Heresy.  And how about Dwain Chambers?

But what of Britain, given Dwain Chambers is vying for a place in the Great Britain team today? “I honestly don’t think British athletes are doping,” Simpson said. “Our controls are so strict now. It’s not the culture.”

She avoited that questions quite well...

More Beijing Olympians tested positive for PEDs; Report says 1500M champ Rashid Tamzi included

The AP carries a story today of positive doping tests in the rerun of samples taken from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  Apparently a rerun for CERA EPO netted a few more PED cheats, including the men's 1500M gold medal winner. These results ave been hinted at for weeks. (Let's Run link too)

An official familiar with the results tells The Associated Press that backup tests came back positive for 1,500-meter champion Rashid Ramzi and four others accused of doping at the Beijing Olympics.

The athletes tested positive for the blood-boosting drug CERA in retests of their "A" samples earlier this year, with the results announced in April.

The official told the AP on Wednesday that the "B" samples have been analyzed and confirmed the positive findings. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the results have not been announced.

The athletes face being stripped of results and medals.

The others are Italian cyclist Davide Rebellin, German cyclist Stefan Schumacher, Croatian runner Vanja Perisic and Greek walker Athanasia Tsoumeleka.

CERA EPO (the newer large molecule EPO) tends to be abused by endurance athletes.

Although this will not make as large a splash as Ben Johnson's Winny positive, an Olympic 1500 gold medalist positive for PED cheating is every bit as disgusting.

German speedskater on thin ice: Claudia Pechstein begins PED suspension

Olympic speed-skater Claudia Pechstein starts a two year ban based on blood doping, devined from her blood indices.  Considering Germany's awful past with doping, it is entirely  disconcerting for an elite German athlete to dope.  (AP)

Olympic speed-skating great Claudia Pechstein of Germany was banned for two years because of blood doping Friday and will miss the 2010 Vancouver Games.

The International Skating Union said Pechstein's blood profile indicated abnormal changes in a series of tests, in particular after the World Allround Championships in February. The governing body ruled after a two-day hearing.

The 37-year-old skater is a five-time Olympic gold medalist. She is banned until Feb. 9, 2011 and can appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Pechstein was stripped of her results in the 500-meter and 3,000-meter races Feb. 7 at the World Allround event, where she finished fifth and fourth, respectively.

Pechstein had hoped to compete in Vancouver for her sixth straight Winter Games. She won her first gold medal in the 5,000 in Lillehammer in 1994, and won at the same distance in Nagano in 1998 and Salt Lake City in 2002. She also won the 3,000 in Salt Lake City and was part of  Germany's winning team in the pursuit in Turin in 2006.

She also won two Olympic silvers and two bronze medals, including a third-place finish in the 5,000 at the 1992 Albertville Games, along with six world championship titles.

Catch me if you can: Did world class cyclists -- including Bernhard Kohl and Michael Rasmussen -- engage in doping conspiracy?

It's one thing to run afoul of the press and the fans using PEDs as a drug-cheat as we saw with Manny Ramirez.  Manny lost a few million dollars, and lost some face with the fans and the Hall of Fame voters.  However, it is quite another thing to be charged in a criminal prosecution.

World class cyclists -- elite competitors  --  Bernhard Kohl and Michael Rasmussen appear to be targets of Austrian prosecutors as part of an international doping conspiracy.  To Monsters and Critics:

Vienna prosecutors said Monday that they had started criminal proceedings against cyclists Bernhard Kohl from Austria and Denmark's Michael Rasmussen, as well as Austrian Nordic skier Christian Hoffman, for allegedly running a blood doping operation.

The three are suspected of having invested in a blood centrifuge which they not only used for themselves but also made available to other athletes, Austrian news agency APA reported.

Having just watched "Catch Me if You Can", the video with Leonardo DeCaprio and Tom Hanks, we don't think we would want to see the inside of a European prison (or any prison for that matter).

The third 'co-conspirator -- Christian Hoffman -- is no slouch as a gold medalist in skiing.

Hoffmann, who won a gold medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, denied the accusations.

'That's absolute nonsense, that's a smear campaign against me,' the Austrian daily Die Presse quoted him in its Monday edition, after his name was the first to be confirmed by prosecutors on Sunday.

Kohl has publicly admitted having used blood doping and having bought the machine together with others. He has been stripped of his third place in the 2008 Tour de France for using the blood booster CERA.

The cyclist's former manager Stefan Matschiner was conditionally released on May 7 after several weeks of detention, as he was heavily implicated by Kohl. The centrifuge was found in Matschiner's apartment in Budapest.

Rasmussen is currently banned for lying about his whereabouts at the 2007 Tour in connection with doping tests.

Blood doping is mainly used in endurance sports. Athletes are injected blood that has been enriched with performance-enhancing red blood cells.

Sounds like these boys were very heavily involved in the doping process.

In the USA, doping obviously carries much more rewards than risks.  If being a drug-cheat were risky would athletes like A-Rod and Manny dope?  There are few legal consequences.  The law trouble that dopers run into tend to occur when their egos run into a grand jury, ala Barry Bonds.  If Bonds had been truthful (according to legal charges) he might have been exposed as a juicer or he might not have been embarrassed.  Embarrassed or not, Bonds would never have seen the inside of a courtroom as defendant; the USA's legal machine looks the other way for athletes. No sports fraud, no conspiracy, etc. -- although there are exceptions (Marion Jones).

However, sounds like Kohl and Rasmussen are in a bit of trouble...btw, someone tell Rasmussen (photo left) to lift some weights...

Intrigue revolves around almost-Olympic swimmer Jessica Hardy, AdvoCare, and clenbuterol contamination

Remember USA swimmer Jessica Hardy?  She was set to participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympics when almost on the plane to China when she was 'sabotaged' by a positive urine test for clenbuterol, which of course is banned.

This led to much consternation for #3 swimmer Tara Kirk, who finished 3rd to Harding by a fingernail, however could not be included in the USA swim teams entourage as the doping results came to late to alter the roster.

The situation became even more entangled.  Hardy claimed the clen came from a supplement of the company AdvoCare, and two of the companies products:  Arginine Extreme and  Nighttime Recovery.  Now the plot thickens:

1. Hardy sued AdvoCare, a company she was retained as an athlete spokesperson.  Hardy claims Con Catlin's UCLA lab showed clenbuterol in testing supplement she took. (more here)

2.  AdvoCare sued Hardy for defamation.  Advocare says their product was tested at a Michigan firm, which showed it was clean. (from Swimming World)

The company's case says it "specifically tested the lots of AdvoCare products provided to Hardy," the tests performed by NSF International, a non-profit organization based in Ann Arbor, Mich., that certifies supplements as free from taint for the NFL, among others. Those tests "confirm that no clenbuterol is present in the AdvoCare products," the lawsuit says.

Hardy's lawsuit says she retained Anti-Doping Research in Los Angeles, the lab founded by Don Catlin, the former director of the World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited lab at UCLA.

ADR "tested all of the AdvoCare products used by Ms. Hardy during and immediately prior to the Olympic Trials, using remaining samples from those she had with her at the U.S. Olympic Trials in July 2008, or samples from the same product lot or lots as those she used at the U.S. Olympic Trials in July 2008.

"After extensive testing, ADR detected the presence of clenbuterol in samples of Arginine Extreme and Nighttime Recovery."

So — one lawsuit says the tests didn't find anything, the other says the tests assuredly did.

Now, Olympic insider Ron Judd (at the Seattle Times) put together a column that says:

• An arbitration ruling from (?) the USADA reduced Hardy's mandatory 2 year suspension to 1 year.  The suspensions (counting back time) will end in July 2009, which makes her eligible for the 2012 London Olympics....except...
• There is mandatory exclusion of the subsequent Olympics game for any athlete suspended for doping for over 6 months.

Didn't Hardy serve a suspensions for 2008?  And wasn't her sentence reduced because she claims contamination (which was never proved?).  It wasn't reduced below 1 year, which would continue to support her 2012 Olympics suspension.

Furthermore Hardy claims this was a last minute contamination, however data indicates she actually dropped 3 dirty urines even prior to the US Olympic swimming trial:

But new evidence presented in the arbitration ruling sheds some new light. It discloses, for the first time publicly, that the same UCLA lab that tested Hardy's other samples informed USADA on July 23, two days after reporting the initial positive result, that two Hardy samples from July 1 (when she won the 100 breast) and July 6 (when she finished second in the 50 freestyle), initially reported as negative, "actually revealed the presence of 'suspect clenbuterol transitions.

This chain of events disturbs common sensibility on many levels.

1.  What about 'strict liability' for the athlete who is responsible for what goes into their Olympic body?  Athletes are frequently warned about supplements and other crap.  Judd comments:

The term means what it says: Athletes are responsible for what they put in their bodies. Intent doesn't matter. You can test positive by accident and still see your career -- and your Olympic dream -- go up in flames. It's happened already to other athletes. But the American Arbitration Association seems ready to literally take on the world to prevent it from happening to hapless victim Jessica Hardy. And USADA, which was party to this exercise in jurisdictional aggrandizement, apparently is right there with them.

2.  What about the conflicting claims of supplement contamination?  Hardy claims her lab tested the supplements, however there was no strict 'chain of custody' (obviously Hardy could have contaminated the supplement herself looking for an excuse).  Advocare says their product was clean.

3.  And how about the arbitration committee thumbing it's nose at the IOC and at WADA who maintains strict liability policies.

4.  Dana Kirk filed a negligence suit in the case too:

Nobody has bent over backwards to do anything for the now-retired Kirk, beyond urging her to go away. Her legal motion to be added to the squad was denied before the Beijing Games, but her claim that she was damaged by USA Swimming's negligence in the case remains alive, and will get its own arbitration hearing later this month.

This is a mess.  To conclude:

But what kind of thermonuclear mixed message does all this send to the nation's impressionable young athletes? Don't use supplements, wink, wink. But if you do (and to be multiple-medal material, you pretty much have to) just make sure you can afford a good attorney, and we'll be behind you 100 percent?

More on 2008 Beijing Olympics positive doping tests: Davide Rebellin, Rashid Ramzi & Stefan Schumaker

More news emerges from the news wires today on the new 2008 Beijing Olympic doping results.  Focus is directed on 2 sports and 3 athletes:

Cycling: Stefan Schumaker, Davide Rebellin
Track: Rashid Ramzi (Gold medal 1500)

Again, it appears CERA-EPO constitutes the doping agent.

From Monsters and Critics:

Stuttgart - Olympic 1,500 metres gold medallist Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain and Italian cycling  road race silver medallist Davide Rebellin have tested positive for the latest generation of the blood booster EPO at retests of samples from the Beijing Games.

German cyclist Stefan Schumacher was also named by the German cycling federation while the ruling athletics body IAAF confirmed reports that three of the overall six suspects are from its sport.

Ahmad Ben Hamad Al El Khalifa, deputy general secretary of the Bahrain Olympic Committee, told German Press Agency dpa on Wednesday that the committee has been informed about Ramzi's positive test.

At the same time the Italian Olympic Committee CONI named Rebellin as a doping suspect and summoned him to a hearing on May 4.

And Germany, hit with a spate of blood doping scandals, announced this:

The Germany cycling federation then confirmed that Schumacher had also failed a retest for CERA. Schumacher had already tested positive for CERA at retests of 2008 Tour de France samples.

If found guilty, the athletes face disqualification, will be stripped of their medals and banned from the 2012 Games on top of sanctions from their respective sports federations.

More 2008 Beijing Olympians test positive for doping: Cyclist Davide Rebellin and unnamed track gold winner

News agencies report today that several 2008 Beijing Olympians tested positive for doping. (NBC)  A cyclist from Italy -- Davide Rebellin -- was named.  Also interesting was unnamed male track gold medal winner.  Appears CERA-EPO was the culprit.

A person familiar with a new round of drug tests from the Beijing Olympics says two medalists were among six athletes who turned up positive when their blood samples were rechecked.

The person tells The Associated Press the tests nabbed three track and field athletes, two cyclists and one weightlifter.

The person also says one of the track and field athletes is a male gold medalist. The other medalist was in cycling.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the names haven’t been officially released by the International Olympic Committee.

The Italian Olympic Committee says one of the six was an Italian athlete. The Italian news agency ANSA identified him as cyclist Davide Rebellin, silver medalist in the road race.

Unnamed male track gold medalist.  Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Any guesses?  CNN reports 7 positive tests from 6 athletes; one doper was a double winner.

A total of 948 samples were analyzed, with seven tests, from six athletes, coming back as positive.

More from the NY Daily News:

The IOC announcement didn't identify the six athletes, who each failed a newly-designed test for CERA, an endurance booster. They are being notified through the governing bodies of their sports. CERA, which stands for continuous erythropoietin receptor activator, is an advanced version of erythropoietin, which increases the development of red blood cells, bringing more oxygen to the muscles.

The IOC's anti-doping rules allow for the storing of samples for up to eight years so athletes tempted to cheat know that they may test positive even if the anti-doping technology hasn't yet caught up to cutting-edge doping products and techniques. The testing took place in accredited laboratories in Switzerland, France, and Germany, and targeted samples from athletes in cycling, rowing, swimming and track and field.

The IOC said it tested a total of 948 samples after developing new tests for CERA and insulin, the diabetes treatment that has some performance-enhancing properties. The insulin re-test, performed on 101 urine samples, didn't result in any positives. But the CERA test identified seven positives for six athletes.

Steroids in Fencing? Italian Andrea Baldini suspended

The International Fencing Federation appears to be concerned about doping in the sport.  The agency handed out a 66 month ban to a gold medalist who tested positive for furosemide (a diuretic).  A diuretic can be used as a masking agent -- or fir short term weight loss.  In fencing though...steroids???  From BMA News TV:

Italian fencer Andrea Baldini has been handed a retroactive six-month ban by the international federation and stripped of his team foil gold medal from the European Championships. He could return to the sport, however, when the World Cup resumes next month.

Baldini was removed from Italy's team days before the Beijing Olympics after testing positive for the banned diuretic furosemide at the European Championships in Ukraine in July.

Baldini said he had taken an antibiotic prescribed by the Italian federation's doctor and declared it before the doping test. He also suggested he may have been a victim of foul play, although the Italian Olympic Committee dropped its inquiry into an alleged conspiracy plot in October.

Meeting in Belfast, the international fencing federation ruled that Baldini be banned retroactively from Sept. 3 — the date he was provisionally suspended — to March 3. The ban is subject to approval by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

"The cases of using prohibited substances in our sport are extremely rare," FIE secretary general Maxim Paramonov said in a statement released Tuesday. "Moreover, it is absolutely unclear what could urge the fencer, who had already ensured his participation in the Olympics, to use doping drugs during the competitions of no relevance for him.

"(This) decision allows the athlete to return to the elite sport within a short period and try to demonstrate his exceptional talent in the future tournaments."

The ruling also means Baldini will have to forfeit his gold medal from the team foil at the European Championships.

Sprinter Justin Gatlin settles with anti-doping agencies in civil lawsuit

Beleaguered American sprinter Justin Gatlin settled out of court in a lawsuit involving anti-doping agencies.  Gatlin sued because the agencies suspended him over Adderall (apparently the anabolic steroids he also used didn't enter into the suit).  From Universal Sports:

Suspended American sprinter Justin Gatlin has agreed to a settlement with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Track and Field (USATF) and the International Associations of Athletic Federations (IAAF) in a civil suit Gatlin filed claiming the four groups discriminated against him based on the Americans for Disabilities Act, Universal Sports has learned.

Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist in the 100m and the 2005 world champion in the 100m and 200m, is serving a four-year suspension for testing positive for  testosterone in 2006.

Court documents show that Gatlin agreed to the settlement on Feb. 9 in the U.S. District Court for Northern Florida. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Gatlin and his attorney, Joe Zarzaur, refused to comment about specifics of the settlement.

And some details:

It's unclear if the defendants admitted any guilt in the settlement.

“The fact that they settled has nothing to do with the merits of the case,” said John Collins, an attorney who has represented athletes against doping charges, including Gatlin. “You have to figure if the settlement is greater than the attorney’s fees, then there may be some admission of guilt. If not, than all they settle for is nuisance value.”

Gatlin filed a civil suit against the four groups on June 9, 2008, claiming they discriminated against him based on his disability, Attention Deficit Disorder. Gatlin tested positive for amphetamines from tests taken June 16 and June 17, 2006 during the U.S. Junior National Championships.

Gatlin claimed the drug Adderall, which he was taking for ADD, was the source of the amphetamines. He further claimed there were no forms to fill out at the junior national meet allowing him to declare that he was taking the medication.

This is how Usain Bolt rolls: World's fastest human knows ganja

USA Today discusses Usain Bolt's pharmacologic menu.  A little weed when he was younger; some Red Bull and ale now when he is older:

Turns out Olympic speedster Usain Bolt is not unfamiliar with the ganja.

Bolt, a triple gold medalist who set world records in the 100 and 200 meters in China, tried marijuana when he was young reports the German newspaper Bild

"In Jamaica, you learn as a child how to roll a joint. Everyone here has tried it. I did too -- but I was real young then," Bolt said. "My family and my friends don't smoke and I don't hang out any longer with people who smoke." (Photo by Mark Dadswell, Getty Images)

The story also said that Bolt has two bodyguards supplied by the Jamaican government and that he drinks Guinness mixed with Red Bull.

So will this change budding track stars training habits all over the world?  High rolling and lower times...

Study reports 50,000 Finns may have doped with PEDs

Interesting story out of Finland today.  Uutiset reports up to 2% of Finnish men may have used a PED over their lives.  Although doping is not illegal, the Ministries of Sports and Education seem to be concerned about health consequences.  That prevalence would not be shocking in other Western democracies.

Little is known about the use of sports doping substances in Finland, but the Ministry of Education has launched an investigation into the matter. Estimates are that up to two percent of Finnish men may have used a doping substance sometime in their lives. This would amount to more than 50,000 Finns.

According to an article in Sunnuntaisuomalainen, a Sunday supplement of a number of Finnish provincial newspapers, the ministry wants to launch a counselling service, where users of doping substances can anonymously ask for professional help form a health care worker.

Other Nordic Countries already have such a service. Sweden’s service has operated for 15 years. The use of performance-enhancing hormones and other substances by amateur athletes is seen to be a serious public health problem.

The typical Finnish user of doping substances is a young man working out at a gym hoping to increase muscle mass. A few months using anabolic steroids can help add muscle that might take years of training to acquire, even though the impact on health can be serious.

In addition, users of doping substances are more likely than others to use illegal intoxicants. Researcher Mikko Salasuo, who is conducting the study for the Ministry of Education, says that the increase in the use of doping by amateur athletes reflects a change in attitude toward chemical manipulation of the body.

Possession and use of doping substances is not a crime under Finnish law.

Finland’s Minister of Sport and Cuilture Stefan Wallin is not enthusiastic about the criminalisation of sports doping substances, because he feels that the law would be difficult to enforce. However, he would like to see new initiatives to keep doping substances out of Finnish gyms.

So Finland wakes up maybe...link here to Finnish dope scandal.

More on the Matschiner Austrian doping scandal: Kohl, Rasmussen, Vroeman, and more

From Earthtimes comes news of the latest in the burgeoning Austrian/Bulgarian doping scandal. The scandal extends now into cycling (Tour de France contestant Bernhard Kohl), skiing, and track.

Vienna - Austria's cycling doping scandal widened Thursday as three more people were detained, according to media reports. The reports come on top of four arrests of alleged doping suppliers in March.
 
The latest development came after Stefan Matschiner, the former manager of disgraced Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl, was detained Monday night for allegedly supplying athletes with a range of performance-enhancing substances and blood transfusions.

Prosecutors in Vienna did not comment on the reports by Austrian press agency APA and the daily Die Presse, which attributed its story to unnamed investigators. According to the reports, at  least one of the arrests took place Wednesday. Earlier in March, police detained Austria's former cross-country ski coach Walter Mayer on charges of having bought the blood-booster EPO from a pharmacist. The pharmacist and a professional cyclist were also taken into remand but have since been released. Their names have not been made public.

From OE24.at comes a graphic of the athletes involved with the trainer Matschiner.  The group includes the pro cyclists Kohl and Michael Rasmussen, and the triathlete Lisa Hutthaler.  Also note Simon Vroeman, who tested positive for doping last year, was a client of this 'manager'.

 Meanwhile, public attention was focused on the Humanplasma laboratory in Vienna, where Kohl said he went three times to receive blood transfusions before buying a transfusion machine together with other athletes.

The laboratory said it could not confirm or deny Kohl's presence on its premises, but claimed it had never "approached, invited or received" athletes for blood doping.

The Austrian cross country skier Christian Hoffmann, as well as Danish cyclist Michel Rasmussen have denied reports that they also paid for and used the machine that was allegedly set up in Matschiner's home.

This article failed to mention Bulgarian sprinter Ivet Lalova, who is linked to Matschiner too.

Bulgarian sprinter Ivet Lalova implicated in doping scandal

Guilt by association?  The Austrian press implicated top Bulgarian female sprinter Ivet Lalova in doping because of links with manager Stefan Matschiner.  Matschiner supplied pro cyclist Bernhard Kohl with juice.

(Update here)

To Novinite for the story:

The Austrian media has accused Bulgarian top sprinter Ivet Lalova of close links with manager Stefan Matschiner, who has allegedly forced athletes to  take banned substances.

Lalova, Bulgaria's best athlete for 2008, explained that she stopped working with Matschiner at the end of last year when the first reports of his clients failing doping tests surfaced.

"My relationship with Stefan Matschiner is purely businesslike," Ivet said after Austrian media reported the two were seen together at a local  restaurant.

Lalova's coach Konstantin Milanov has also denied the allegations.

Apparently this is similar to the guilt by association when Lance Armstrong was linked to Italian uber-dope doctor Michele Ferrari.

Lalova has quite a following with fansites.  You can also find plenty of online pics of the photogenic athlete with a Google search.

This should improve relations between Austria and Bulgaria.

Austrian nordic/biathlon ski coach Walter Mayer arrested on doping charges related to 2006 Olympics

Last week Austrian authorities arrested a cyclist and a pharmacist on doping charges.  Today, a ski coach was arrested for distributing EPO to his skiers. To JAVNO:

Former Austrian national biathlon coach Walter Mayer, at the centre of a 2006 Winter Olympics doping scandal, was arrested on doping charges at the weekend, judicial officials said on Monday.

Mayer was arrested on suspicion of distributing to athletes the blood-booster EPO and related drugs which he purchased from a Vienna pharmacist, who was also arrested over the weekend, Vienna state prosecutor Gerhard Jarosch said.

Jarosch declined to say to how many athletes to whom Mayer sold the EPO and the other drugs, or what sports those athletes were active in.

Police on Friday arrested an Austrian cyclist who received EPO from the same pharmacist, Jarosch said.

Mayer's presence among the Austrian Nordics team at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, in defiance of a doping related ban, triggered drug raids by Italian police who found syringes and drugs in the Austrian base.

Mayer was banned from the Olympics until beyond 2010 after a blood doping scandal at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.

Dwain Chambers names track athletes, coaches, and contradictions in new book

The AP discusses UK sprinter Dwain Chambers's new book as more of the text is revealed.  Not surprisingly Chambers names more track athletes who used BALCO for doping including Kelli White.
British sprinter Dwain Chambers names several doping-tainted American athletes in his autobiography chronicling his use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Sprinters Kelli White, Chryste Gaines and Alvin Harrison, all of whom were busted for doping and served suspensions, are all mentioned when Chambers recounts his ties with BALCO founder Victor Conte.

"He kept telling me to talk to the other athletes, talk to my coach Remi (Korchemny), Chryste Gaines and Kelli, Alvin Harrison to name a few. I told him I would," Chambers writes in the book "Race Against Me: My Story...

"In time I became fully aware of Victor's role and his purpose in recruiting the best athletes in the world," Chambers writes. "Victor was a pharmacologist with a living to make."

Chambers says he started taking THG, also known as "The Clear," and other drugs such as HGH and EPO, in 2002 after meeting Conte in the United States while training.

"As time went on, I became more and more familiar with associating certain athletes with certain drugs. ... I made Kelli White my main confidante and the attraction grew by the day," writes Chambers, who says he dated White for more than a year.

White won the 100 and 200-meter races at the 2003 world championships in Paris, but both her medals were stripped after she tested positive for modafinil

Chambers, who admitted using 300 combinations of illegal PEDs assumes a strange and paradoxiacally moral attitude toward illict drug doping:

Although Chambers says both he and White "agreed that we hated having to cheat to win," he later says he didn't know THG was on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances.

"If THG was on there I was out of America on the very next flight and Victor Conte was history!" Chambers writes, but then later in the book adds, "I printed the list off. It ran to nearly eight pages. I went over it three times and found no reference at all to THG. Victor was right: it wasn't on the banned list."

"In my own mind, I wasn't cheating."

In earlier excerpts from the book printed in the Daily Mail, Chambers says he was a "walking junkie" and took "more than 300 different concoctions" of performance-enhancing drugs that cost him $30,000 a year.

"It wasn't a problem. I was earning big money at the time," Chambers writes.

White (photo right) who to her credit confessed to all the doping, is an example of how the drugs produce an incredible physique.  Once again, consider all records in the 'steroids era' to be at risk of PED taint. 

Chambers also hits the syringe on the head in the last statement.."The money..."

Also note the irony of calling Conte a 'pharmacologist'.

UK Sprinter Dwain Chambers lays out chilling inside look at track doping via BALCO

Carrying excerpts before the mid-March publication of Dwain Chambers new book "Race Against Me", The Daily Mail shows the chilling (and expensive) world of big time track doping.  Chambers admits to more than 300 drug cocktails from BALCO (and other sources).  To Earth Times:

London - Disgraced British sprinter Dwain Chambers admits in his forthcoming autobiography "Race Against Me" that he took a concoction of over 300 performance-enhancing drugs. In an installment published in Tuesday's Daily Mail ahead of next Monday's release, Chambers, who served a two-year ban after being found guilty of doping offences in 2003, said he had paid out 30,000 dollars a year for doping substances.

"I wasn't just on THG, EPO and HGH, but testosterone to help with sleep and reduce cholesterol," he said. "On Christmas Day (in 2002), as I sat in the bathroom with 'The Clear' (THG), I realized I had been taking drugs - more than 300 different concoctions - for 12 months.

During that time, Chambers says he passed 10 doping tests as well as winning the 100-metre gold medal at the 2002 European Championships. However, his times hadn't improved that dramatically and he was also often troubled by stomach cramps.

"When I was clean, my personal best was 9.97 seconds. A year on, after the sleepless nights, the anxiety, the pain of the cramps, the blood draws to make sure I wouldn't suffer a stroke, or worse, the inconsistent races and the disappointment of missing events, my PB (personal best) was 9.87 seconds," he wrote.

Some of the drugs: The clear (THG), testosterone, insulin, HGH . Provigil, T4, and EPO.  Dangerous...Yes.  Effective...apparently.  Chambers says his time went for a PB of 9.97 to 9.87, nice gains.  The cost, you can see above the price.

The discussions?  This discussing with Tim Montgomery about Conte and BALCO:

I  (Chambers)should have seen the danger signals when Montgomery snarled at me one day: ‘Yo, Dwain! You wit that n***** Conte? Don’t go anywhere near that c********r. Let me tell you, Chambers, he’s bad news.’

I was unnerved, but he didn’t elaborate. I didn’t know there was a huge row brewing between Montgomery and Conte. Tim had probably taken a well-educated guess that I was clean and didn’t want me dragged down. I just wish he had been more constructive, instead of hurling obscenities in the direction of Victor.

And a discussion with Conte:

Conte had convinced me that a new drug meant I could train harder and more often. He called it The Clear (THG) and The Cream.

‘Is it illegal?’ I asked.

‘It’s undetectable.’

‘Is it banned?’

‘The Clear is not on the prohibited list and neither will cause a positive test.’

‘Isn’t that cheating?

‘They’re cheating you, Dwain. You’re a talented athlete and you’re not competing on a level playing field. Most of the top sprinters are on steroids. Every time you race you’re at a disadvantage.’

Ah, rationalizations...

Anti-Steroid, anti-doping crusader and IRS agent Jeff Novitzky under the spotlight

ABC News posts a story on the journey of IRS agent Jeff Novitzky, who once tried out for Lute Olson at Arizona basketball, as he crusades against steroids and  doping and some say too zealously Barry Bonds.

The story starts in a California courtroom where Novitzky participated in the BALCO trial of Victor Conte.  And it will continue in the same courtroom:

Sometime in the next few months, Jeff Novitzky will walk back into the same 10th floor courtroom, raise his right hand and swear to tell the truth in the case of the United States v. Barry Lamar Bonds. He will say that Bonds lied in that same courthouse five years ago when he told the grand jury he never knowingly took steroids. And then he'll wait for the jury to decide if baseball's home run king was telling the truth.

But no matter what the jury decides -- and face it, most of us have already made up our minds about Bonds -- it is clear that the detective and his gun has replaced the scientist and his test tube. What isn't clear is whether Jeff Novitzky is part of the solution -- or if he's now the bigger part of the problem. 

Novitzky's early life was highlighted by the Olson connection:

There is nothing about Novitzky's life before Balco that suggests a man destined to direct the biggest investigation in sports history. Or one who would crave or abuse power. He grew up the son of a Bay Area hoops coach, a basketball and track star who still owns the San Mateo County high jump record of 7 feet. Coming out of high school in 1985, he tried out for Lute Olson's Arizona University basketball team. When he fell short, Novitzky returned home to play backup forward and teammate to his big brother at San Jose State.

His athletic career over, Novitzky got a degree in accounting and took a job in San Jose with the IRS's criminal division, a select group of agents who use tax laws and their guns to bust up all sorts of criminal operations.

After the jump we examine more of the extended story on Novitzky...

Dope and steroid testing comes down hard on Jamaica

The Globe carries a story documenting the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAFF) hard come down on Jamaica during the past year's dope testing.

The International Association of Athletics Federations is delighted to see Jamaica's athletes doing fast times — as long as they're not doing it on banned drugs.

The little Caribbean nation was listed yesterday as one of the five most tested nations in IAAF figures for out-of-competition testing released yesterday by the federation's head office in Monte Carlo.

Jamaican athletes, led by the world-record 100- and 200-metre times of sprinter Usain Bolt, dominated the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with 11 medals — six of them gold — in distances of a lap of less. Bolt, who set or shared in four world records last season and won a series of races in Europe, was one of the most tested athletes in the world.

More on dope testing Jamaican athletes after the jump...

1904 Olympic marathon winner Thomas Hicks kicked off modern era of doping with strychnine

The Boston Globe - perhaps jealous of all the publicity New York is receiving from the R-Roid scandals -- claims some Boston area fame today with a story on the infamous 1904 Olympic doping scandal.  Thomas Hicks, a Cambridge area athlete, doped with strychnine for the Olympic marathon.  Using a potent poison like strychnine sounds dangerous, however in the limited world of doping with stimulants, the compound represented one avenue of gaining an advantage over competitors.  Athletes never looked back from there.

While the media currently fixate on a pinstriped athlete from New York, it was a skinny townie from Cambridge whose chemically enhanced victory in the 1904 Olympic Marathon first sparked widespread debate about drugs in sports.

For athletes in the 21st century, the elixir of choice is steroids. More than 100 years ago, Thomas J. Hicks opted for a vile concoction of egg whites and brandy laced with strychnine, the active ingredient in rat poison.

And the scoop on strychnine:

And while reputed performance boosters from this era range from frighteningly dangerous to downright laughable, it was the supportive attitude of the American public that is most shocking.

"Back in those days, the use of performance-enhancing substances was not the awful thing it is today," said Daniel M. Rosen, the author of "Dope: A History of Performance Enhancement in Sports from the Nineteenth Century to Today."

Rosen said it was not Hicks's chemical consumption that caused the 1904 controversy. Rather, the outrage stemmed from the strychnine cocktails not being available to all Olympic runners in the searing, 90-degree heat.

"Hicks was kind of a hero for doing everything he could to win," Rosen said. "But he damn near killed himself in the process."

Strychnine doping continued after the leap...

UK Heptathlete Sotherton to Ukranian Blonska: "You cheating cow"

The UK's favorite all-around female athlete had something to say to The Ukraine's doping heptathlete Lyudmila Blonska: "You cheating cow".  Yes, Britain's Kelly Sotherton offers her 'high' opinion of the bovine-ous Ukrainian opponent (cow photo below right).  To the Daily Mail:

Kelly Sotherton received her official certificate from the Beijing Olympic Games only last week. It states baldly that she finished fourth in the heptathlon.

But behind that simple confirmation of how close the 32-year-old came to adding to Britain's impressive medal haul in China lies a story of deceit, dismay and bitter disappointment that only now, five months later, has Sotherton been able to tell.

When the two days of competition in the heptathlon ended, Sotherton found herself placed a disappointing fifth in the final standings. In the aftermath of the event, it was revealed that silver medallist Lyudmila Blonska had failed a drug test for testosterone Blonska was thrown out of the Games and subsequently banned for life, along with her husband and coach, Sergii Blonskyi.

Sotherton had seen this cheating heart before:

It was a wearily familiar story for those in track and field. The Ukrainian had failed a drugs test in 2003 for steroids and banned for two years, and Sotherton had regularly attacked her return to the sport as that of a drug cheat.

Last week, Sotherton revealed to The Mail on Sunday exactly how blatant and cynical Blonska's behaviour in Beijing had been.

Sotherton said that she became suspicious of her rival when she saw the Ukrainian being handed something by her husband as the competitors walked into the stadium to take part in the heptathlon's long jump.

And the painful doping exposed:

'During our long jump event in Beijing I saw Blonska take something,' said Sotherton. 'I was sitting next to her during the event, watching her doing it and thinking: "You cheating cow".

'It had started when we were called out of the holding room for the long jump and I saw her husband, who's also her coach, hand her something. We were walking out in single file, with the judges in the front, and he just back-handed her something in a tissue.

'I thought, "I'm going to sit next to you and see you do it. You're cheating. I know you are". I  followed her right to the long jump - maybe that's why I messed up my own long jump - and she had a phial. Maybe it was the thing that should have masked her drugs or a stimulant. But she was taking something.

'I think she thought she could do it subtly, but I decided I was going to stare her in the eye. And I thought: "Go on then, do it". And she did!

'It had happened before at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia. Then her husband threw something to her (from the crowd), which you can't do. I didn't see it but all the coaches did and thought it was wrong, but no one reported it. When he did the same again in Beijing, I reported it to the British team and they notified the athletics authorities, the IAAF, and they found something in the warm-up area.'

Blonska cheating at the Beijing Olympic Games, blatant manipulation of the rules and ignorance of the integrity of the Games.  However, like many cheats, she posed as the persecuted:

'Maybe she thought she was going to get away with it,' said Sotherton. 'But a couple of hours later she was testing positive. When I spoke out against her in 2007, I think people thought I was out of turn and that I should have been looking forward to getting my bronze medal instead of talking about someone I know is cheating. 

'But everyone who had said that I ought to be quiet then came up to me this year and said: "Oh you were right!" Even the organiser from the most important multi-events meeting in Gotzis (Konrad Lerch) said: "Kelly, you knew, didn't you? You did a good job speaking out". He obviously felt remorseful as he had let her back into his meeting.

Sotherton appears to have come to terms with the cheating.  The article closes as such:

'There is nothing you can do about it. Cheating is part of life. There will always be cheating but you know what your medals represent. I just think that if you believe you can do it clean, do it.'

Sotherton has at least scored that small victory. 'I got my fourth-placed certificate from the Olympics this week,' she said. 'I had to fight to get it because they weren't going to give another certificate out. But I never came fifth. I came fourth.'

Interesting how many cheats have been revealed over the past few weeks:  R-Rod, Bonds, and the Olympians...

Ex-Olympic gold medalist positive: Greek Athanasia Tsoumeleka, 20K walk athlete tested positive for EPO

Athanasia Tsoumelek -- a gold medal winner at the 2004 Athens Olympics in 20K Walking -- tested positive for EPO in a blood sample obtained prior to Beijing. This test must be a product of the IOC retest of blood samples from Beijing 2008.  To the Canadian Press:

Former Olympic champion Athanasia Tsoumeleka tested positive for the banned blood-booster erythropoietin in a retesting of a sample she provided two days before the opening of the Beijing Olympics.

Tsoumeleka, the 20-kilometre walk champion at the 2004 Athens Games, confirmed she was told that a retesting of the urine sample she gave on Aug. 6 tested positive for EPO.

But she expressed doubts about the second procedure and announced her retirement from competition, effective immediately.

"I was informed that there is a problem with a positive test for (EPO) in a sample I submitted on Aug. 6, 2008. I will not try to excuse myself, even though I have not knowingly made use of this substance," Tsoumeleka told radio station Skai. "The fact that samples are tested more than once - that is, opened not in my presence - makes me feel uneasy about the whole process.

"My unfortunate involvement . . . forces me to put an end to the high-level competitive sports I love so much and not wait to continue after the expiration of my expected punishment."

In Beijing, Tsoumeleka finished ninth in the 20-kilometre walk in a personal best of one hour 27 minutes 54 seconds. She was almost three and a half minutes behind winner Olga Kaniskina of Russia.

Tsoumeleka's positive test result was the latest affecting Greek athletes.

The Greek Olympic athletes are compiling a heinous record of Olympic doping.  Fania Halkia, several sprinters and strength athletes either were banned form Beijing or tested positive at the game.

Fani Halkia, the 2004 Olympic 400-metre hurdles champion, was dropped from the team in Beijing and expelled from the athletes' village after testing positive for the anabolic steroid methyltrienolone. Fourteen other Greeks, including 11 weightlifters, tested positive for the same substance before the Olympics.

Vassilis Sevastis, the head of Greece's athletics federation SEGAS, said he would not comment on Tsoumeleka's case and her statement.

"Greece is full of EPO ... nothing has been done to curtail doping in the past 20 years," sports doctor Stavros Hatzos told Skai radio station.

Boulder climbing stumbles on steroid testing scandal

The nascent sport of bouldering, or competition climbing, looking for an Olympic berth may suffer a doping scandal setback.  Maybe not a full-fledged BALCO or Operation Puerto imbroglio, but controversy, thank you ma'am.  Watch out if your doping or 'roiding then climbing.

To Grough (Yes, Grough) Covering the Outdoor World.

Apparently a bouldering star tipped off competitors of surprise doping tests.  The mystery plays out this way:

The high-adrenaline world of competition climbing found itself at the centre of anti-doping controversy today.

In a foretaste of future events, with the possibility of the sport featuring in the 2020 Olympics, an Irish bouldering enthusiast was criticised for tipping off would-be competitors they may be dope-tested in two upcoming events. The climbers’ representative body, the Mountaineering Council of Ireland, was also dragged into the row.

Stephen McMullan, of the Irish Bouldering League, posted an entry on the forms of climbers’ website Climing.ie which read: “I’ve been informed today that it will be highly likely that there will be representatives from the Irish Sports Council conducting anti-doping tests at the Midleton [sic] and DCU rounds of the IBL.

“All competitors will be required to sign the MCI anti-doping declaration prior to being allowed to compete.

“In all likelihood there will be urine testing, more probable for folks getting placed 1, 2, 3 but also there is the possibility of random testing.”

Mr McMullan continued: “Personally I’m still reeling at this news. I suppose we just hoped this day would never come.

“Yes, it’s completely inappropriate due to the nature of the event. However, we are insured and funded by the MCI who are in turned funded by the sports councils of NI and Rep[ublic of] Ireland and them’s the rules for competitive events.

“We don’t have a choice here. Well we do, but compliance is the least of all the evils.”

So now the powerful :-) Mountaineering Council of Ireland will investigate:

Now, according to John Mooney in the Sunday Times, the Irish Sports Council has asked the MCI to investigate the posting. The ISC, along with Sport Northern Ireland, provides funding for the league.

The competitions will take place at Middleton, County Cork on 24 January and Dublin City University on 28 February.

Bouldering, which takes place both inside and outdoors, sets climbers ‘problems’ to climb, with points scored for completing these mini-routes and a strict set of rules governing how the competitions are run.

All affiliated members of the International Federation of Sport Climbing are expected to adhere to its rules, which include anti-doping. These state that all competitions organised under the federation’s authority should comply with the anti-doping code, which bans many drugs which are present in over-the-counter medications.

Mr McMullan says that people taking insulin and anyone who has used corticosteroids recently would fall foul of the dope testing and would need a medical note from their doctor to say there was a clinical need for their use.

However, he also cautions that ‘recreational’ drugs, some of which stay in the bloodstream for some time, would show up in the tests.

Stuart Garland, the MCI’s chief executive, told the Sunday Times’ Mooney: “We asked the IBL to make sure they had the relevant paperwork, which would enable the sports council staff to carry out anti-doping tests at the competitions.

“It would appear this information may have led people to reach certain conclusions.” He added that he did not endorse Mr McMullan’s comments.

An issue would be the exportation of the game to the Olympics.  The Olympics require the rigor of WADA compliance and testing. Thus the concern about doping, and Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) for prescribed medications.

Climbing and mountaineering are recognised by the International Olympic Committee but do not yet form part of the games, though there is a strong likelihood that some form of sport climbing will feature in the 2020 Olympic Games.

The International Federation of Sport Climbing accepted the new anti-doping code in September last year.

Legendary Olympian Gail Devers weighs in on steroids -- crush them

Gail, Devers the legendary Olympic sprinter weighs in on PEDs and steroids, and she doesn't mince words.  According to Devers a 2 year ban is a 'slap on the wrist'.  Report here from Indopia:

Former Olympic and world sprint champion Gail Devers wants drug cheats to be barred from continuing their career in sports and should not given a second chance as is the norm currently.

" There should be zero tolerance to drugs in sports. By zero tolerance I mean that if you are caught (doping) you don't get a second chance and your name gets erased from all records. It's as if you never existed,"said Devers at a media conference here today.

The former American sprint queen, who overcame the debilitating Grave's disease affliction in 1988 before the Seoul Games and went on to pick up the 100m sprint gold four years later in Barcelona and repeated it in 1996 at Atlanta, is here with her family as Brand Ambassador of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon to be held this Sunday.

" Taking (performance-enhancing) drugs is a big no-no. Banning them for two years (for first time offence) is just a slap on the wrist. They can then come back and avail of new technology and continue to cheat. It should not be allowed,"she said."(My wish is) Once caught you are gone and we don't even know you existed anymore", said the 42-year-old mother of two daughters who won the 100m hurdles title too at Barcelona.

 Devers, who won the 100m sprint as well as the 100m hurdles in the 1993 Stuttgart World Championships, described the case of her American successor in sprints, the drug-tainted Marion Jones, as"very sad"."We should not compromise our integrity. We also should educate our children (about drug abuse),"she said.

Strong words, indeed.

Bulgaria can manipulate urine samples too: Bulgarian track athletes suspended for doping

A trio of Bulgarian track athletes will be sitting out 2 years due to doping violation.  One is sprinter Texdzhan Naimova, who -- taking a page out of the Russian playbook -- manipulated urine samples. (To Focus)

Board of Managers of Bulgarian Track-and-Field Athletics Federation (BTFAF) decided to penalize Tezdzhan Naimova, Vantya Netova and Raya Stoynova for two years, BTFAF told Focus News Agency.

Naimova is sanctioned because of manipulating urine example in doping test. After collecting indisputable proofs about her deed BTFAF immediately initiated an inquiry including hearing to Naimova and presenting her proofs. According to regulations of International Association of Athletics Federations BTFAF ceased her competition rights on 30 September 2008. Naimova admitted her guilt and is ready to bear any sanction.

The sanction comes into force on 30 September 2008.

The others used an anabolic steroid:

Vanya Netova and Raya Stoyneva have given positive doping results on metanolon. The first athlete was tested during competitions for Europe Cup in Istanbul and the second one was tested at Balkaniada in Kastoria, Greece. Netova replaced contused Dobrinka Shalamanova in 3000 m of hurdle-race and Stoynova took part in 400 m of hurdle-race instead of tsvetelina Kirilova that was preparing for Olympiad.

B examples of both athletes that have confirmed the positive results of A examples are opened.

Netova’s two-years of penalty comes into force on 28 July 2008 and the Stoynova’s sanctions is in force since 19 August 2008. Their competition rights were stopped on the same dates.

The head of Bulgaria's anti-doping agency says he is shocked:

I was shocked by these two athletes’ behavior and mainly by Tezdzhan Naimova, President of BTFAF Dobromir Karamarinov commented. The positive moment in Naimova’s case is that she confirmed her guilt and declared her readiness to bear any sanction. That is the motive accepted as mitigating circumstance by BTFAF’s Board of Managers so it imposed a minimal sanction in these cases - two years.
Netova and Stoynova are athletes of club stage and the fact that they have not prepared for championships purposefully does not exculpate them. Stoynova and Netova were imposed with two years of sanction each.

Oxyhealth -- maker of hyperbaric oxygen chambers -- sues Japanese Antidoping Agency

An American hyperbaric chamber manufacturer -- Oxyhealth -- initiated legal action against the Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA) for outlawing their hyperbaric chamber.

The hyperbaric chamber drives more oxygen into the blood stream.  There is no consensus whether this treatment is effective in athletic training enhancement.  It seems odd that the company, which does not market the device as a performance enhancing device in sport, would care about the doping implications.  One would think the company would focus on the medical uses of the chambers, rather than unproven sports performance enhancement.

In fact looking at OxyHealth's web site is is difficult to determine how exactly the chamber could be useful.  Like many other gadgets, people are always trying them to find some performance edge.

The story is found at the Mainichi Daily News:

An American company that manufactures and sells high-pressure oxygen chambers, used by athletes to recover from fatigue, is poised to file a damages suit against the Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA) early next month for causing a sharp decline in sales, it emerged on Friday.

According to the Japanese arm of American company OxyHealth, sales of its portable hyperbaric chambers have dropped dramatically since the JADA in June expressed its view that use of the capsules should be avoided because they might artificially enhance the intake, carrying and supply of oxygen, which could be considered as doping.

OxyHealth, whose lost earnings from the previous year totaled nearly 1 billion yen, is currently bringing judicial proceedings against the JADA, its Japanese arm said.

JADA appeared to be acting as if the Oxyhealth chamber were a doping agent.  The theory goes that the hyperbaric chamber stimulates an atmosphere akin to high altitude training, and thus would increase hemoglobin and oxygen carrying capacity.  This would be artificial doping.  However the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) maintains there is no evidence that a hyperbaric chamber is effective to enhance sports training.

After the JADA recommendation in June, Japanese athletes did not use them during the Beijing Olympics, and schools belonging to the Japan High School Baseball Federation also refrained from their use.

The advisory stands despite a statement from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in November, which said they should be permitted since there is no evidence they enhance athlete performance.

The International Healthy Baric Association Japan, an industry association based in Tokyo's Bunkyo-ku, asked the JADA to retract the advisory. However, it refused on the grounds that the WADA didn't officially decide to permit the use of the capsules, and that there will be no change in its rules for the next year.

Hyperbaric chambers are used by many famous athletes, including English soccer superstar David Beckham during the FIFA World Cup in 2002.

As opposed to an oxygen tent, or to a reduced oxygen tent, a hyperbaric chamber would increase barometric pressure on the person to theoretically increase oxygen in the blood.  This would be useful for the treatment of CO2 poisoning; however no one apparently has demonstrated the usefulness for sports training. 

We include two studies on hyperbaric chambers in sports training with differing conclusions as to benefit, although the parameters are different.

Eric Holder -- Barack Obama's Attorney General nominee -- not a big hit with doping agencies

President elect Barack Obama nominated long time Washington lawyer Eric Holder as his cabinet's Attorney General (AG).  Holder's nomination prompted some critique of his time in the Clinton White House.  However the countries anti-doping enforcement agencies also hold opinions about the AG-in waiting.  They are not pleased.  Maybe Holder will treat steroid offenders the way he treated Clinton-era sleazeball Marc Rich.

Seems Holder wanted all the information top steroid-enforcement government agencies could gather, but didn't want to reciprocate.  Guess that's called 'diplomacy'...or 'stubborn self-interest''. Lester Munson writes a fascinating article at ESPN on the subject.

When the NFL grew tired of embarrassing disclosures and congressional hearings about performance-enhancing drugs and wanted to establish a voice in the federal government's investigations, league officials turned to Eric Holder, the man who is now President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for attorney general.

Holder quickly gathered senior executives from the other three leagues and their player unions and led them into a series of meetings in 2007 with top officials of, among others, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the FBI, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the agency that presides over the nation's "war on drugs." The sessions began with a measure of fanfare.

Holder was a natural choice to lead the effort. He served as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration and then became a partner in Covington & Burling, a powerful Washington law firm that has long represented the NFL. For seven years, Holder helped the NFL through a number of difficulties, including an investigation of the dog-fighting charges against Michael Vick, the implementation of the Rooney Rule that requires owners to interview minority candidates for head coach vacancies, and the league's personal conduct crackdown.  

Meetings began with all concerned hoping to develop a cooperative environment.

At the outset, hopes were high. After the first meeting in March of 2007, Scott Burns, the deputy director of the ONDCP and a participant in the sessions, said, "This is the first step in changing the way we look at the problem in the U.S. I hear more about human growth hormone and steroids and athletes than I do about crack cocaine. This is important to America."

Darryl Seibel, an official of the U.S. Olympic Committee, which also participated in the meetings, was equally hopeful. "You have, for the first time, a collaboration on an entirely new level on a national issue that requires a response such as this," he said.

But the efforts at cooperation ended badly when, led by Holder, the leagues and the unions refused to consider serious reforms in the way in which users of steroids were investigated and prosecuted and insisted on maintaining their own drug enforcement procedures under their respective collective bargaining agreements. The collaboration between law enforcement and sports organizations quietly fell apart.

"There was no substance to it," said one law enforcement official who participated in the meetings. "It was all for show."

Apparently some organizations, and their representatives, cannot play well with others:

"Holder and the professional leagues wanted us to share information with them," a top official of a law enforcement agency who participated in Holder's meetings told ESPN.com. "They wanted to know what players were involved. They wanted an end to leaks from our investigations. But when we asked for their information about players who used or where players bought their drugs, they didn't want to give us anything."

Might Holder's cooperating and stances with top Federal law enforcement agencies filter into the AG confirmation hearings?  Interesting questions, and ESPN responds after the jump.

International Equestrian Federation throws Norwegian rider off Olympic equestrian bronze medal

Several horses and their riders tested positive for doping agents at the 2008 Beijing Olympic games held in Hong Kong, The latest, and the last, rider to lose his medal was the Norwegian rider Tony Andre Hansen whose horse tested positive for capsaicin, or pepper powder.  (That's Hansen and his ride Camino, apparently kissing the medal goodbye). To the Canadian Press:

Norwegian rider Tony Andre Hansen was stripped of his Olympic bronze medal in team jumping Monday after his horse tested positive for a banned drug at the Beijing Games.

Hansen was disqualified by the International Equestrian Federation and banned from the sport for 4 1/2 months. Hansen, 29, was the best performer in a four-rider Norway team which won bronze under a scoring system where the top three count.

Without his scores, his Norway teammates - Morten Djupvik, Stein Endresen, and Geir Gulliksen - drop out of medal contention.

The fourth-placed Switzerland team of Steve Guerdat, Christina Liebherr, Niklaus Schurtenberger and Pius Schwizer will now be awarded the bronze medals by the International Olympic Committee.

The United States won gold, beating Canada in a jumpoff in Hong Kong, where the equestrian events were staged last August.

Hansen's horse, Camino, tested positive for capsaicin, a banned pain relieving medication derived from chili peppers. He was provisionally suspended and did not complete the individual jumping competition. His ban Monday was backdated and runs through Jan. 2, 2009.

Hansen's use of capsaicin was documented last summer.  The drug, a product of the chili pepper, may anesthetize a horse's senses, allowing the beast an advantage in competition...or so goes the party line. Back to the FEI's statement:

"It is each person responsible's personal duty to ensure that no prohibited substance is present in his or her horse's body during an event," the federation said.

Hansen faced two daylong hearings, in September and November, at an FEI tribunal before the governing body reached its verdict.

He can appeal the ruling within 30 days to the Court of Arbitration of Sport.

It is the sixth and final drug test case from the Olympic equestrian events to be decided.

Hansen is the fourth rider disqualified and suspended in cases involving capsaicin: Germany's Christian Ahlmann was suspended for four months, Brazil's Bernardo Alves for 3 1/2 months, and Irish rider Denis Lynch got a three-month ban.

Ahlmann's ban expired last Thursday but the German equestrian federation has asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport to extend it to at least eight months.

Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa, the individual jumping gold medallist in 2004, was disqualified and banned for 4 1/2 months after his horse tested positive for nonivamide, a banned pain-relieving medication.

American Courtney King was disqualified and banned for one-month because her horse Mythilus tested positive for felbinac, a banned anti-inflammatory medication.

Horse doping...appears that the FEI runs a tough show in the doping arena.

Details behind the 2008 Russian track Olympic doping scandal: How Yelena Soboleva went down

In July 2008, world class Russian track stars -- including world record holder Yelena Soboleva -- found themselves banned from the Beijing Olympics for a urine doping scandal.  Some of the details emerged as recounted here (IOL, South Africa).

It appears that the IAAF suspected the Russians (inside informant?), and thus laid a trap -- a sting operation involving DNA.  Obviously the IAAF compared DNA of prior urine samples with DNA of current urine samples; a discrepancy revealed the cheats.

Untroubled access to elite Russian track and field athletes for unannounced random dope tests triggered suspicions among the testers that all might not be as it seemed.

The athletes were always ready for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) anti-doping officials and always provided clean urine samples.

"There were no 'no shows'," one official told Reuters. "The Russians were always there."

Suspecting that the results were too good to be true, the IAAF started storing Russian dope samples taken during competition throughout the 2007 season.

The upshot was a meticulous sting operation this year, after which seven Russian women were informed that the urine they had supplied was clearly not theirs because the DNA did not match that in the stored samples.

Five of them, including the world number one 800 and 1 500 metres runner Yelena Soboleva, had been bound for the Beijing Olympics.

A clear victory for the testers over the cheats, 20 years after the Ben Johnson doping scandal had revealed the extent of illicit doping in the central sport of the summer Olympics, was rightly trumpeted.

No more track and field world records without steroids or doping?

As noted by the Irish Times, there were 11 track and field world records broken in 2008, which the author considered remarkable (nothing like the deluge of swimming records).  There was also this statement:

...the only way a world record is likely to be broken is if the athlete is on industrial amounts of steroids or a product of genetic doping, or indeed both.

Lets go to the set up for this conclusion.

Although 13 world records were set during 2008, one French study suggests the days of this happening are now numbered...

Seven of the world records were in men's events: the 100 metres (twice, by Usain Bolt); the 200 metres (Bolt, again); the marathon (Haile Gebrselassie); the 110 metre hurdles (Dayron Robles); the 4 x 100 metre relay (Bolt, again, with some Jamaican company); and the 50 km walk (Denis Nizhegorodov).

The women didn't do badly either, with six world records: the 5,000 metres (Tirunesh Dibaba); the 3,000 metres steeplechase (Gulnara Galkina); the javelin (Barbora Spotakova); and the pole vault (thrice, by who else but Elena Isinbaeva).

Given it was an Olympic year there was always going to be some exceptional performances, and yet the flurry of records during the summer still caught a lot of people off guard. Actually, at the start of the year, a study carried out by the French Institute of Sport (Irmes) concluded that the days of world records in athletics were numbered, and would run out in 2060 - after which date no more world records would be set.

Why would there be a limit to human performance?

Irmes analysed all 3,260 world records set since the first modern Olympics in 1896, and, in the end, reckoned athletes are coming very close to reaching their physiological limits. They noticed a common pattern for all events, and based on their mathematical model, estimated that athletes were operating at 75 per cent of their potential in 1896, while in 2008, they would be operating at 99 per cent.

By 2027 the athletes in about half of the events will have reached 100 per cent, and by 2060 they all will. After that the only way a world record is likely to be broken is if the athlete is on industrial amounts of steroids or a product of genetic doping, or indeed both.

That's a study for another day, and in the meantime it's up to athletic freaks such as Usain Bolt.

Exactly.  What about the influence of drugs, and of technological advances in the sport?  We have argued that doping pulls along the non-doped competitors, although we have no data to support that conclusion.

But what the Irmes study didn't predict was where exactly the records will finish at. Some may well be finished already. The 10.49 that Florence Griffith-Joyner ran for the 100 metres back in 1988 hasn't been touched in the years since, nor does it look likely to be. Without going into the gruesome details of the rise of Flo-Jo, as she was affectionately known, (widespread rumours of steroid abuse, dead at 38) only one other women has run under 10.7 seconds for the 100 metres, and that was Marion Jones.

In other words Flo-Jo's record is unlikely to be broken before 2060.

There are several other dodgy records in the books and they are unlikely to be broken before 2060 either. Unless of course the IAAF finally gets some sense and remove all world records from the drug-infested 1980s.

As the author  points out, other studies suggest that the limits of human performance have not been reached:

In another study just published by the Journal of Experimental Biology, Mark Denny of Stanford University looked at the limits to running in humans, compared to dogs and horses, and came to some conclusions of his own.

Denny reckoned that the 9.69 seconds that Bolt ran for the 100 metres in the Beijing Olympics can definitely be improved, and put the absolute human limit at 9.48.

Likewise, he believes Flo-Jo's record will go and that a woman can someday run the 100 metres in 10.39.

Dogs and horses, he says, already reached peak speeds in the 1970s, while humans are still getting faster. And Bolt is ample proof of that.

A more basic study was carried out on Bolt shortly after Beijing, when Norwegian physicist Hans Eriksen analysed TV footage of the Olympic final and estimated that Bolt would have run 9.55 seconds had he not slowed down to punch his chest and acknowledge his own extraordinary performance.

Even the long distances have some room for improvement. When Gebrselassie ran his 2:03.59 for the marathon last September it seemed the magical two-hour barrier was edging ever closer, yet Denny puts the human limit for running 26.2 miles at 2:00.47.

The women are already closer to their limit, as he reckons Paula Radcliffe's world record of 2:15.25 can only be trimmed to 2:14.97.

(more after the jump, if you can break the record)

Gene doping is OK? Conference attendees (Dope Now) say yes

Always someone pushing the envelope, or the needle as it were.  The WaPo publishers a piece on the gene doping conference held in Washington.

Gather a roomful of anti-doping experts, administrators, academics and athletes alike _ something a conservative think tank did Thursday _ and there is no consensus as to whether gene doping, thought by some to be the next frontier in Olympic cheating, is at hand.

Indeed, there isn't even consensus on whether it would be a bad thing.

Turns out there is a school of thought _ "pro-doping," it's called _ that suggests anything athletes do to improve performance is OK, even, for example, manipulating DNA or surgically enlarging the webbing between fingers and toes in order to swim faster.

So says Andy Miah, who teaches at the University of the West of Scotland and was among about 10 panelists who participated in Thursday's conference on "The Coming Age of the Uber-Athlete: What's So Bad about Gene Enhancement and Doping?" at the American Enterprise Institute.

According to Miah, academics are taking CERA EPO to be able to rush faster into the Dope Now camp.

Gene doping, which is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, is a spin-off of gene therapy, which typically alters a person's DNA to fight diseases.

Miah advocates "celebrating the value of performance enhancement," he said.

"I don't think a public health crisis would arise from enhancement technologies," he added.

Miah said there is a growing group of professors around the world _ "Four years ago, there were half as many people as now," he noted _ who back his "World Pro-Doping Agency" thought experiment. One of his premises is that sports wrongly are thought of as a separate entity, different from other pursuits or professions _ music, art, medicine _ where no one objects to, essentially, doing whatever one can to be the best one can be.

"We are more willing to embrace these enhancements, with the caveat that we need them to be safe enough," he said. "We don't all want to kill ourselves by using these things, but we are interested in exploring the realm of human embodiment that is beyond our current capabilities _ and that might be cognitive, it might be physical. And I think that's where sport isn't quite at yet."

Is Miah qualified to discuss health complications?  No, of course not.  And the rush for the Dope Now organization...probably doubled form 2 to 4.

Ignore the rules.  Ignore sportsmanship.  Ignore the very real threat to morbidity and mortality.  Ignore the science.  Ignore the fact that gene doping has never been researched in an appropriate test group...or any group.  Ignore the costs.  Let's just be cool and hip.  To Edwin Moses:

Other speakers Thursday included Olympic champion hurdler Edwin Moses and U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart, who believe gene doping should be banned, worry what it could do to athletes _ and agree someone is likely to try eventually.

"How do you feel if it's your son or your daughter who wants to be an Olympian? Would you let your kid or your grandchild take what they have to take? Or do what they have to do?" Moses asked.

On the other hand, he acknowledged there are those who will.

"If you have experts saying it's realistic to turn on pieces of your metabolism and it becomes feasible for the athletes to do something without killing themselves and it's not tremendously expensive, someone is going to try it," said Moses, who won gold medals in 1976 and 1984 in the 400-meter hurdles. "There will be someone who can convince an athlete they can get away with it."

An American swimming coach lays it all out:

John Leonard, executive director of the American Swimming Coaches Association, told of conversations he has had with coaches and scientists in China.

"We are really naive if we are to believe that the Chinese at this point are clean or that they are the only country in the world that is experimenting with genetic enhancement as we speak," said Leonard, who was not a panelist but attended the conference and spoke during question-and-answer periods.

"There are lots of countries in the world who couldn't care less about doing it safely, and there are lots of athletes who will take the chance that they will die in order to win medals. ... Will the United States have the same viewpoint when we start losing gold medals?"

Of course athletes will cheat to win.  How about those side-effects?  Enter Theodore Friedman, an actual scientist:

Theodore Friedmann, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, researches human gene therapy and spoke about the risks.

"People are injured. People die," he said. "It should be reserved for treatment of people with serious diseases."

He said he doesn't know whether there are athletes attempting gene doping.

"Nobody knows," he said, before adding: "It wouldn't surprise me."

About one thing Friedmann left no doubt, however: Unlike Miah, he thinks the practice has no place in sports.

"The anti-doping world accepts the notion that rules matter and, in fact, it reflects the wish of most athletes," Friedmann said. "The world of pro-doping is the contrary of all that."

Italian skier Mirko DeFlorian claims he was framed for cocaine; Now in running for Ben Johnson award

Now in competition for the Ben Johnson 'It was Sabotage" award is Italian skier Mirko Deflorian who claims his urine sample was spiked with cocaine. (Makfaxonline)

Italian skier Mirko Deflorian has been banned for 18 months by the Italian Olympic Committee following a positive test for cocaine.

Cocaine metabolites were found in Deflorian's system following the test made a day after Deflorian won the giant slalom title.

"Somebody must have framed me, I have never used cocaine or any other drugs," Deflorian said after the positive test was made public.

No word on if Carl Lewis spiked the skier's punch  (Johnson blamed Carl Lewis, among others, over the years).

Elite Belarus hammer throwers get nailed with steroids: Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan lose Beijing medals

Belarus hammer throwers lost their sliver and bronze medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the result of doping offenses reported the IOC today.  The IOC identified the pair as drug-cheats last summer following the Beijing Olympics.

The two hammer throws clawed their way with the help of exogenous testosterone, according to lab tests.  Devyatovskiy appears to be a chronic drug-cheat.

To the BBC:

Belarus hammer throwers Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan have been stripped of their Olympic silver and bronze medals for doping offences.

Devyatovskiy, who served a two-year ban in 2000-02 and now faces a lifetime ban, and Tsikhan both tested positive for abnormal levels of testosterone.

Tsikhan, the 2004 silver medallist and a three-time world champion, faces a two-year ban for his first offence.

The silver now goes to Krisztian Pars and bronze to Koji Murofushi.

Slovenia's Primoz Kozmus won the gold medal.

Both Devyatovskiy and Tsikhan denied the charge but were found guilty at a hearing in front of the International Olympic Committee disciplinary commission in Lausanne in September.

Japan's Murofushi is making a career of waiting out the dope cheats.  He was elevated a few years ago to a medal.

It is the second time Murofushi, from Japan, has benefitted a rival's doping misdemeanour. Four years ago, he was upgraded to the gold medal in Athens after Hungary's Adrian Annus was stripped of first place.

The IOC also noted a Polish canoe competitor doped with clen.

The ICC also disqualified Polish canoeist Adam Seroczynski, who was out of the medals in the flatwater K2 event in Beijing.

Seroczynski, who was fourth in his event in Beijing, tested positive for the steroid clenbuterol.

The three cases bring to nine the number of athletes caught for doping in Beijing.

The IOC disqualified six athletes during the Games - Ukrainian heptathlete Lyudmila Blonska, Ukrainian weightlifter Igor Razoronov, Greek hurdler Fani Halkia, North Korean shooter Kim Jong Su, Spanish cyclist Isabel Moreno and Vietnamese gymnast Thi Ngan Thuong Do.

Blonska was stripped of her silver medal, while Kim had his silver and bronze medals taken back.

WADA puts 5 Olympic sports on notice that out-of-competition testing is substandard: Volleyball, handball, wrestling, gymnastics, and pentathalon

The New York Times carries the story that 5 Olympic sports do not meet WADA approval for out-of competition anti-doping tests.

The Olympic sports gymnastics, wrestling, volleyball, handball and modern pentathlon were cited by the World Anti-Doping Agency for failing to have consistent out-of-competition testing programs. The findings were submitted in a report to the agency’s executive committee and foundation board last weekend in Montreal. The report has been published on the agency’s Web site: wada-ama.org

Although sports that fail to apply the agency’s antidoping code risk being banned from the Olympics, WADA has extended the deadline for six months to give federations and national antidoping agencies more time to comply. WADA has no power to punish noncompliant groups, leaving that to the International Olympic Committee. Under I.O.C. rules, sports that do not apply the doping code face expulsion from the Olympics.

The International Volleyball Federation issued a statement Friday saying that it had met WADA’s demands to improve out-of-competition testing and had been removed from the noncompliance list. Modern pentathlon’s governing body said it also had met WADA’s requests.

As noted by the Times, WADA cannot effect punishment, however the agency does carry tremendous influence over the IOC, the committee that controls the Olympics.

In the past baseball was given trouble because that sport's out-of-season doping (and some might say in-season) does not meet WADA standards.   As you may note baseball is no longer an Olympic sport in 2012.

Finnish fans express confidence that cross-country skiers...dope

The Finnish public expresses great confidence that elite skiers show integrity dope.  So states a poll of Fins.  To the Newsroom Finland:

More than half of the Finnish public suspect the country's top cross-country skiers of using banned performance-enhancing substances, four papers quoted a poll as indicating on Thursday.

About 60 per cent of the respondents told market research company Taylor Nelson Sofres that they did not believe Finnish skiers' assurances that they were clean.

Commissioned by Karjalainen, Keskisuomalainen, Savon Sanomat and Turun Sanomat, TNS interviewed 1,000 people last week. The papers did not print the margin of error.

Once again we see that the public does not perceive athletes as possessing honesty and integrity, but rather possessing a win at all costs mentality.

IOC Chair Jacques Rogge expresses sad words for Olympics cheating, and discusses retro-testing (8 years) of samples

IOC boss Jacques Rogge discusses retrospective anti-doping testing back 8 years on Olympic dope samples.

We suppose it is true, athletes are human, humans will cheat, and thus the Olympic Games athletes will cheat.  Considering the hyper-competitiveness of the elite athletes one might expect even more cheating when the stakes are incredibly high.  However, when the International Olympic Committee boss Jacques Rogge lays it out, it sounds depressing.

As here it is, IOC boss Rogge telling it like it is about doping and the Olympics  (AFP)  No more holding athletics up as the paragon of fair play and sportsmanship.  Sad.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Jacques Rogge has said that those who hope for a 100 percent drug-free Olympic Games were "naive" and that cheating was part and parcel of human nature.

"I think one has to be realistic," Rogge said in an interview with the BBC's Inside Sport programme.  "Drug-free sport in general is Utopia. It will be naive to believe that no-one will take drugs.

"There are about 400 million people practising sport on this globe, there are not 400 million saints on earth.  Cheating is embedded in human nature and doping is to sport what criminality is to society.  You will always need cops and judges and prisons and jails and rules and regulations."

Rogge outlines the retrospective testing protocols.  Specimen samples will now be banked for 8 years, as new tests develop.

Rogge was speaking ahead of re-testing procedures from samples taken at the Beijing Olympics and he has already said that he expects further positive doping cases to emerge from these.

"We are going to re-test all the blood samples from Beijing," said Rogge.  About 980 blood samples will be tested for erythropoietin [Cera], the new EPO test, but also insulin.  So we are starting this re-testing, it will last a couple of weeks, so we'll see what comes out of it."

All the samples currently held will be available for testing by any new techniques that emerge between now and the 2016 Games.  We are keeping the samples for eight years and we are going to re-test them," said Rogge.  "And ultimately the judgement on the Beijing Games will be given in eight years' time, because each time a new scientific test is coming up we are going to re-test."

Interesting.  Rogge describes retesting for the CERA EPO, and for insulin.  Furthermore, it may be more common to see medal winners lose medals over time -- as Tim Montgomery and Marion Jones have -- with retrospective testing.

Tim Montgomery outlines doping and steroid use that led to Olympic gold medal in Sydney

HBO interviewed Tim Montgomery -- once the world's fastest human -- who admitted to the doping and steroid protocol that promoted him and his teammates to Gold in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.  (Sydney Morning Herald)

ONCE, he was the world's fastest man. Now, in jail for laundering more than $US1.7 million and separately for dealing and supplying heroin, disgraced sprinter Tim Montgomery has been exposed as a golden fraud on the track.

Montgomery, 33, has revealed that at the time of the Sydney Olympics, where he was a member of the triumphant US 4x100 metres relay team, he had been taking a cocktail of banned drugs, including human growth hormone and steroids.

"Prior to the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia, I broke the rules," Montgomery told US television network HBO. "I used testosterone, and then I used GH [human growth hormone] four times a month. I have a gold medal that I'm sitting on that I didn't get with my own ability."

Montgomery focused on that 4x100M relay team, which caused so much controversy in 2000.

But he has now put the international spotlight on that 4x100m relay team - at the time notorious for their posturing, removing their shirts and bragging with their medals - and Montgomery and his teammates are likely to be stripped of their medals, even though the normal seven-year retrospective window has closed. Those who witnessed that bizarre, brash celebration by Jon Drummond, Bernard Williams, Brian Lewis and Maurice Greene - the four who ran in the final - might think the reallocation of the medals would be poetic justice.

Montgomery lost his 100M world record, and now may be losing much much more (his freedom is gone too).

Montgomery has already had his world record 100m time of 9.78 seconds expunged from the record books after his drug links were exposed during the BALCO investigation. But the officials only went back to March 31, 2001. Now, they will go back much further. The US Olympic Committee has already urged Montgomery to return the medal voluntarily. USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said: "He owes it to his sport and to the athletes against whom he competed."

The ex-sprinter knows the consequences of his words...perhaps the loss of one more compliment of medals: Marion Jones and her teammates lost the 4x100 Sydney Olympics relay medals due to PED use, and Michael Johnson's Sydney 4x400 relay team lost medals after Antonio Pettigrew admitted to doping.

(more after the jump, including Montgomery's  words on Conte)

Wife of Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes talks: Cristina Perez says Operation Puerto's doctor hyperdoped 1992 Spanish Olympic team

An insider on the Spanish doping scene says Dr. Eufemaino Fuentes doped the 1992 Spanish team to Olympics glory.  How inside?   How about Dr. Fuentes wife, Cristina Perez, herself a former Olympian.

In Barcelona, Spain won (G/S/B) these medals: 13/7/2. (which included 4 in track, and one in cycling; also teams in field hockey, water polo, and many in sailing)  How many medals did Spain win in 1988 in Seoul: 1/1/2.  Quite an improvement in schievement in 4 years.   To AFP:

The wife of the doctor at the centre of the 'Operation Puerto' doping affair said she could bring down Spanish sport if she revealed all to which she was privy.

In an interview with La Provincia newspaper, the wife of Dr Eufemiano Fuentes, Cristina Perez, a European 400m bronze medallist in 1987, said: "I know what happened at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992."

Perez said "many Olympic medals" were won by Spain thanks to her husband. Spain won a record 13 gold medals at the Barcelona Games.

"It's a Pandora's Box and if opened one day, it could bring down sport," Perez said.

"But out of respect for my companions, to the people who sacrificed so much, I'm keeping mum although I could speak out and ruin all those caught up in this little world."

Fuentes is reported to have been the mastermind of a vast blood doping network, which was dubbed 'Operation Puerto' in May 2006 following a police raid on his Madrid laboratory which uncovered doping products and blood bags.

While names of around 200 'clients' from the world of sport were reportedly found, only a few have been sanctioned.

Perez, 43, herself suspected of doping at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, defended her husband, saying he had been a victim of a campaign by the Spanish government.

"To call a doctor dedicated to sports science who has killed no one a criminal mastermind seems shameful to me."

Apparently a doctor who breaks sporting rules, breaks the law, and encourages fraud and cheating  might feel a bit shameful to Perez.  Then again, is she is a doper herself...

Fuentes also appears to be at the heart of the huge cycling doping scandal, Operation Puerto.

Why you should not buy Marion Jones' stock, even with a bailout

Athletics in the News blog recently published #26 in the series entitled "Why you shouldn't believe Marion Jones".  For instance:

(This is the 26th part of a long series titled, "Why You Shouldn't Believe Marion Jones". This series depicts the life and times of a (former) woman sprinter whose lies and cover-ups about doping in sport continue even through this day.)

Nearly two entire years after giving birth for the first time, and having had five successive, uninterrupted, dedicated seasons full of training and racing, Marion Jones ran out of luck and could not break 55 seconds (55.03) for 400m in a race at Mt. Sac in the 17th day of April 2005, this despite the fact that Riddick, her fourth coach in less than three years, predicted a week earlier that Marion Jones would run “under 50 seconds”, and added the day of the race that “Marion is in fantastic shape.”

As a matter of fact, she lost three of four races in 2005 against very mediocre competition, running 11.29 for second in Hengelo on 2005-May-29; 11.67 for second place in Milano on 2005-June-1; and cutting her 100m season short with a fourth-place 11.40 in Monterrey 10 days later at a competition which she determined prior to the race, “it’s time to put it all out there” [2].

Her performances were so inferior that they cast even further doubt on how Marion Jones achieved her previous marks in such a short period of time, and with so much full-time work missed on the track.

The article goes on to lay out the evidence that Jones doped to put herself into the midst of the world's elite runners at the time.

Part 26.  Man, that's a lot of evidence against the former World's Greatest Female Athlete.

Italian pro cyclist banned for one year after positive CERA EPO test

Pro cyclist Emanuele Sella joins 'Pro-cyclists Banned for CERA EPO Use' club, when the Italian sports authority handed down a one year ban.  The cyclist caught a break when he cooperated with the Italian court. To the Sydney Morning Herald

Emanuele Sella is the latest cyclist to be found guilty of using CERA, the third generation EPO drug, it was reported.

The Societa CSF Gruppo Navigare rider has been banned for one year by the Italian Olympic Committee's (CONI) anti-doping office after being caught in an out-of-competition test taken on July 23.

A one-year ban was handed down, instead of two, after the rider admitted his guilt and co-operated with the court during his trial in August, ANSA news agency reported.

Sella was the surprise package of the 2008 Giro d'Italia, winning three climbing stages and the time trial at Plan de Corones.

However, he is the latest rider to fail a test for CERA, which has also snared Tour de France third Bernard Kohl and Riccardo Ricco, Leonardo Piepoli and Stefan Schumacher.

In September, Tour de France officials announced they would be retesting samples for CERA, with the International Olympic Committee following suit in October.

Olympic Committee wants the UK to make doping criminal, in time for 2012 Olympics

The International Olympic Committee wants the UK to make athletic doping a criminal offense.  And the IOC wants the laws in place before the 2012 London Olympic Games.  To the Telegraph:

The IOC are growing increasingly frustrated at Britain's refusal to introduce legislation to outlaw the possession, supply and distribution of   performance-enhancing drugs.

Their stance leaves them out of step with other European countries such as Sweden, France, Italy, Greece and Germany where anti-doping laws mean athletes and their suppliers can go to jail.

Arne Ljungqvist, the chairman of the IOC's medical commission, said he would be pressing for a change in the British law, which would be an important legacy of the 2012 Olympics.

Wonder if Chicago's 2016 bid is affected by this requirement?  There are substance abuse laws in the USA, but no sports fraud laws.  Furthermore the US tends to ignore doping or steroid use, choosing instead to pursue the suppliers (as with BALCO).  Only athletes perjuring themselves spend any time in jail.

The IOC are considering making it a condition of bidding for future Olympic Games that candidate countries have anti-doping laws. In the meantime, just as the Chinese authorities were persuaded to introduce new legislation in the run-up to this summer's Games, Britain will be under pressure to fall into line.

Ljungqvist, who is also a board member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said: "I think legislation is very important that criminalises certain offences as detailed in the WADA code because it allows public authorities to intervene where we cannot.

"We as sports authorities have our limited possibilities regulated by our code. We can do testing but we cannot do searches."

The IOC have been convinced of the importance of criminal legislation after the events of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

It was only because of Italy's tough anti-doping laws that they were able to   expose blood-doping in the Austrian cross-country skiing team after police raided the athletes' accommodation and seized haematological equipment and banned substances.

Britain hope to have a new independent anti-doping agency in place by next   year but the Government have so far resisted calls to criminalize doping.

Ljungqvist said: "This is on my agenda so that Britain does have a law in place at the time of the Games which will allow them to take the same action as the Italians did if a similar situation occurred."

IOC expects 7 more doping cases from 2008 Beijing Olympics, Jacques Rogge says

More doping cases coming from the 2008 Olympics says the IOC president, Jacques Rogge (San Diego Union-Tribune).  As we know, the IOC announced re-testing of Olympic medal winners, focusing on endurance events.

IOC president Jacques Rogge expects at least 15 doping cases from the Beijing Olympics.

“We had 39 positive cases in the run-up to the games, eight during the games, and seven more possibly coming up,” Rogge said yesterday. “Doping in sports is like crime in society.”

In October, the International Olympic Committee said it would retest samples from the Beijing Olympics to search for CERA, a new generation of the endurance-enhancing hormone EPO.

Actually there were more than 39 positive cases in the Olympic run-ups as we documented, although the number is hard to define.  The culprit for the late cases seems to be CERA EPO.  We suspect the new large EPO form (the CERA EPO) which athletes thought was undetectable will account for the 7 late additions to the doping list.

The IOC conducted more than 5,000 drug tests during the Beijing Games, including nearly 1,000 blood screenings.

BTW, The president of the IAAF track federation Lamine Diack took some shots at IOC present Rogge.

Four more Russian track athletes see red: Suspended for doping

Four Russian track athletes will be on the sidelines for a few years, the IAAF reported in Europe.  To CKWS TV:

MONTE CARLO, Monaco - Four more Russian athletes have been sanctioned for doping, bringing to 16 the number of Russians caught for drug violations in recent months.

Race walker Anatoly Kukushkin, distance runner Anton Jarov, steeplechase runner Roman Usov and runner Julia Smirnova are the latest athletes punished by the Russian athletics federation, the International Association of Athletics Federations said on its website Thursday.

The steeplechaser Usov bit the dust before the Beijing Olympics, but the other names are apparently new.

Italian Olympic marathon runner Alberico Di Cecco tests positive for CERA EPO

The 9th place finisher in the 2004 Olympic marathon Alberico Di Cecco tested positive for CERA EPO in his native Italy.

He won the 2005 Rome marathon in 2:08.02.  To the Canadian Press:

Italian marathon runner Alberico Di Cecco has tested positive for EPO, the Italian Olympic Committee said Monday.

Di Cecco, who finished ninth at the 2004 Athens Olympics, failed a test at the Italian championship in Carpi on Oct. 12. Di Cecco, who won the Roma marathon in 2005, would face a two-year if found guilty of doping.

EPO is a blood-boosting hormone that enhances endurance.

Wonder why he didn't compete in Beijing?  Worried about CERA EPO?

Faces jail time: Greek hurdler Fani Halkia charged in Greece with using M3

The Greek M3 scandal continue to wage on. M3 is a rather nasty lover toxic anabolic steroid that showed up in tests for numerous Greek Olympians last summer.   Female Fani Halkia faces time behind bars (ala Marion Jones) for M3 (why do the women go to jail?)  (posts here, here, and here)  To the BBC:

Greek hurdler Fani Halkia could face a two-year jail sentence after a Greek prosecutor charged the former Olympic champion with using banned steroids.

Greek sprinters Tassos Gousis and Dimitris Regas were charged with using the same steroid, methyltrienolone.

Halkia's coach, George Panagiotopoulos, was charged with supplying banned substances and, if convicted, faces up to three years in prison and a fine.

The defendants deny any wrongdoing and will go on trial within a year.

Halkia, the 2004 Olympic women's 400m hurdles champion, was expelled from the Olympics after testing positive just days before she was due to compete in Beijing.

The defendants deny any wrongdoing and will go on trial within a year.

Halkia, the 2004 Olympic women's 400m hurdles champion, was expelled from the Olympics after testing positive just days before she was due to compete in Beijing.

Her 'B' sample came back positive for methyltrienolone, which the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said is a dangerous drug that "may lead to serious consequences to the health of athletes, even threatening their lives".

In August, the IOC rejected Halkia's defence that she had never used the steroid and that her sample had been subject to "acts of tampering by third parties".

Halkia was a relative unknown before winning gold in Athens, where she set a new Olympic record of 52.77 seconds in the semi-finals.

It is interesting that females involved in doping Marion Jones and Halkia went/may go to jail.  The males like Trevor Graham get off rather easily.