Doping and sports - 2005

2005

A survey with 2,667 German sports physicians showed that 61% of them were approached for doping in their daily practice, both by recreational as  competition athletes.

In 2005, 2,281 doping controls were conducted in Belgium, of which 101 or 4.4% were positive.

Doping in the GDR

Following the Doping-Opfer-Hilfe-Gesetz from 2002, until 2005, 194 former athletes of the GDR were recognized as doping victims and received a one-off payment. However, for those who were no longer able to work and had high medical costs, the benefit was not sufficient. That is why there was talk of an additional pension from various political circles and from several sports institutions, but this track was never seriously pursued.

Former swimmer Karen König (1969-) started a lawsuit against the German Olympic Committee, because after the reunification that organization had taken over more than 2.5 million dollars in assets from East Germany and was therefore given the responsibility to help out former East German athletes.

König, on the picture with her lawyer Jens Steinigen (1966-), demanded 12,500 dollars in this test case, no less than 140 former East German athletes followed her example. Eventually everything was arranged outside the courtroom.

Lawyer Jens Steinigen (1966-), winner of the 4 x 7.5 km Olympic relay in 1992 in cross country skiing, stated in an interview that he was investigating the possibility of suing the pharmaceutical company VEB Jenapharm.

"We cannot undo these abuses, but the athletes can use the money for their medication or therapy," Steinigen argued.

When Rica Reinisch (1965-) turned 14, the promising East German swimmer had to take blue pills after every training.

"After one of my practice sessions, the coach gave me a tablet and said, 'take this, it's good for your body, it'll recover faster' He told it in such a way as if it were the most normal thing in the world."

Just before the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, the intakes stopped. She was barely fifteen at the time, but with four world records she became the swimming revelation of the Games. In the final of the 100m backstroke she brought the world record to 1.00.86, after having swum 1.01.51 and 1.01.50 before. She won the 200m backstroke in 2.11.77, also a new world time. In addition, she also won the gold medal with the 4 x 100m relay team. The year later she started with three European records. In 1982, however, she collapsed during a training camp in Ukraine. She was taken to the training center in Dresden by helicopter, where the sports physician found enlarged ovaries in addition to severe menstrual pains.

“The doctor looked worried when he examined me and told me casually that I had to quit top sport. My parents were speechless."

Only after the fall of the Berlin Wall Reinisch discovered the truth. Her former trainer Uwe Neumann, at the Stasi known as Holbert, had stuffed her with Oral-Turinabol on behalf of that secret service, the anabolic steroid of the East German pharmaceutical company Jenapharm. Stasi documents showed that thanks to the doping her performance was improved by 6.5%. By stopping the intake just before the Olympics, Reinisch as well as her team mates passed the controls.

Reinisch married and got two miscarriages. She also had chronic ovarian infections, cardiac arrhythmias and three inflammation of the heart muscle. Like many former East German athletes, she was also awarded financial compensation in the subsequent court case. Afterwards she still had two children.

“The worst thing is that they never gave me the chance to prove that I could have won gold even without steroids. That is the biggest betrayal for me," she told the Guardian newspaper in an interview.

Reinisch moved to Koblenz in West Germany in 1989, where she started working as a TV sports reporter. She later moved to Eschweiller and worked at football club Allemania Aachen as head of the marketing department.

Petra Schneider (1963-) won the 400m medley at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, but she also set five new world records. Two years earlier she finished third at the World Cup in Berlin, towering favorite Tracy Caulkins (1963-) still won gold. But after that she never lost to the American again and she broke the world record of the 400m medley three times in a row, bringing it from 4.40.83 to 4.36.10. In Moscow she won her favorite event with no less than ten seconds ahead of British Sharron Davies (1962-). She also took the 200m medley world record, but that competition was not swum at the 1980 Olympics. At the 1982 World Cup in Ecuador, however, she succeeded in the double 200 and 400 m medley. The East German boycott prevented her from defending her Olympic titles at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, she decided to put an end to her career. In 1980 and 1982 she was named World Swimmer of the Year by the Swimming World Magazine. Because she was East German, however, her achievements were viewed with suspicion. Rightfully so. After discovering that her best times had been swum with the help of anabolic steroids, she asked in the December 2005 'Kontraste' TV broadcast to delete her records from the tables.

In July 2005, 100-meter runner Ines Geipel (1960-) also demanded that her name be removed from the record tables. One year later the German Athletics Association accepted her request and the name Geipel was replaced by an asterisk for the world record 4 x 100m set of 1984. Just like tens of thousands of other GDR athletes, she had been dropped into the doping circuit at early age. How sick the GDR system was, appears from her life story. As a girl, Geipel had to take Oral Turinabol at a young age. Because of her criticism in the eighties, she was 'kaltgestellt' by the Stasi. The East German secret service ensured that she fell ill, the doctors had to covertly treat her with amoebas. She was sick of it for months, so she could forget the top sport. In the reports that surfaced from that time it says plainly:

"We have achieved what we wanted, she has disappeared from the sport."

BALCO affair

In 1970 American Victor Conte (1950-) started a musical career as a bass guitarist in the band Tower of Power. In 1984 he founded Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative in Burlingame, California, which would become known/notorious worldwide under her abbreviation BALCO. It was officially a sports nutrition company, but it soon became apparent that the commercial intentions were focused on a different product.

With the help of chemist and bodybuilder Patrick Arnold (1966-), BALCO developed the forbidden anabolic steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG). Slowly but surely, many athletes were supplied with the stuff until the case exploded. Conte and his henchmen were charged. After a deal with the federal prosecutor, Conti pleaded guilty on July 15, 2005 to the distribution of steroids and money laundering. On October 18, 2005, he was sentenced to four months in prison and a further four months in house arrest.

The first photo shows Conte with one of his 'top stars', American bodybuilder Iris Kyle (1974-), who, however, was never caught using anabolics, despite being crowned seven times Miss Olympia.

Remi Korchemny (1932-) born in Ukraine guided Russian Valeri Borzov (1949-) in 1971 to the European titles and in 1972 to the Olympic titles of the 100 and 200 m. After the Olympics he moved to the United States where he was in charge of many elite athletes: Kelli White (1977-), Chryste Gaines (1970-), Dwain Chambers (1978-) and the twin Alvin (1974-) and Calvin Harrison (1974-). Also Canadian ice hockey player Chris Philips (1978-) and Jamaican sprinter Grace Jackson (1961-). Together with Conte he founded the ZMA athletics club. On July 25, he also pleaded guilty to spreading the anabolic steroid Modafinil. Because he cooperated in the investigation, he only got conditional for one year, but he also had to promise never to get involved in sport again.

During his interrogation, Victor Conte appointed Vice President James Valente as the BALCO responsible for baseball players. On July 15, 2005, Valente pleaded guilty for the illegal distribution of steroids and was sentenced to three years in prison.

American Greg F. Anderson (1966-) was involved in the BALCO file as a trainer. He provided prohibited products to baseball players Barry Bonds (1964-), Jason Giambi (1971-) and Gary Sheffield (1968-). After a deal with the federal prosecutors, Anderson also pleaded guilty on July15,  2005 to the distribution of anabolic steroids and money laundering. The Court sentenced him to three months in jail and three months in house arrest. On July 5, 2006, Anderson was found guilty of "contempt for the court" for refusing to testify in the investigation into the perjury of baseball player Barry Bonds (1964-), who claimed that he had never used prohibited drugs. Anderson also refused to pay bail and was immediately imprisoned in Dublin, California prison. His lawyer Mark Geragos (1957-) appealed against this because the subpoena violated the legal agreement. Anderson was released on July 20, 2006, but immediately afterwards he again had to testify for a new Grand Jury. Again he refused and again he was convicted of "contempt of the Court", after which he once again ended up behind bars. On January 28, 2009, twenty federal agents invaded his mother-in-law's house because she and her daughter were suspected of tax fraud. According to Anderson's lawyer, the charge was a retribution for the constant refusal to testify. The federal prosecutors asked the President of the Court to detain Anderson in jail for the duration of the trial. He was released on April 8, 2001.

Baseball player Barry Bonds (1964-) was one of the top athletes who was linked to the BALCO affair several times, but who was never officially charged. For the Grand Jury he claimed that he had used steroids unknowingly. The Chronicle daily reported that three of his team mates at the San Francisco Giants had been on drugs. In 2011, Bonds was sentenced to two years in prison, 30 days in house arrest, 250 hours of community service and a $ 4,000 fine. The San Francisco Court acquitted him in 2015; because his misleading and evasive answers from 2003 did not have a significant impact on the investigation into the BALCO affair.

Teammate Armando Rios (1971-) admitted his doping use after being operated on the knee, shoulder and elbow.

Benito Santiago (1965-) was already mentioned in 2003 in an FBI study on anabolic steroids. On December 13, 2007, the Mitchell Report, the report of a 21-month independent investigation by US Senator George John Mitchell (1933-) noted:

“At the end of the 2003 season, Mike Murphy, the caretaker of the Giants clubhouse, found a sealed container with syringes when cleaning up Santiago's closet. Murphy brought the syringes to the training room, handed them to Conte, and told him that he had found them in Santiago's closet. Conte replied that he "would take care of it." Murphy also remembered that assistant coach Dave Groeschner was present at that conversation."

Bobby Estalella (1974-) was the third player of the San Francisco Giants who was linked to the BALCO scandal through leaked confessions. On December 13, 2007, he was also named as a user in the Mitchell Report. On January 29, 2009, Estalella announced his doping use to a Federal Jury.

On March 17, 2005, many former top players came to the House Government Reform Committee to testify about the steroids use in baseball. Mark McGwire (1963-), Jose Canseco (1964-), Curt Schilling (1966-), Sammy Sosa (1968-) and Rafael Palmeiro (1964-) were present, while Frank Thomas (1968-) testified via satellite. Barry Bonds (1964-) and Jason Giambi (1971-) were not invited because of their involvement in the ongoing BALCO affair.

During his testimony, Rafael Palmeiro (1964-) strongly denied that he had used steroids and declared while under oath:

“Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids. Full stop. I don't know how to tell you that more clearly. Never."

In August of that same year he was suspended for ten days when it appeared that he had delivered a positive test for steroids on May 4. The Washington Post reported that the steroid found in Palmeiro's body was a "serious" one and according to The New York Times it was stanozolol. When he returned to his team for the first time after his suspension in Toronto, he wore earplugs so he could not hear the local fans shouting. In his book "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant" Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big, his former teammate Jose Canseco (1964-) called him a "fellow steroid user" and Canseco claimed that he had injected Palmeiro personally with steroids. In December 2007, Palmeiro was mentioned in the Mitchell Report as a user of performance enhancing products. The report did not provide any new evidence and only contained the claims of Jose Canseco, Palmeiro's appearance before Congress and his subsequent failed drug test.

The report also mentioned a conversation with baseball player Larry Bigbie (1977-) who claimed that Palmeiro had searched him for his source of steroids and growth hormones and asked how the stuff felt.

That source was Kirk Radomski (1969-), who in April 2007 pleaded guilty to money laundering and the illegal distribution of anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, Clenbuterol, amphetamines and other drugs to dozens of current and former Major League Baseball players and partners. He was looking at 25 years in jail and a fine of $ 500,000. Because he worked closely with the law, he was only sentenced to 5 years of probation and a fine of $ 18,575.

On December 20, 2007, Palmeiro was named as an amphetamine user in an unconfirmed statement by former player Jason Grimsley (1967-), even before these products were banned by the MLB.

Former homerun specialist José Canseco (1964-), also called "The Bad Boy of Baseball" and even "The Godfather of Steroids" revealed in his book "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant, Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big" his experiences from 16 years of professional baseball. For example, he confessed that he had used anabolic steroids and growth hormones to strengthen his body and improve his performance for years. As a result, he succeeded in 42 home runs in 1988 and stole forty bases, never seen before. It elicited the observation:

"Without steroids I would never have made it to the Major League."

Rumors about his anabolic use were already circulating at the beginning of 1988, but he denied that throughout his career. However, he was arrested several times for aggression, which was the result of his use. Specialists call this the 'roid rage'. On February 10, 1989, after a 15-mile chase, Canseco was arrested for reckless driving. He was arrested in California in April 1989 with a semi-automatic revolver in his car. With his Porsche, he rammed the BMW of his then wife Esther in 1992. He went to prison in November 1997 for hitting his bride. After a fight at a nightclub in Miami Beach, he was arrested together with his brother on November 13, 2001. He had attacked two tourists, one of them had a broken nose, the other twenty stitches to the lip. In March 2003 he received two years of house arrest for marital disputes. He was arrested in June 2003 for violating his probation and again tested positive for steroids. In 2005 Canseco confessed the use of anabolic steroids, but he also snitched on his ex-team mates. For example, he claimed that 85% of Major League players used steroids. In May 2008, he had to pay some seven to eight million dollars in alimony for each of his two divorces. In May 2008, Canseco had lost his home in Encino, California. In October 10, 2008, immigration officials caught him at the San Diego border crossing where he wanted to smuggle drugs from Mexico into the country.

Jason Giambi (1971-) acknowledged the use of human growth hormones and steroids and confirmed that he purchased the products from Greg Anderson (1966-). In 2004 a tumor of the pituitary gland was diagnosed, one of the drugs Giambi took is known to be a cause of this. At a press conference just before the start of the 2005 season, Giambi apologized to the media and his fans, though he did not specify why. The lawyer who had leaked the testimony illegally pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. On May 16, 2007, Giambi apologized a second time, this time for the use of steroids.

"It was wrong to use this stuff," he said in USA Today, "we should have stood up much longer, both players and owners, and everyone else involved, and we should have admitted that we made a mistake."

When asked why he used steroids, Giambi answered:

"Maybe later I will talk about it, but not yet."

Forced by Bud Selig (1934-), Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Giambi finally spoke with Senator George J. Mitchell (1933-), who confirmed in the Mitchell Report that both Jason Giambi and his brother Jeremy Giambi (1974-) used steroids.

In December 2001, Jeremy Giambi (1974-) had already been arrested for possession of marijuana during a check at the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. On March 13, 2005, The Kansas City Star reported that he also used anabolic steroids

American football

A lot of football players were caught.

Chris Cooper (1977-), defensive lineman of the Oakland Raiders, tested positive for THG and had to hand in three games salary.

Barret Robbins (1973-) was sent out by the Raiders when he tested positive for steroids from the BALCO lab in 2004. A few months later on Christmas Eve, he was arrested in San Francisco for hitting the security guard who refused him access to the bar at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. On January 15, 2005, Robbins shot at Miami Beach police officers three times during a fight and was charged with attempted murder. Robbins pleaded guilty for five allegations, including the assassination attempt, and was sentenced to five years' probation. He had to have his bipolar disorder treated and was no longer allowed to drink alcohol. In an interview with Real Sports HBOs in 2009, he told TV journalist Andrea Kremer (1959-) that he treated his mood swings with alcohol, cocaine, marijuana and steroids before being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In the same report, his ex-wife Marisa said that he crawled back to bed some days after breakfast. At the beginning of 2010, a police officer stopped him in the Dallas area and found cocaine in his car. On March 25, 2011, Robbins was sentenced to five years in prison in Florida for violating his drug-related probation. In August 2016, Robbins hit a woman and her daughter, which led to a new arrest, after which he was admitted to a psychiatric institut.

Dana Stubblefield (1970-) tested positive for THG, and had to renounce his salary for three games. At first he denied everything, but in January 2008 he enforced an arrangement by cooperating with the police. He handed the researchers the names of the players, agents and trainers who were involved in doping transactions. For that reason he received a very light two-year conditional sentence. In December 2010, he flew behind bars in San Francisco for ninety days because he had given a false address, allowing him to steal the mail from his former girlfriend. In May 2016, he was accused of sexual abuse of a disabled woman, his bail was set at $ 250,000.

In the '60 Minutes' TV broadcast, Bill Romanowski (1966-) announced that he had been using steroids for two years, which he received from Victor Conte (1950-). Romanowski, who is considered one of the dirtiest players in the NFL, was involved with a lot of brawls, both with opponents and with team mates. In 1995, he was excluded during a match and subsequently fined with $ 4,500, because he had hit opponent Larry Centers (1968-) on the head. In 1997, he received a $ 20,000 fine after a helmet-on-helmet battle, leaving quarterback Kerry Collins (1972-) with a jaw fracture. Later that year he spat J.J. Stokes (1972-) in the face because he nagged him. Two years later, he was fined $ 42,500 for hitting Tony Gonzalez (1976-) and throwing a ball at the private parts of Bryan Cox (1968-). In 2003, he crushed the eye socket of teammate Marcus Williams (1977-) with his helmet. Williams sued him for $ 3.4 million in damages, arguing that Romanowski suffered from 'roid rage', a known side effect of anabolic use. Williams eventually received $ 340,000.

Matt Lehr (1979-) played as a guard with the Atlanta Falcons, when he was suspended four games in 2005 for having been on the steroids.

He stopped playing football and started doing bodybuilding.

One thing can't be denied: American football player Luis Castillo (1983-), is very honest. After he found out that he had been banned in 2005, he wrote a letter to the 32 NFL teams in which he acknowledged the use of androstedione because he wanted to heal from an injury during his first year with the 'big guys'.

The American football player Michael L. Jameson, Jr. (1979-) of the Cleveland Browns was suspended for four matches in September 2005 for the use of prohibited substances.

Baseball

Mark McGwire (1963-), nicknamed 'Big Mac' by his supporters and famous for his record number of homeruns in one season, confessed that he had used androstenedione in 1998. McGwire was one of eleven summoned baseball players who had to testify before the US Congress about the use of steroids. During his testimony on March 17, 2005, however, he refused to answer the questions under oath. On January 11, 2010, McGwire announced that he had used anabolics for ten years, but he added that he did so to recover from injuries. The decision to eventually go to confession was made because he wanted to be the head coach of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Cuban baseball player Alexis Sánchez (1976-) was suspended for anabolic use for ten days on April 3, 2005, and he also had to pay a fine of $ 32,787 to his club Tampa Bay Devil Rays. According to the baseball player, the prohibited product was in the dietary supplements that he had bought in a drugstore.

Jorge Piedra (1979-) of the Colorado Rockies and Agustín Montero (1977-) of the Chicago White Sox were also suspended for ten days after a positive anabolicate test and they too had to hand in ten days of wages.

On April 26, Jamal Strong (1978-), outfielder with the Seattle Mariners, was caught using anabolics.

On May 2, 2005 Juan Rincon (1979-) of the Minnesota Twins was caught.

The next in line was Rafael Betancourt (1975-) from the Cleveland Indians on July 8.

Ryan Franklin (1973-) of the Seattle Mariners tested positive on August 2, on September 7 his teammate Michael Morse (1982-) delivered a positive pee.

Carlos Almanzar (1973-) of the Texas Rangers was found positive on October 4.

Félix Pérez (1975-) from the Dominican Republic and American Grant Roberts (1977-) played with the New York Nets, when they were caught on anabolic abuse, they were given ten days of suspension.

Matt Lawton (1971-) was caught on November 2 using boldenone, an anabolic for animals; he was suspended for ten days by the Chicago Cubbs. In a statement to Associated Press, he apologized to all the people he had 'abandoned'.

Tom Evans (1974-) was suspended for 15 games after a positive test for steroids. Moreover, he had to follow a rehab program.

Clay Hensley (1979-) was a pitcher with the Milwaukee Browns when he was caught using anabolics. The verdict was fifteen days of suspension.

After signing a contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Brian Mallette (1975-) was suspended in April 2005 for thirty games because he was caught a second time on using prohibited drugs. Reason enough for him to quit competition.

Darnell McDonald (1978-) of the Cleveland Indians was suspended for 15 games when he was caught using anabolics in May 2005.

Jon Nunnally (1971-) of the Indianapolis Indians had to stay fifteen games at the side after a positive test for anabolica. It meant the end of his professional career.

Christian Parker (1975-) from the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, received a fifteen games suspension in May 2005 after traces of anabolics were found in his urine. Moreover, his team fired him.

Basketball

French basketball player Joseph N’Sima (1979-) tested positive for ephedrine and was suspended for a year

Cricket

Cricket player Asim Butt (1967-2009) had the double Scottish-Pakistani nationality. After completing one of his three international matches with the Scottish team, he tested positive for ecstasy, for which he was suspended for a year. In 2009 he died in his sleep.

British cricket player Graham Wagg (1983-) was caught using cocaine, which earned him a one-year suspension and the resignation of his Warwickshare team.

Cycling

On January 19, 2005, the French police arrested seven people in Cahors. They were suspected of trading 'pot belge', a cocktail of doping products that is loved in the world of professional cycling. The key figure of the Franco-Belgian doping network was the former ARD soigneur Freddy Sergant (1944-). The investigators tracked him down when Laurent Roux (1972-) and his brother Fabien (1948-) confessed to the authorities that they were buying prohibited products from him. The riders Eddy Lembo (1980-) and Jean-Marie Vernie (1960-) were also involved in the trade. During the arrests, 93 bottles of 'pot belge' were found.

The cycling coach of Guatemala was suspended for life by his own cycling federation after some of his riders had tested positive for EPO during the Vuelta a Guetemala.

The riders themselves were lightly punished: David Calanche (1977-) had to step aside for two months, Lizandro Ajcú (1982-) (photo1) and Nery Velásquez (1980-) (photo2) six months and Abel Jocholá (1978-) one year. Besides the four Guatemalans, Colombian Federico Muñoz (1963-), Mexican Carlos López González (1979-), Venezuelans Yeisson Delgado (1977-) and Noel Armando Vazquez Mendoza (1976-) and Spaniard José Reynaldo Murillo were caught using EPO.

In 2005, the French sports magazine l'Equipe accused Lance Armstrong (1971-) of having been doped with EPO during the 1999 Tour de France. The product could not be traced back then, but the urine samples taken were frozen for scientific research, in particular to improve the tests. Twelve of those samples gave positive results on EPO in 2005, six of which would have been from Armstrong.

Another French weekly 'Le Journal du Dimanche' reported that the other positive samples belonged to Spaniard Manuel Beltrán (1971-), Danish Bo Hamburger (1970-) and Colombian Joaquim Castelblanco (1969-).

Beltrán tested positive for EPO in the first stage of the Tour de France 2008. He was suspended for two years, thrown out of his team Liquigas and had to pay that team a hundred thousand Euro compensation.

Bo Hamburger was thrown out by CSC in 2001 after a positive doping test for EPO and the Danish Cycling Union no longer called him for the national team. In November 2007 he published the book 'Den største pris - and cykelryttersknownelser' (The Greatest Prize - Confession of a cyclist), in which he admitted that he had used EPO and growth hormones from 1995 to 1997. In 2001 he tested positive for EPO after the Flêche Wallone. Mid 2008, he was involved in a pyramid scheme in Denmark. The tabloid 'Ekstra Bladet' reported this after a video recording which showed how Hamburger and a henchman tried to steal the journalist's video camera.

Castelblanco was suspended for six months in 2004 after a positive testosterone doping test in the Tour of Colombia which he had won.

Spaniard Roberto Heras (1974-) won the final time trial of the Vuelta, but a few months later he was because he was taken his win after being caught using EPO. At the beginning of 2006, he also received a two-year suspension for this. At the end of 2007 he announced his retirement. In June 2011 it was announced that Heras regained its victory of 2005, because a Spanish court ruled that the blood samples were not correctly stored and therefore could not provide any evidence. Heras then initiated a claim for damages, and in May 2017 the Supreme Court awarded him an amount of € 725,000 or half of his annual salary for 2005.

Dutchman Erwin Bakker (1979-) was caught in March 2005 during the Tour of Valladolid with a too high T/E ratio in the blood, which indicated testosterone use. One month later when traces of EPO were found in his urine during an unannounced control, he received a two-year suspension and his team sent him out. However, he could not resist and competed under the name of his brother Jaro. After winning a competition in Germany, a journalist recognized him on the victory photo, the international sports tribunal TAS suspended him for life.

The police visited Dutchman Marc Lotz (1973-) and found EPO during the search. During the interrogation, Lotz indicated that he had started EPO because of the enormous pressure that the team and his environment imposed on him.

"I wanted to be more than the eternal servant. With medical help I could possibly win ... I would rather not tell where I got the stuff, because I don't want to put bad ideas in youngster's mind. It's certainly not difficult to get EPO."

At the beginning of October 2008, he was sentenced by the Tongeren District Court to a fine of € 16,500 and suspended for two years, half of which was conditional.

Jens Fiedler (1970-) became Olympic sprint champion in Barcelona in 1992, one year later he was crowned world champion in that discipline. In 1993 the German switched to the pros and he won a first world title in 1995. In 1996 he renewed his 1992 Olympic title in Atlanta and in 1998 and 1999 he won the keirin world title. At the Sydney Olympics he disappointed with a bronze medal in both the sprint and the keirin. He nevertheless won his most spectacular medal at the 2001 World Cup in Antwerp. With half a round to go, he hit the canvas with three of the six keirin finalists. He crossed the finish line with a shredded bicycle and that earned him the bronze medal. After all, the regulations stipulate that a rider must cross the line with a bicycle. At the 2004 Olympics in Athenes, he and teammates René Wolff (1978-) and Stefan Nimke (1978-) won the gold medal in the sprint team competition. However, his positive test for amphetamine was during his 2005 farewell tour in Manchester.

In 2005 Álvaro Tardáguila (1975-) from Uruguay won the cycling race in his own country. Later that year he was given a two-year suspension when traces of EPO and anabolica were found at the doping control after the Great Downer Avenue Bike Race in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The Belgian cycling association suspended Ludovic Capelle (1976-) for eighteen months because he delivered a positive EPO test after the Gullegem Koerse. The Landbouwkrediet-Colnagno team fired him immediately. Later the Council of State declared the penalty invalid due to procedural errors, as the rider was not indicated by drawing lots as stated in the control sheet. In 2006 the acquittal followed by the Disciplinary Council of the Flemish Community, but in November 2008 Capelle put an end to his sports career.

Italian Fabrizio Guidi (1972-) was checked for training in July 2005 and he responded positively to EPO. He was suspended for two years and immediately put away by his team Phonak. However, the contra-expertise of the following month yielded a negative result, on which his suspension was lifted.

During the Tour of Murcia German Danilo Hondo (1974-) was caught on the use of carfedon, after which his team Gerolsteiner send him away. Initially, he only received a one-year suspension from the Swiss Cycling Association because he considered that the quantity found was so small that it was probably taken unknowingly. WADA appealed against that ruling and the sports court doubled the sentence. Hondo, in turn, appealed and a Swiss court suspended WADA's ruling. After a new protest, it was agreed that he should remain inactive until March 2006. Finally he received a new suspension that kept him off the bike until January 2008.

Even before the start of the eleventh stage, Italian Dario Frigo (1973-) was send from the Tour de France. During a cross-border investigation, the police found ten doses of EPO in his wife's car. The couple were arrested and in September 2008 the Court of Albertville sentenced them to six months in prison with a delay and a fine of € 8,757. It wasn't his first mistake, by the way. In 2001, after his final win in Paris-Nice and the Tour de Romandie, he was well on his way to winning the Giro d'Italia, until the carabinieri found various doping products during a raid on his hotel room. Frigo confessed that the products belonged to him, but that he had not used them and only kept them 'just in case'. Frigo was evicted from the Giro, fired by his team Fassa Bortolo and suspended for six months.

Football

Icelandic Ole Gottskálksson (1968-) was not only goalkeeper of his national football team, he also represented his country in basketball. In 2004 Torquay United from England recruited him, but after fifteen games he fled on the arrival of doping controllers. In June 2005, he was suspended indefinitely by the English Football Association. In March 2010 he was sentenced in Iceland for ten months due to burglary, theft and violent behavior. In October 2011 he was jailed for four months for similar facts. In July 2016, he was arrested under the influence after a police chase with his five-year-old son in the back seat. One month later he applied for a withdrawal treatment, but two days later he was rushed to the National University Hospital in Iceland with internal bleeding and broken ribs, claiming he had sustained those injuries when the police arrested him.

Brazilian/Spanish football player Everton Giovanella (1970-) of the Spanish first division team Celta de Vigo was suspended for two years after a positive test on Nandrolone.

Greek football player Nikos Spyropoulos (1983-) was caught using testosterone, and Panathinaikos Athens fired him.

Harry Milanzi (1978-) and Francis Kombe (1985-) from the Zambian national football team were caught using cannabis and were suspended for six months and a year respectively.

The case became a state affair after President Mwanawasa (1948-2008) set aside six hundred dollars for the fight against drug abuse in sports.

Ijah Anderson (1975-) played for Swansea City when he was caught using cocaine in 2005, for which he was suspended for six months, which marked the end of his professional football career.

Portuguese Nuno Assis (1977-) played offensive midfielder at Benfica Lisbon, but was found guilty of using 19-norandrosterone after a game against CS Maritmo. UEFA suspended the player for all its official matches, while the Portuguese association imposed a six-month ban. After the Benfica president's complaint that the investigation procedure was not according to the rules, the Portuguese association reduced the sentence by one month. Benfica threatened with court cases and even complained to the lab that had performed the tests. Throughout the fuss, WADA attracted the case and after thorough investigation the player suddenly got a year of suspension.

Mexicans Salvador Carmona (1975-) and Aarón Galindo (1982-) were suspended for one year after the Confederations Cup of 2005 for taking performance-enhancing drugs. Carmona, who was called up 85 times for the Mexican national team, including the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, received a life-long ban in 2007 after a second offense.

Portuguese Abel Xavier (1972-) tested positive for dianabol after the UEFA cup match of his then team Middlesborough FC against the Greek Skoda Xanthi. He was banned for eighteen months, but that sentence was later reduced to twelve months.

Italian television broadcasted a report in which it was shown how Fabio Cannavaro (1973-) injected himself intravenously in 1999 the night before the UEFA Cup meeting of his club Parma against l'Olympique de Marseille. The product turned out to be Neoton, a cardiotonic that was not on the list of prohibited products.

Kayak

Triple world champion kayak Nathan Baggaley (1975-) (on the right in the photo), who also won silver twice at the Olympics, tested positive for stanozolol and methandienone in September 2005. The Australian Canoe Federation suspended him for 15 months, but the International Canoe Federation increased that to two years. When, after his suspension, he wanted to become active again, he was arrested in October 2007 with 762 ecstasy tablets in his possession. In February 2009, Baggaley pleaded guilty to making 1509 tablets of the drug MDMA, his younger brother Dru (left in the photo) manufactured 13,500 tablets of the stuff. Nathan Baggaley was sentenced to nine years in prison. In June 2010 he was again charged with possession of steroids in prison and then transferred to the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Center. After serving his sentence, he was arrested again in November 2013 and charged with importing drugs into Australia and producing banned substances. In February 2015, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 27 months in prison. His brother Dru was arrested in August 2018 for trying to smuggle 600 kilos of cocaine into the country.

Rugby

English rugby player Ryan Hudson (1979-) was suspended for two years because he was caught using Stanozolol.

Sean Penkywicz (1982-) played in the English rugby league at Hudderfield when he was caught using stanozolol in 2005. He was immediately suspended for two years.

Skeleton

Zach Lund (1979-) was not allowed to go to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin because he was caught using Finasteride during the 2005 World Cup Skeleton. He had to hand in the silver and was suspended for one year. The American claimed that he had been using the drug for seven years to treat his baldness. After 2005, the product was removed from the doping lists, the appeals committee believed the arguments of Lund but wrote in its decision:

“We are very pleased that Mr. Lund did not cheat on us, unfortunately he made a mistake in 2005. "

Skiing

Polish skier Justyna Kowalczyk (1983-) was caught on the use of Dexamethasone, a forbidden corticosteroid, for which she was suspended for two years. The sentence was later reduced to six months because Kowalczyk would have acted in good faith. In 2010, she accused on her website her Norwegian rival Marit Björgen (1980-) that she had twice won Olympic gold thanks to an asthma treatment drug.

Surfing

Slowly but surely, the use of doping spread to other sports. For example, the Brazilian surfer Neco Padaratz (1976-) was suspended for six months in July 2005 due to the use of anabolica, and he lost all ASP points won. Padaratz, who fully cooperated with the study, stated that he was taking the drug to treat his chronic back pain.

Swimming

In the international swimming world, too, prohibited products were widely experimented with. The list released by FINA did not lie.

In 2005, Italian water polo player Emilio Pagani (1973-) (photo 1), Ukrainian swimmer Andrey Oleynik (1993-), British diver Gary Hunt (1984-) (photo2), the French water polo players Yann Lejuste, Charles Roche, Romain Locher (1986-) and Jérome Cazenave were suspended after a positive marijuana test, Venezuelan swimmer Luis Rojas Carpena (1979-) missed three out-of-competitition controls,

Brazilian swimmer Danilo Carrega (photo 1) Portuguese swimmer Daniel Pereira (photo 2), Greek swimmer Martha Matsa (1987-) (photo3) and Cypriot swimmer Alexandros Aresti (1983-) (photo4) were caught using Stanozolol.

Brazilian swimmer Laura Azevedo (1983-) (photo1) and Australian water polo player Kelly Heuchan (1980-) (photo2) refused a test, Chinese swimmer Zhou Jie (1990-) had been to Clenbuterol, German water polo player Tobias Kreuzmann ( 1981-) (photo3) tested positive for Finasteride, Greek water polo player Simos Loukas and American swimmer Erica Watts for Methylphenidate. Kazakh swimmer Oleg Shteinikov (1985-) delivered a positive pee for Nandrolone, French water polo player Franck Morland sniffed cocaine, Turkish swimmer Genco Uçan took Meetolone and Greek swimmer Christina Bethani Acetazolamide, Portuguese swimmer Ana Rodrigues (1994-) (photo 4) had used the Canrenone masking agent, Russian water polo player Alexander Gaidukov (1974-) was suspended for a year for the use of Carfedon, Czech swimmer Zdenek Frantisak (1986-) and Spanish water polo player Javier Cabanas (1984-) used Ephedrine, Icelandic swimmer Ari Gunnarsson and Egyptian swimmer Dina Ibrahim El Saved 19-Norandrosteron, Polish swimmer Lukasz Gazior (1986-) (photo5), French swimmer Paul Champalbert (1976-) and Kazakh swimmer Vitally Khan (1985-) Cannabis, Iranian swimmer Achkan Sharaf Zadeh Methandienon, French swimmer Christopher Bach Prednison.

Spaniard David Meca (1974-) won the 25km at the Open Water World Championship, but was caught using nandrolone, which earned him a one-year suspension.

Tennis

Argentinian Mariano Puerta (1978-) wanted to belong to the world top, but was caught using Clenbuterol in 2003, for which he received a nine-month suspension. At the end of 2005 it became known that he had tested positive for ephedrine during Roland Garros. Because this was now a second offense, he was suspended for eight years and had to surrender € 440,000 in prize money. He successfully appealed to the CAS in Lausanne, which reduced his suspension to two years.

Canadian Simon Larose (1978-) received a two-year suspension after a positive check for cocaine during the ATP tournament in Bucharest. It meant the end of his sporting career.

Argentinian Mariano Hood (1973-) was suspended by the ITF when he tested positive at Finasteride during the French Open at Roland Garos.

Argentinian Guillermo Cañas (1977-) was suspended for two years in August 2005 and had to pay back the $ 276,070 prize money to the ATP when hydrochlorothiazide was found in his urine, a diuretic masking the intake of prohibited products. Cañas, who was eighth on the world list at the time, shouted out his innocence and claimed that ATP doctors Mercader and Chinchilla had prescribed a product for a cold containing the diuretic in question. He brought the case before the Appeal Court of the Sports Tribunal, which partially agreed with him, the product was indeed present in a prescribed medicine, but he should have been more careful and had to check it before taking it. He was allowed to return to the circuit in September and received his prize money back.

Russian American Alex Bogomolov (1983-) was suspended in 2005 for a month and a half after salbutamol was found during a doping control during the Australian Open. Bogie admitted that he used the product through an inhaler to treat his exercise asthma, but he had forgotten to fill it in on the appropriate documents. The sports tribunal found this explanation sufficient and decided not to suspend him for two years.

Track and field

Russian javelin thrower Oksana Yarygina (1972-) was not allowed to participate in any competition from August 2005 to August 2007 due to a positive doping test.

During the 2005 Chinese athletics championships, Sun Yingjie (1979-) finished second in 10,000m, but the test afterwards indicated the use of the steroid androsterone. She accused a competitor of putting the product in her drink. Her opponent was indeed convicted by a civil court, but the Chinese Athletics Association ruled that Yingjie was responsible for her own well-being. She was scrapped from the results and suspended for two years. Her coach Wang Dexian received a lifelong suspension.

At the European Indoor Championships in Madrid, British Mark Lewis-Francis (1982-) tested positive for cannabis after the 60m final, causing him to surrender the silver. The following year his suspension was lifted because he had not taken cannabis as a performance-enhancing drug.

Russian heptathlist Yelena Prokhorova (1978-) tested positive during a doping control outside the competition and was therefore banned for a year from competition.

Traces of pemoline were found with Russian 400m runner Darya Safonova (1981-) during the Russian championship, which resulted in a two-year suspension.

Russian Olga Kuzenkova (1970-) won the gold medal in hammer throwing at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and one year later she also became world champion in Helsinki. In 2012, the IOC lab found through new detection tools that she had been involved in anabolics both times. The verdict was two years of retroactive suspension, surrender of the medals and cancellation of the honors lists.

South African 800m specialist Hezekiél Sepeng (1974-) was banned from the track for two years after he was caught using Nandrolon in early 2005.

Triathlon

Basque triathlete Virginia Berasategui (1975-) delivered a positive doping test on EPO after the 2005 Ironman in Lanzarote. However, the accusation was classed because at that time there were doubts about the validity of the used doping tests. In June 2013, Berasategui won the Bilbao half triathlon, but after the race, the doping test proved positive again. Two weeks later she confessed the facts and humbly stated that this is the worst mistake an athlete could make. She also immediately announced her retirement from competitive sport.

In July 2005, during an unannouced control, Swiss triathlete Brigitte McMahon-Huber (1967-) was caught on EPO. She admitted that she only started EPO after her Olympic gold medal in 2000 and because she received a two-year suspension, she immediately announced her retirement at the top sport. After her suspension, however, she came back to it and in 2017 she even became world champion in the age category between 50 and 54 years.

"During a moment of weakness, I made a huge wrong decision. I have always been in favor of doping-free sport and you can be assured that my Olympic gold in Sydney had nothing to do with doping."

Wrestling

Turk Harun Docan (1976-), in 1999 the free wrestling world champion in the category up to 58 kg, tested positive for the anabolic steroid metolone during the national championship. Because he had been suspended for two years at the 2002 World Cup because of ephedrine use, he was now banned for life.