Doping and sports - 2004

2004

Between June 2003 and February 2004, eight young athletes died of heart failure: four cyclists, three soccer players and a basketball player.

Due to heart problems, various cyclists had to end their sports career.

French dermatologist and cancer specialist Jean-Paul Escande (1939-) of the Paris Hôpital Cochin-Tarnier, who was also chairman of the French anti-doping commission, was very upset in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde:

"I am bitter about the statements about the sudden death of athletes. It is unacceptable to claim that it was their destiny and that it is about natural causes of death. These deaths are the result of the medication that is used during the exertion and the organism. Why do people refuse studies that investigate the effect of growth hormones on the athlete's heart? Because they don't want to know."

Doctor William Lowenstein (1954-), head of the 'Addiction and Treatment' research department at the Institut Paris Baron-Maurice-de-Rothschild, who had many athletes among his patients, stated the following in the daily newspaper 'l'Humanité':

"The cancer risks associated with anabolics and the risk of sudden death inextricably linked to amphetamines, corticoids, EPO and growth hormones use, are well known and are proven by the sudden death of multiple athletes, as well as the psychological complications such as aggresivity , madness of grandeur and delirium associated with the majority of these compounds."

Greek journalist Philippos Syrigos (1948-2013) investigated many doping cases for his newspaper 'Eleftherotypia'. For example, he defeated the doping scandal surrounding the Olympians Kostas Kenteris (1973-) and Katerina Thanou (1975-), but he also reported on hooliganism, the towering debts of some Greek football clubs and the deals associated with the organization of the 2004 Olympics in Athens. When he left the studios of the radio station Sport FM Athens in October 2004, three masked men beat him up with iron bars. Syrigos was rushed to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery, but his attackers were never caught. He died of cancer at the age of 65.

Doping in the GDR

Thanks to the never-ending investigation by Brigitte Berendonk (1942-) and her husband Professor Werner Franke (1940-), the East German doping secrets were slowly but surely unraveled. From 150 turned up documents it appeared that some athletes already received doping products at the age of 14 and that all this was carefully noted and kept up to date.

As an example the trend chart above of a shot putter from 1968. The solid line shows the distance of her throws, the square below is the period in which she was given Oral-Turinabol and the dose is also given. The graph leaves no doubt about it, from the moment she had to swallow Oral-Turinabol her performance increased phenomenally.

De Stasi checked the entire event and the person in charge of the project, sports physician Manfred Höppner (1934-), had to report regularly about this:

"A remarkable increase in performance was also noted in the women's swimming competitions ... From our experience to date, it can be concluded that women get the greatest benefit from anabolic hormone treatment in terms of sports performance ... The performance enhancing effect is striking high after the first administration of anabolic hormones, especially in junior athletes."

After this discovery, the girls suddenly enjoyed a more than special interest from the doping doctors. This was not only about Oral-Turinabol, the East Germans also used testosterone, amphetamines, methyl-DHT or mestanolone and a few other anabolics. However, Mestanolone and Oral-Turinabol were the most important agents. Oral-Turinabol is a muscle enhancer, mestanolone mainly serves to increase strength and aggression. Reason why volleyball players, handball players and gymnasts also had to swallow the pills. However, at that time the product was only available for experiments at the ZIMET research center and had not yet been approved for human consumption, let alone Phase 1 clinical studies. The doses increased massively over the years. The weightlifters at the heavyweights received more than ten grams per week. In 1979, an unnamed weight lifter swallowed 11.55 g of Oral-Turinabol and also received thirteen injections of testosterone and hCG every week. The East Germans soon discovered that their athletes needed higher and higher doses to make even more progress.

When it became clear that the doping hunters had developed tests to detect anabolics, the East German apparatus had to look for new drugs in the early 1980s. They experimented with DHEA and androstenedione, but also with cocktails of testosterone propionate and epitestosterone propionate. Exogenous testosterone is not detectable, to find it one must determine the T / E ratio, the testosterone / epitestosterone ratio. As long as the testosterone concentration is not six times higher than that of epitestosterone, nothing is wrong. At a certain moment the East Germans discovered that the Clomid and hCG mixture did not influence the T / E ratio. From that moment on, the popular cocktail of 100 mg of testosterone propionate and 1500 units of hCG was a fait accompli.

However, an awful lot of side effects popped up, especially in women, the suffering was incalculable. The later convicted sports doctors tried to convince the government not to give women any more anabolics, but that request was repeatedly rejected. All this is the most shocking in the report by Berendonk and Franke. The reports on DDR doping found clearly showed that even "mild" side effects affect the lives of young athletes. Excessive hair and "steroid acne", especially on the body, caused serious physical and psychological problems in the girls, mainly because these effects are irreversible. As an example, the case was cited of a junior world record keeper, who presented herself with Höppner with mild gastroenteritis. After she undressed, the sports doctor discovered the bizarre side effects of Oral-Turinabol. In an extensive report to the Stasi, he described his shock:

“Her legs, including the inner part of the thigh, are strongly hairy and the pubic hair extends to the navel, forcing her to shave. I then interviewed her several times, because according to her approved program, she only had anabolics since last year. It soon became clear to me that her coach had been giving her these supportive tools since she was 15. Initially it was explained to her that she was taking vitamin tablets. However, when she noticed those drastic changes on her body, she understood that they were anabolic steroids. ... For these reasons, she decided to cut down on top sport ..."

According to Höppner's reports to the Stasi, athletes with a broken liver had used anabolic steroids for far too long and for far too long, the women took contraceptive pills and the men drank a lot of alcohol.

"... ten top athletes were referred for hospitalization and underwent extensive diagnostic tests. The test results show that, due to the increasing alcohol consumption of some top athletes, combined with the intake of anabolic steroids, liver damage has occurred, in some even with a considerable enlargement of the organ (hepatomegaly). In addition, contraception exacerbates these harmful effects in female athletes. The liver damage has progressed so far with two tested athletes that it is irresponsible to have them exercise at a high level."

Franke and Berendonk mentioned twice that there was a black market for anabolics in East Germany. Many athletes and coaches wanted to use even more anabolics than what the sports physicians gave them.

Part of the customers on the black market were children between the ages of nine and twelve who wanted to become top athletes. In 1983, the Stasi investigated a "leak" within the East German hormone manufacturer Jenapharm, after the leaders of the doping project found a striking amount of epitestosterone in the urine of athletes who were officially not doping. Within Jenapharm it turned out that someone was selling the specimens on the black market.

Katharina Bullin (1959-), member of the national volleyball team of the GDR, was one of the many victims of the system. She, too, was given performance-enhancing drugs without further explanation, partly in the form of a diet, partly in the form of tablets and syringes. At the age of 13 she was included in the Sports system of the GDR, two years later she was already part of the national team. At the 1980 Olympiad in Moscow, she played all five games and won silver with the team. After the Games, the East German sports officials suddenly dropped her, because she was no longer fit for top sport due to a shoulder injury. As a result, she ended up in an emotional crisis, she became addicted to alcohol and pills, got a boulemia but picked up in time and built up a new life. However, she suffered from the effects of the former doping treatments. Despite twelve surgeries, she always had chronic pain, her body was bruised and in order to maintain minimal mobility, she had to continue training. Moreover, physically broken by the administered doping, she was struggling with financial problems. Bullin studied the released Stasi documents, because in order to qualify for financial compensation, the athletes had to provide proof themselves. In 2002, a personal time bomb exploded for 43-year-old Katharina Bullin when she finally found proof that she was a victim of doping. After the compensation fund paid her out, she found a bit of peace for the suffering suffered.

American football

American Ricky Williams (1977-), in the National Football League running back at the Baltimore Ravens, tested positive for marijuana. Given that it was the second time, he received four suspension games and a $ 650,000 fine. When rumors about a third positive control surfaced in August 2004, he stopped the sport.

American David Byron Boston (1978-), a wide receiver with the Miami Dolphins, tested positive for anabolica before the start of the 2004 season, which earned him four matches of suspension. After he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he was arrested for driving under the influence in September 2007. That same month he was arrested again, this time for the use of the bodybuilders hormone gHB and he flew at the door at Tampa. In 2001, he was sentenced to six months in prison for putting together a woman in a bar.

Baseball

On October 10, Ken Caminiti (1963-2004), third baseman in the Major League Baseball, died of an overdose of drugs. The American struggled his entire career with alcohol and drug problems. He admitted that his alcohol consumption started in 1994 and that he had registered for a withdrawal cure in 2000. In a cover story for the weekly 'Sports Illustrated' he announced in 2002 that he had used steroids during his 1996 MVP season for many years. But Caminiti was also responsible for cocaine. He was arrested in March 2001 for possession and sentenced to trial. When he tested positive for cocaine during his trial period, he had to be admitted. In September 2004, a few days before his death, he was caught for the fourth time. He died in the Lincoln hospital in The Bronx, New York, where a heart attack was originally recorded as a cause of death, but the results of the autopsy gave "an acute intoxication due to cocaine and opiates, with coronary artery disease and cardiac hypertrophy promoting factors".

Bodybuilding

Professional American bodybuilder Mike Matarazzo (1965-2014) underwent an open heart operation because his veins were silted up due to his massive anabolic use. After two consecutive heart attacks, his heart function dropped to 20% of the normal, so that he could no longer function normally.

“From the first moment I started bodybuilding, heart problems surfaced. To keep becoming a struiser, I ate five to seven kilos of red meat and no vegetables every day. Because of the sugars, I also left the fruit untouched. The worst were the chemicals. I vividly remember those lonely days in hotel rooms, where I did unacceptable things with my body just before the start of the race time: steroids, growth hormones, diuretics - everything we use as bodybuilders to achieve a certain look. It affected my whole life. I would like to say to all young people who are aiming for bicycles of 55 cm and calves of 50 cm in size, "Change your posture". Make sure your body stays healthy, because you need it for a long time. It goes very quickly downhill, even faster if your health is a thing of the past and you have nothing to fall back on.”

He died on August 16, 2014, waiting for a heart transplant.

Boxing

Vitali Klitschko (1971-), world heavyweight champion, revealed in his autobiography that he took anabolic steroids in 1996 and was therefore kicked out of the Ukrainian team just before the Atlanta Olympics.

Car racing

According to Italian physician Benigno Bartoletti (1936-2017), who supervised the Ferrari team from 1972 to 1992 and from 1988 to 1993 also soccer club Juventus Turin, every third Formula 1 driver and almost every rider from the motorcycle circuit were on cocaine. The product gave the pilots a supreme feeling for ninety minutes, during which time their reactions were also faster. If the competition lasted longer than that, the risk of accidents increased because the product was finished and there was a loss of concentration.

American car racer Kevin Grubb (1978-2009) was active in the NASCAR competition and tested positive for prohibited drugs in March 2004. He was immediately suspended, but was allowed to restart two years later on condition that the NASCAR administration was allowed to check him unannounced. Grubb accepted that condition, but after a crash on the circuit he refused a check in September 2006, which resulted in a lifelong suspension. The next day he returned to that refusal with the excuse that he could no longer think clearly because of the accident and the accompanying concussion and he offered himself to be tested. But the union kept the leg stiff and the suspension was retained. In May 2009 the body of Grubb was found in a hotel room in Henrico County, Virgina, he had shot himself in the head.

Cricket

In October English cricket player Graham Wagg (1983-) was caught sniffing cocaine, it earned him a one-year suspension and his Warwickshire club broke his contract with immediate effect.

Cycling

Italian Giorgio Addis, sports director at Gaverina-Ok Baby, was sentenced to nine months in jail by the Brescia Court after a young cyclist testified that he had made her take doping.

In 2004, New Zealand cyclist Stephen Swart (1965-) admitted that he and his teammates from the Motorola team had injected EPO in the 1995 Tour de France. Swart's confession would have far-reaching consequences, since one of his teammates prominent American cyclist Lance Armstrong (1971-). The evidence Swart and others presented to the US Anti-Doping Agency in 2012 led Armstrong to surrender his seven Touro wins.

The cleaning team of the hotel found thirteen ampoules of EquiGen in the bedroom of 19-year-old Australian racer Mark French (1984-), along with the growth hormone, syringes were also found. French told the Court that Shane Kelly (1972-), Sean Eadie (1969-), Jobie Dajka (1981-2009) and Graeme Brown (1979-) regularly injected vitamins and supplements into his room. French was suspended for two years and, in addition to Dajka, the others also acknowledged their use of doping. Dajka was suspended for life because he lied, he became heavily addicted to alcohol and in 2009 the police hit his body in his home.

Philippe Gaumont (1973-2013), who twice became French champion, won the bronze medal at the Olympics and competed three times in the Tour de France, was discredited for alleged doping abuse. He confessed the use of EPO, after which he was fired by Cofidis. In 1996 and 1998 he was caught using nandrolone. In 1999 traces of amphetamine were found in his body. In 2005, Gaumont wrote 'Prisonnier du dopage' (Prisoner of doping), a book about his past as a cyclist, in which he described doping and masking methods, but also how the financial pressure drove riders to doping. He mentioned several colleagues by name and by name. After a heart attack, Gaumont ended up in a coma in April 2013, from which he never woke up again.

Spanish rider Jesús Manzano (1978-) was caught using banned drugs and suspended for that. In 2007 Manzano came up with new doping stories, in an interview with the German weekly 'Der Stern' he accused the German rider Rolf Aldag (1968-) that during his doping confessions he had not told the complete truth about the use of doping in the doping. German team Telekom. He also accused his former teammate Alejandro Valverde (1980-) of doping.

In an interview with the Spanish newspaper Diario AS, Manzano explained how he was systematically administered EPO, growth hormones, cortisone and even animal plasma to his former cycling team Kelme. His confessions led to an investigation in which several members of the Kelme team were interviewed the following month. Team physician Eufemiano Fuentes (1955-) (photo) was also discussed, as were Peruvian physician Walter Virú and Spanish physician Alfredo Córdova. The official investigation into doping practices started at the beginning of 2006.

Jesus Manzano (1978-) demonstrated how he injected himself prohibited products. Ten days after his revelations, the confessions of Philippe Gaumont (1973-2013) seemed like child's fairy tales compared to the stories of Manzano.

Gaumont's Scottish teammate David Millar (1977-), who was still the 2003 World Time Trial Champion, also admitted EPO. For this he was put inactive for two years, received the voucher from Cofidis and he had to pay a fine of 1,250 Euro. During a search of his apartment, the French police found two empty ampoules, Eprex, and the same number of used syringes, which he landed in Biaritz prison. In June 2011 Millar released his autobiography 'Racing Through the Dark': where he extensively described his doping use.

This was due to the arrest of Bogdan Madejak (photo 1), the Polish caretaker of the Cofidis team was suspected of trading doping. But it was also an offshoot of Gaumont's allegations that Millar had encouraged team physician Jean-Jacques Menuet (1955-) (photo2) to inject doping at both Gaumont and Cedric Vasseur (1970-) (photo3).

Millar also admitted that he had consulted Dr. Jesus Losa of the Euskaltel team at the end of 2001 and that he injected him for twelve thousand Euro EPA annually, as a result of which Millar saw his annual income rise from two hundred fifty thousand to eight hundred thousand Euro. He further stated that he kept the two ampoules and syringes found during the house search as a reminder of his 2003 world title. Thanks to the doping he would have driven 25 seconds faster in that title fight.

The moment caregiver Boguslaw Madejak was arrested, a search was made at former French Cofidis rider Robert Sassone (1978-2016) (photo), where huge amounts of testosterone, EPO and amphetamines were found.

At the same time, former Polish Cofidis rider Marek Rutkiewicz (1981-) was arrested with a bag full of prohibited products in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, for which he ended up in jail for six months.

During the Redlands Bicycle Classic American rider David Fuentes (1973-) tested positive for anabolic steroids and before that he was suspended for two years.

After the spring classics of 2004, Belgian Johan Museeuw (1965-) suddenly stopped cycling when stories surfaced about alleged doping use.

On the basis of tapped telephone conversations and text messages, it appeared that he had bought the prohibited substances Aranesp and EPO from Belgian veterinarian José Landuyt (1949-). In October 2004, the Belgian Cycling Federation suspended him for four years, half of which was conditional. In 2005 an official indictment of possible possession of EPO, Aranesp and the pregnancy hormone Dexamethasone followed and he was referred to the correctional court.

The Lion of Flanders admitted its use of doping at a press conference in 2007. He had wanted to do that before, but sports director Patrick Lefevere (1956-) advised him again and again. In December 2008, the Kortrijk District Court sentenced Musseeuw to six months' suspended sentence and a fine of fifteen thousand Euros. In an interview from 2012 with the Belgian weekly HUMO, Museeuw confessed that his divorce was the result of drug use, because he was doing crazy things in that period, about which he did not want to reveal details.

After a positive doping test on Erythropoietin (EPO), the United States Anti-Doping Agency suspended its track rider Joey D'Antoni (1977-) for two years.

After a strong preseason, with a third place in the Tour of Flanders, Belgian Dave Bruylandts (1976-) was caught on EPO and suspended for two years before that. After stimulants were found during a house search in 2006, he received the vouchers from his team Unibet.com.

Italian Danilo Di Luca (1976-) was not allowed to start in the Tour de France because he was involved in the Oil-for-Drugs program, in which the Italian sports physician Carlo Santuccione (1947-) also played a leading role. Strangely enough, Di Luca was acquitted in 2007. At the end of 2008, however, he was suspended for four months because of his contacts with an Italian doping doctor. On July 22, 2009, it was announced that Di Luca had tested positive for the EPO variant CERA during the Giro d’Italia. On October 28, 2010, the UCI demanded a fine of two hundred and eighty thousand Euros from the Italian, but because he cooperated well in the investigation, his suspension was shortened by nine months so that he could return to it after 18 months. In May 2013, Di Luca was caught using EPO again in a non-competitive test. He was immediately expelled from the Tour of Italy and suspended for life by the CONI. .

Belgian rider Christophe Brandt (1977-) tested positive for methadone during the Tour de France,, after which he had to leave the Tour and Lotto-Domo fired him. However, the Belgian Cycling Federation later acquitted him because the methadone level was too low to be consciously taken. Brandt returned to his team, but crashed heavily in August during the Sels scale. He was taken to Merksem hospital with a ruptured spleen, a partially crushed upper arm, four fractured ribs that caused a collapse. In addition, a kidney had to be removed.

Italian Stefano Casagrande (1962-) and Slovenian Martin Havstija (1969-) were tipped from the Tour de France by tour boss Jean-Marie Leblanc (1944-) when it appeared that the Italian judicial authorities had started a doping investigation into them.

American Tyler Hamilton (1971-) started his sports career as a promising skier at the University of Colorado, but after a back injury he switched to cycling in 1991. He was caught doping during the Vuelta. The American invented the most original excuse ever, he was a so-called 'chimera', a rare individual with genetically different cells. The foreign cells were not from an illegal blood transfusion, but from his never-born twin brother. He won the time trial at the 2004 Olympic Games, but a month later he had to hand in the gold medal when it turned out that he had undergone blood doping. A few days later, the IOC announced that Hamilton was allowed to keep his gold, because the B steel had become useless due to improper freezing in the Athenian doping laboratory. Despite all this, the Cycling Association suspended him for two years. In 2007 he drove for Tinkoff Credit Systems, but in the middle of the season he was put on hold for his possible share in the doping case Operación Puerto. In April 2009, after a new positive doping case, Hamilton put an end to his career. In May 2011, he confessed his entire doping history, but he also accused fellow countryman and former teammate Lance Armstrong (1971-) of EPO use. Later it became known that he had handed in the gold medal of the 2004 Games to the American anti-doping agency (USADA).

The week after he finished second in the Vuelta in which he had won two time trials and a mountain stage, Spaniard Santiago Pérez (1977-) tested positive for blood doping. It earned him a two-year suspension.

Jeremy Yates (1982-) found an unacceptably high testosterone level. When the New Zealander refused a second take, the Belgian Cycling Federation suspended him for two years, Crédit Agricole broke his contract and was not allowed to go to the Beijing Olympics.

Pedro Miguel Lopes (1975-) became Portuguese champion on the road. During the doping test, however, he flew against the lamp, on which he was disqualified and suspended. Afterwards he absent-mindedly signed several compulsory doping controls, after which the Portuguese Cycling Association pushed him aside for fifteen years.

American cyclist Adam Bergman (1980-) received a two-year suspension from the USADA for his EPO use. First he denied in all keys, but in February 2006 he made confessions.

Christian Pfannenberger (1979-) finished second at the Austrian Championship, but the doping pool later revealed that he had used epitestosterone, which cost him two years of suspension. In 2009, just before the Giro d'Italia, he was suspended by NADA for life due to new doping use. It marked the end of his professional career. A year later, it turned out that he was also involved in the blood-doping case around the Humanplasma company, with the former Austrian athlete Stefan Matschiner (1975-) as the central figure and also involving Dutch riders Michael Boogerd (1972-) and Thomas Dekker (1984-) were just like Dane Michael Rasmussen (1974-).

Football

In 2004 the book 'Il terzo incomodo. Le pesanti verità di Ferruccio Mazzola '(The third wheel. The harsh truth about Ferruccio Mazzola) was published, in which former player and trainer Ferrucicio Mazolla (1945-2013) described the widespread use of amphetamine in football from the 60s and 70s. He quoted the practices of trainer Helenio Herrera (1910-1997) at Inter Milan. In 2007 he repeated his reproaches in the magazine 'L'espresso' and described how Herrera dumped amphetamine pills in his coffee and in that of his brother Sandro Mazolla (1942-), because both refused to swallow them. He was then in a state of hallucination for three days. Mazzola also mentioned many Italian players who were sick or died: Marcello Giusti (1958-2007), Carlo Tagnin (1932-2000), Mauro Bicicli (1935-2001) and Ferdinando Miniussi (1940-2001). In addition, Enea Masiero (1933-2009) had cancer and Pino Longoni (1942-2006) was in a wheelchair. But the same practices were also applied to Fiorentina and Lazlo Roma, especially when Herrera was in charge. A lot of players fell ill with those teams and died at a young age.

In October Adrian Mutu (1979-) was caught in an unannounced check on cocaine use. As an excuse, the Romanian star of Chelsea FC quoted that he had sniffed the stuff to increase his sexual drive. The English club broke his contract and he was suspended for seven months. In addition, the English Football Association sentenced him to return seventeen million euros to Chelsea. In January 2010 he tested positive for the laxative Sibutramine, which earned him a nine-month suspension and then the Italian Fiorentina sent him out. After a public excuse, he was again selected in February 2011 and played 20 more games in which he scored four times.

Mohamed Kallon (1979-) from Sierra Leone and Libyan al-Saadi Gaddafi (1973-), son of, were caught using nandrolone in the Italian competition and were suspended for eight and three months respectively.

Norwegian football player Sveinung Fjeldstad (1978-) peeed positively on anabolic steroids in April, when his club HamKam thanked him for services rendered and the Norwegian federation suspended him for two years.

Yegor Titov (1976-) was caught using Bromantan after the Russia-Wales qualifying match for the European Championship and was suspended for one year from the Russian Football Association plus a fine of six thousand Euros. His club Spartak Moscow added another eight thousand euros. The Wales Football Association asked UEFA to give a flat-rate score, because that way Wales would go to the European Championship in Portugal. But UEFA did not respond to that.

Because of his "crazy" playing style, Colombian René Higuita (1966-) was called 'world's most eccentric keeper'. After the Aucas-Olmedo competition match, he was caught using cocaine. Since it was already the second time, "El Loco" got two years on his pants and Aucus put him at the door and he was no longer allowed to join the national team.

Brazilian Everton Giovanella (1970-), a defensive midfielder at the Spanish Celta Vigo, was suspended for two years after a positive test on nadrolone.

South African Arthur Zwane (1973-) played midfielder at home with Kaizer Chiefs. He tested positive for the anabolic steroid methyl testosterone, which earned him a two-year suspension. The sentence was then reduced to six months.

The promising Italian midfielder Jonathan Bachini (1975-) played in the highest division for Lecce, Udines, Juventus, Brescia, Parma and Siena and was regularly called up for the national team. In September he tested positive for cocaine and had to stay aside for nine months. In December 2005, the Italian football association again suspended him for life.

Chilean goalkeeper Nicolás Peric (1978-) tested positive for cocaine after the eighth final of the South American cup against Bolivia and received a six-month suspension for this.

Judo

Japanese judo champion Yuki Yokosawa (1980-) tested positive for an asthma product during the French Internationals. The later silver medal of the Athens Olympics received a severe reprimand from the International Judo Federation and the French federation suspended it for six months for participating in French competitions.

Mixed Martial Arts

Kimo Leopoldo (1968-), an American mixed martial artist and black belt taekwondo, was suspended for six months after a positive puddle on Stanozolol, ephedrine, pseudoefedrine and phenylpropanolamine and fined with five thousand dollars. Two years later, after the camp against Dutch American Bas Rutten (1965-), he tested again positive for Stanzolol and was suspended for two years. In 2009, he was arrested by Tustin, California police for possession of prohibited drugs.

Pole Mariusz Zbigniew Pudzianowski (1977-) was crowned World’s Strongest Man five times and also twice in that competition. He finished third in the Bahamas in 2004, but was disqualified and suspended for one year due to drug use. In 2005, however, he won the title again.

Rugby

Carlo Del Fava (1981-) played rugby with the English Newcastle Falcons, but was also called up for the South African junior team. After an international match, he appeared to have used Stanozolol, for which he was suspended for two years.

Skiing

After the downhill for the World Cup in Lake Louise in Canada, Austrian Hans Knauß (1971-) tested positive for nandrolone, after which the International Ski Federation FIS sent him to the side for eighteen months. The reason for the high Nandrolone value would be an contaminated nutritional supplement from the American company Ultimate Nutrition. Knauß therefore appealed to the International Court of Sport (CAS) in Lausanne and asked for the suspension to be reduced to 12 months so that he could participate in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. However, the CAS confirmed the suspension, upon which Knauß terminated his skiing career and sued the manufacturer of the food supplement for the Rechtvank. The complaint was settled amicably with the manufacturer in May 2008, after which the Austrian threw himself into motorsport.

Tennis

Austrian Stefan Koubek (1977-) confessed that he tested positive on Roland Garros for triamcinolone acetonide and was therefore suspended for three months.

In January British Greg Rusedski (1973-) tested positive for nandrolone, he was one of the 44 tennis players who delivered a positive puddle. However, he was acquitted in March.

To everyone's surprise, American tennis champion John McEnroe (1959-) stated that doctors had given him performance-enhancing drugs during his career, but without his knowledge, drugs that were normally given to horses.

At the tennis tournament in Mauritius, Dutch tennis player Melle van Gemerden (1979-) delivered a positive puddle on cannabis, as a result of which he lost his ranking points and was allowed to pay back the 2,950 dollar prize money.

Swimming

On the World Cup in Durban, South African, Brazilian Leonardo Costa (1977-) won the 100 and 200m backstroke. Afterwards, an unannounced doping test revealed the use of stimulants, and he said goodbye to his sporting career.

The international swimming federation FINA published the list of its 2004 doping sinners.

Each two years received suspension: Italian marathon swimmer Giorgia Squizzato (1987-) for closterbol and Brazilian swimmer Julyana Bassi Kury (1983-) for stanozolol, American synchronized swimmers Mary Hofer and Lindsay Devaney for refusing a test, Italian water polo player Roberto Barbaro for norandrosterine, South African water polo player Anthony Steward for cocaine, American swimmer Rachael Burke for boldione, Libyan swimmer Omar Daaboul for a cocktail of methandienone, methyltestosterone and norandrosterone, Egyptian swimmer Nehal Ameur for methandienone, French water polo player Jéréoster Serréron Serreon .

Seven months for Belgian water polo player Michael Callens (1984-) for cannabis.

Six months for Italian water polo player Maurizio Spaziano and French water polo player Jérôme Cazenave for cannabis.

Five months for French water polo player Vanessa Hernandez (1983-) and Italian swimmer Mario Rajola for cannabis.

Four months for Swiss water polo player Rafael Liechti for cannabis.

Three months for Belgian water polo player Stijn Vermeulen for cannabis.

Track and field

"Everyone knows someone who is willing to swallow everything to make it to the Olympic team,"

said Darren De Reuck (1962-), an athletics trainer from Boulder, Colorado, who also accompanied his own wife Coleen (1969-), the American marathon champion.

“It doesn't matter how strange or how silly it sounds. Playing around with genes is just as much about it as everything else I ever heard. So I am sure that some people think it is worth giving it a try."

Ukrainian sprinter Schanna Tarnopolska (1972-) married her American trainer and manager Mark Block. In 2004 she was named as a client of doping supplier BALCO and in 2011 she received retroactive suspension for the 2002 and 2003 seasons with cancellation of all results achieved. For example, she lost the 2003 World Cup gold at the 60m indoor in Bimingham and the silver at the 100m of the World Cup that same year in Paris. Her husband Mark Block turned out to be involved in the BALCO file and was suspended for ten years.

British Jonathan Moore (1984-) won with a jump of 7m82 the long jump competition on the athletics meeting in the Belgian Merksem. Afterwards it turned out that he had been on the cannabis. He warned that a subsequent infringement would cost him a two-year suspension.

American long-distance jumper Erick Walder (1971-) delivered a positive puddle during the Adidas Oregon Track Classic. He was suspended for two years.

Russian shot putter Irina Khudoroshkina (1968-) tested positive and was allowed to watch from the sidelines for two years.

In March, Ukrainian shot putter Wita Pawlysch (1969-) won the indoor World Cup in Budapest. Afterwards, however, she tested positive for Stanazolol and because she was caught once in 1999 after the gold of the World Indoor Championships in Maebashi, Japan, she was suspended for life, along with her trainer Oledsandr Bahatsch (1966-). Bahatsch had already been caught as a shot putter in 1989 and 2000.

 

American Bernard Williams (1978-) won the national championship 100m, finished fifth in the number one at the World Cup in Paris and also won gold in the French capital with the 4 x 100m relay team. In 2004 he tested positive for cannabis after the meeting in Seville, but he came off with a warning. He acts as a stand-up comedian.

Triathlon

 

German Nina Kraft (1968-) won the Ironman from Hawaii, but was subsequently disqualified when the doping test revealed that she had sprayed EPO, which she admitted. The German Triathlon Federation suspended her for two years, which was halved in appeal. A wave of indignation followed that even escalated into death threats. She ended up in a downward spiral and needed psychiatric treatment.

Australian Rebekah Keat (1978-) won the Western Australian Ironman, but was disqualified after two years due to a positive doping test.

Australian Michelle Gallen (1970-), a lawyer specialized in sports, but also a gifted triathlete, labeled the doping controls for athletes as a modern witch hunt.

"An annoying fifteenth century phenomenon has emerged in the sports world in recent months. I refer, of course, to the witch hunt, which was the favorite sport of some from the UK, France and the US a hundred years ago. In the modern version, France and the The US is still a leading country, but Australia has also joined in. And the witches (given that witchcraft itself is quite trendy these days) have evolved into the evil specter of a doped athlete. difference in this modern witch hunt Alleged perpetrators are still innocent unless the contrary is demonstrated with an exceptionally high and incriminating burden of proof, such as the story of innocent women who were told that the only way to refute their witch status was that they drowned if they were thrown into the river with stones, and as it turns out guilt can first be assumed n to evidence, just as easily as to the word of a neighbor."

Weightlifting

At the World Weightlifting World Championship, eleven participants flew against the doping lamp. It is also very surprising that there is little to be found in the media about this edition.