Doping and sports - 1994

1994

Bobsleigh

When British Lenny Paul (1958-) tested positive for banned substances, he pleaded the reason was eating too much spaghetti bolognese.

Austrian Gerhard Rainer (1961-) tested positive for anabolic steroids just before the Winter Olympics and was immediately suspended for two years.

Bodybuilding

In Ludwigsburg, Germany, a pharmacist, his daughter, the owner of a sports studio, a bodybuilder and a Croatian anabolics supplier ended up in prison. 20,000 tablets, syringes and ampoules of anabolics were found in the sports studio.

Canadian bodybuilder Paul Dillett (1965-) completely cramped up during a contest as a result of a complete dehydration. Four officials carried him off the podium in his cramped up pose.

Cycling

German professional cyclist Uwe Ampler (1964-) filed a complaint with the Court of Bonn against his former employer Telekom. He accused the team of having doped him without his knowledge. The former amateur world champion pinned the blame on Belgian team manager Walter Godefroot (1943-) and Belgian physician Jules Mertens, who alledgedly injected him EPO, which could lead to fatal cardiac accidents. Ampler stated that when his results started to dawdle 'Jules Seringue' gave him a series of injections since May 1993. The physician replied to his questions that it was a 'tonic', without going into further detail. According to Der Spiegel, the results of the blood test, the methodical character and the follow-up of the course, as well as the secrecy to which Ampler was subjected, clearly showed that it was a forced doping.

Spaniard Miguel Indurain (1964-) was acquitted in the salbutamol doping affair, in which he was involved in the Tour de l'Oise. The benefit of the doubt ... Two hours was enough to determine that there was no reason to prosecute the rider, as the file was not complete.

Polish rider Joachim Halupczok (1968-1994) died on February 5, 1994. He won the 1988 amateur world championship and the same year also the silver medal at the Olympics. In 1990 he promoted to the pros and participated at the World Championship in Japan. In the autumn of that year he got heart rhythm disorders and he stopped cycling. There is a big suspicion that his health problems were caused by EPO.

At a check after the Coppa Agostini, the caffeine levels in the blood of Italian rider and two-times world champion Gianni Bugno (1964-) was 16.9, a lot higher than the admitted level of 12. The CONI wanted to impose him a two-year ban, but the UCI banned him for only three months. Bugno denied the deliberately doping use and devoted the high concentration to the heat and the large consumption of tea, coffee and Coca-Cola during the long wait before the start. The doctors supported him in this. On December 10, 2002 Bugno, together with his father, soigneur Tiziano Morassut and Belgian rider Edouard Vanhulst (1955-) were sentenced by the Belgian Court of Kortrijk to six months in prison and a fine of almost 5,000 euros for the possession and purchase of amphetamines during the Three Days of the Panne in 1999.

Spanish rider Francisco Cabello (1969-) tested positive for nadrolon during the Tour of Mallorca so he had to leave the stage race and got a conditional three-month suspension.

Football

The Italian newspaper 'Gazzetta dello Sport' published a study that showed that doping was an issue in Argentine football. 63% of the 209 professional players from the highest division responded positively to the question whether they used doping.

In the book 'Rote Karte für den DFB' ('Red card for the DFB') by German former hammer thrower Edwin Klein (1948-), ex-Bundesliga player Peter Geyer (1952-) (photo) noted that at the age of 19 he came into contact with Captagon and that he since then for years had consumed the product. According to Geyer, the pills were just up for grabs in the locker rooms and were delivered by physicians and masseurs. He himself took one or two pills before each game, but others took frightening doses of six to even eight pills. In weeks with two games on the program there were big problems if the players could not sleep two nights after taking Captagon.

Diego Maradona (1960-) was sent home from the World Cup after he had taken a cocktail of ephedrine, phenylpropanolamine, pseudoephedrine, norephedrine and metefedrine.

At the English soccer team Charlton Athletic, Lee David Bowyer (1977-) and teammate Dean Chandler (1976-) were caught using cannabis. Bowyer was kicked out of the -18 national team, both got eight weeks of suspension and had to follow the Football Association's withdrawal program.

Rugby

Scottish rugby player Jamie Bloem (1971-) was suspended for two years after a positive test for nandrolone.

Swimming

In January 1994 Chinese Zhong Weiyue (1976-), who swam world records at the 50 and 100m freestyle, was caught doping during the Worldcup in Beijing, for which she was suspended for two years.

At the World Championships in Rome, Chinese Yang Aihua (1977-), winner of the 400m freestyle, tested positive for anabolic steroids. She was suspended for two years

During the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima seven Chinese swimmers and four Chinese athletes were caught using dihydrotestosterone. China lost nine of its 23 gold medals. The girls Lu Bin (1977-) and Zhou Guanbin, hurdler Han Qing and cyclist Wang Yan (1974-) got into trouble. In the boys the swimmers Xiong Guoming, Hu Bin, Zhang Bin and Fu Yong and the canoeists Zhang Lei and Qiu Suoren.

At the 1994 Goodwill Games there was a positive test on testosterone from Chinese breaststroke swimmer Ren Xin, who had won three gold medals.

Track and Field

Chinese discus thrower Qu Qiaping (1972-) tested positive for anabolic steroids two weeks before the Asian Championships,.

British shot putter Paul Edwards (1959-) was caught using steroids and suspended for four months. In 1997 he was caugt again which resulted in a life-long ban.

Solomon Wariso (1966-), British champion 200m, tested positive for ephedrine and was suspended  for three months. He protested against the decision and noted that the phytoproduct 'Up Your Gas' was probably the cause.

British javelin-thrower Colin Mackenzie (1963-) was also suspended for three months after a positive test. His excuse was that he had taken painkillers.

Aham Okeke (1969-), a Norwegian 100m sprinter from Nigerian origin, delivered a positive test on pseudoephedrine, for which he would normally be suspended for three months. He convinced the Norwegian committee however that his doctor had prescribed him a anti-allergy product and that is the reason why he was only banned for one month. One year later, testosterone was found with a new test and that led to a two year suspension. To top it all, in 2006 he was caught a third time with testosterone values twenty times higher than the normal ones, for which he got a lifelong sports ban.

Ukrainian hammer thrower Wladyslaw Piskunow (1978-) lost his junior world title After a positive pee. In 2005 he was caught a second time and got a lifelong exclusion.

Weightlifting

Chinese weight lifters, Wang Shen and Li Dan, who became world champions in their weight class in Australia, tested positive for anabolic steroids, after which they were suspended for life.