Doping and sports - 2012

In 2012, 221,397 doping products were seized in Belgium, a doubling compared to 2011.

In November, the Australian Olympic Committee decided that the athletes selected for the Olympics should sign a contract stating that they had never encountered doping. Athletes who refused were canceled from the selection.

In 2012, 1,389 doping controls were conducted in a competition context in Belgium, of which 4.1% were positive. Out of competition there were 672 tests, with two positive cases. The inspectors also visited fitness centers, 105 tests gave 28.6% positive results. Anabolics and testosterone accounted for 39%, cannabis for 23% and stimulants such as amphetamines for 21%. 26.3% of the doping practices identified were refusers. In bodybuilding, 33.3% of the tests were positive, in indoor football 27.8%, in kickboxing 13.9%, in hockey 11.1%; 6.8% in boxing and 4.9% in cycling.

The Dutch Doping Authority carried out 2,593 inspections. In 23 cases, this laboratory investigation concerned the use of prohibited substances. Five times there was a refusal or lack of cooperation three times incorrectly filling in the 'where-abouts'.

With the arrest of ten suspects, the Spanish police rolled up a doping network in Madrid and Barcelona. The group already started the trade of anabolics, growth hormone, epo and cera in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games. Positive tests during the 2009 Tour of Portugal and the Vuelta and Spanish Athletics Championships of 2010 brought the police on track. On March 5, a Spanish-Colombian doctor, who is said to be the pivot, was arrested at Barajas airport in Madrid with doping products in his possession.

In December 2012, Darya Pishchalnikova (1985-) sent an email to WADA stating that she could provide detailed evidence about the controlled doping use of Russian athletes under the supervision of Russian sports and anti-doping authorities. Three top WADA officials decided not to do anything about this and forwarded the mail to the Russian Athletics Association. In May 2012 the Russian was caught using oxandrolone, after which the IAAF pronounced a two-year suspension. In April 2013, it became known that Pishchalnikova had missed a second doping control, the Russian athletics federation suspended her for ten years, according to the American newspaper The New York Times an act of retribution.

Professor Klaus-Dieter Schlüter from the Physiology Department of the Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen published a study on German Olympia participants. The study found that athletes, cyclists and strength athletes die more often than average from heart problems and have a lower life expectancy than athletes from other disciplines. With regard to the years 2000 to 2011, when the life expectancy of the total population was 76.2 years, this was 70.4 years for this group. Exception were the rowers, canoeists, swimmers and gymnasts who had an expectation of 82.6 years. Schlüter stated:

"Death from heart disease contributes to above-average mortality of competitive athletes from doping-related sports, and this contributes to a lower overall life expectancy for this group."

In a report, the French Academy of Medicine called for a systematic autopsy in the event of the sudden death of amateur athletes, because they suspected that doping was often involved. According to rapporteur Doctor Patrice Queneau (1938-), the aim was to clarify the real causes of sudden death. Every year 800 athletes died on the French sports fields, 95% were men with an average age of 46 without a cardiovascular history.

WADA published a new list of prohibited products, which took effect on January 1, 2012. The use of alcohol was no longer prohibited in bowling. From that date on, bob sledges, skeletons, curling, modern pentathlon, motorsport, sailing and wrestling were once again allowed to swallow beta blockers.

Following the Youth Winter Olympics, the New Zealand WADA Director-General David Howman stated that barely 2% of the victims were caught. Of the 254,000 samples taken from 2011, only 36 were positive. He argued for a more effective and efficient working method, because those 254,000 samples had cost 254 million dollars. He also pointed out that the fight against doping could never be won, but that it was still worthwhile to go after it.

At the end of January, the German anti-doping agency issued a press release that it launched an investigation into a doping scandal involving 28 athletes. It was checked whether the athletes received a blood transfusion from the German sports physician Andreas Franke, who was active in Erfurt in the training center for top athletes of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB). Franke was suspected of draining the athletes' blood, then treating it with ultraviolet light and then injecting it back into the athletes, a procedure prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

TV broadcaster ARD reported that 28 athletes were involved in the scandal. Among them the former Olympic skating champion Claudia Pechstein (1972-), former Olympic 800m champion Nils Schumann (1978-), German cycling talent Marcel Kittel (1988-) and Jamaican long jumper James Beckford (1975-), in 1996 silver medalist in Atlanta . Of the unnamed athletes, several were said to be minors.

American football

D. J. Williams (1982-), Ryan McBean (1984-) and Virgil Green (1988-) played at the Denver Broncos when they responded positively to a doping control. The first two were suspended six games, Green Four, at which the Broncos board threw Ryan McBean at the door. He was already arrested and fined in 2011 for stalking his ex. Williams, for his part, was stopped by the police one night in November 2010 because he was driving without lights. He was under the influence of the wheel and since this was the second time he was imprisoned for ten days.

After signing a contract with the Washington Redskins, Tanard Jackson (1985-) was arrested for the use of prohibited drugs in August and suspended for a year

Baseball

American Freddy Galvis (1989-) of the Philadelphia Phillies was suspended 50 games, because clostebol had been found during a doping test.

Melky Cabrera (1984-) of the San Francisco Giants also had to stay aside for 50 games after he was caught using testosterone. The outfielder from the Dominkan Republic admitted the offense:

"I accept my punishment. I regret my mistake and apologize to my colleagues, club and supporters."

Bartolo Colon (1973-) from the Dominican Republic was also suspended for 50 matches due to the use of testosterone. The pitcher of the Oakland Athletics also did not receive any salary during that period.

Because he had been on the amphetamines, Panamanian Carlos Ruiz (1979-) of the Philadelphia Phillies got 25 games suspension.

American Guillermo Mota (1973-) was immediately suspended a hundred games due to the use of a prohibited performance-enhancing drug. The punishment was so severe because 38-year-old Mota was a repeat offender. In 2006 he had to watch 50 duels from the sidelines for a similar offense.

Bodybuilding

Belgian reporter Tom Waes (1968-) took part in the Belgian bodybuilding championship as a stunt for his television program "Tomtesteron". In less than eight months he prepared himself for the competition. After that very hard training he was indeed a lot more muscular, but not enough for a podium place. In the category up to 75 kg he finished sixth out of seven participants. Months after the recordings, however, he received a letter in which the Federation of Bodybuilders informed him that he had finished third. Many competitors were caught doping. A few years earlier it was not even possible to name champions, when the doping controllers came to the title fight, all participants fled the building through windows and doors.

Boxing

After his KO victory against fellow countryman Lorenz Larkin (1986-) American "King Mo" Lawal (1981-) was suspended for a year for a positive test on Drostanalone.

The British Enzo Maccarinelli (1980-), Larry Olubamiwo (1978-), Terry Dunstan (1968-), Michael Banbula (1980-) and Tony Dodson (1980-) were caught doping. Olubamiwo, who had to leave for four years, later admitted that he had used no less than thirteen different prohibited products in six years.

Just before her trip to the World Cup in China, Australian boxing champion Bianca Elmir (1982-) tested positive for furosemide and amiloride, which suspended her for twelve months.

Car racing

On the eve of the Grand Prix Formula I of Abu Dhabi, Mark Webber (1976-) asked the FIA to make stricter checks for doping.

The Australian thus responded to the news that countryman and motorcyclist Anthony West (1981-) was caught using methylhexaneamine during the French GP.

American A.J. Allmendinger (1981-) was put non-active in July because after the Coke Zero 400 race on the Daytona racing circuit he peeed positive for amphetamine. He opted for a withdrawal cure in the Road to Recovery program and the Penske Racing team threw him at the door.

After the GT1 race in Spain for the World Cup, Czech Tomas Enge (1976-) tested positive for stimulants. The FIA suspended the former Formula I pilot for 18 months. Ten years before, he should have surrendered the European Formula 3000 title because traces of cannabis were found during a check.

Cricket

Abdur Rehman (1980-) from Pakistan but active in the British competition had to step aside for twelve weeks when it turned out that he had been involved in cannabis.

Cycling

Just after the end of the year, the UCI suspended seven South American riders. The Brazilians Tiago Damasceno (1989-), Flavio Reblin (1988-), Wagner Alves (1980-) and Elton Silva (1977-), Chilean Manuel Villalobos (1983-), Peruvian Ronald Luza (1985-) and Bolivian Fernando Espindola (1989-) had been caught doping the year before.

French track cyclist Grégory Baugé (1985-) has to surrender his individual world title sprint but also the gold medal in the team sprint. The star of the World Cup violated the doping rules three times. Baugé missed a doping test in a period of eighteen months and was twice unavailable and the French cycling association FFC suspended him for a year with retroactive effect.

The Italian Olympic committee CONI suspended Mattia Gavazzi (1983-) for 2.5 years because of a positive doping test. The Italian was caught on the use of cocaine during the Cycling Week of Lombardy. The son of Pierino Gavazzi (1950-), in 1980 winner of Milan-Sanremo, already had problems with cocaine use as an amateur and was suspended for 14 months in 2004. He was first given a six-year suspension, but it was reduced to 2.5 because he cooperated well with the investigation.

In January, amateur Alexandre Dougnier (1993-) received a three-year suspension from the French federation, because his urine contained twelve prohibited substances: 3'HydroxyStanozolol, 16B-HydroxyStanozolol, 4B-HydroxyStanozolol, 4-Méyhylhexaneamine, Prednisone, Prednisone, Prandnisone , Epioxandrolone, Tuaminoheptane, Triamcinolone Acetone, 6B-Hydroxy-Methandiénone and 17-Epimethandiénone.

At the beginning of February Spaniard Alberto Contador (1982-) received a two-year suspension with retroactive effect, because traces of Clenbuterol had been found in his urine in the 2010 Tour. The Spaniard did not appeal.

Almost simultaneously with the suspension of Contador, the surprising news came from the United States that the Federal Prosecutors had stopped their investigation into the alleged doping practices of Lance Amstrong (1971-) because, after two years of investigation, insufficient evidence was found against the seven-fold Tour winner .

Armstrong's reaction did not lie:

“I'm happy that the US Attorney's Office is closing the investigation. It is the right decision and I want to thank them for this. Now I am looking forward to continuing my life as a father, as an athlete and as a defender of the fight against cancer, without being distracted.”

At the beginning of February the Arbitration Court of the Sports Tribunal decided that Tour winner Jan Ullrich (1973-) was suspended for two years for blood doping. The cycling union had demanded a lifelong suspension, but it was not accepted. Immediately after the ruling, Ulrich also admitted his visits to the Spanish sports physician Eufemiano Fuentes (1955-).

Patrice Ciprelli (1954-), husband and trainer of the French cycling legend Jeannie Longo (1958-), was arrested on 8 February after he had bought EPO in China. The number of doping cases for which he was suspected rose to six.

Together with Ciprelli, the director of the French ski-cross team Michel Lucatelli (1967-) was also arrested.

German Patrik Sinkewitz (1980-) appealed against the decisions of the International Cycling Union and his team Farnese Vini. He was put on hold for two years after the 2011 Lugano Grand Prix for a positive test for growth hormone hGH. According to the German, the new test was not at all ready. The German Arbitration Institute agreed with him in 2012 and lifted his suspension. The German Cycling Association challenged this decision at the TAS and was proved right in 2014, after which Sinkewitz was suspended as a repeat offender for eight years with a fine of € 38,500 on top.

The Spanish newspaper El País announced that the Spanish-Colombian physician Alberto Beltrán Niño was arrested on 7 March at Madrid airport with various doping products from the new generation, including TB-500 and Aicar. The latter was at that time the most profitable, non-traceable doping agent in the peloton, because it is a substance that is specific to the body. For the physician with dual nationality, who worked in the Paris hospitals l'hôpital Cochin and la Pitié Salpétrière, it wasn't his first offence. In 2001, when he was a team doctor at the Italian Selle Italia, an impressive amount of medication had already been found in his car. "Le Roi du dopage" quoted as an excuse that all those drugs were intended for patients in Columbia, but the Italian team thanked him for his services.

Under the name Operación Puerto, the Spanish police started an investigation into the trade and walk of the doctor after Spaniard David Garcia (1977-) tested positive for HES and EPO during the Tour of Spain in 2010 and he told the investigators that he purchased the products from Beltrán. Garcia himself lived in Bahrain, but it was possible to catch him when he wanted to fly from Madrid to Colombia.Beltrán worked for a number of modest teams, including Selle Italia, Kaiku, Xacobeo and Liberty. In the latter Portuguese team, three riders were positive at CERA in 2009 during the Tour of Portugal, among them also winner Nuno Ribeiro (1977-). At the request of the Spanish authorities, Belpol was buoyed by Interpol in Columbia in June 2016 as the head of well-organized doping traffic.

After a too high hematocrit test, Nuno Ribeiro (1977-) was immediately fired by the Spanish Liberty-Seguros just before the 2005 Giro. Four years later, he was caught again and he was kicked out of the final ranking with two years of suspension on top.

The Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that the lawyers of Eufemiano Fuentes (1955-), the pivotal figure in the Spanish doping case Operación Puerto, admitted on 12 March that their clients had carried out blood transfusions at professional athletes. They argued that the physician did not violate any law and that the transfusions were carried out in hotel rooms by Fuentes and his colleague, the hematologist José Luis Merino Batres.

"The riders underwent these transfusions voluntarily and did not want them to be in a hospital, because they logically demanded discretion not to be caught," the statement sounded, "no rider complained about the safety of the transfusions. Doctor Fuentes worked because using the same methods as those of a hospital and with the same machines."

The International Cycling Union suspended Denis Galimzyanov (1987-) after an out-of-competition EPO was found in his urine. The Russian sprinter had won Paris-Brussels the year before.

On April 19 it was announced that Riccardo Riccò (1983-) was suspended for 12 years by the Italian anti-doping tribunal because he had given himself a blood transfusion. In February 2011, the Italian was hospitalized with severe kidney failure, where he confessed to the doctors the transfusion. It was already his second suspension, after the 2008 Tour de France he had to leave for twenty months for a positive test.

Around the same time British David Millar (1977-) published his book 'Racing through the dark'. Former user Millar was a teammate of Frank Vandenbroucke (1974-2009) and Marco Pantani (1970-2004) with the Italian team Cofidis. At the press conference he stated frankly that both Frank Vandenbroucke (1974-2009) and Marco Pantani (1970-2004) would still be alive if they had not started doping.

On May 5 an article appeared in the Dutch daily newspaper 'De Volkskrant' in which the manager of Austrian Bernhard Kohl (1982-) stated that Rabobank had allowed the use of doping until 2007. The manager accused former rider Michael Boogerd (1972-) of blood doping a bit however, the Dutchman denied. But then sports director Theo de Rooij (1957-) confirmed the rumors:

"If it happened, it was a well-considered decision by the medical staff," said de Rooij, who also said that he had to call some riders to order because they organized medical supervision on their own. "In that respect, I had already punished Rasmussen before."

Led by de Rooij, Danish yellow jersey wearer Michael Rasmussen (1974-) was kicked out of the Tour in 2007 because he had lied about his whereabouts.

Bernhard Kohl (1982-), for his part, was caught using CERA in the 2008 Tour de France. He had to hand in the polka dot jersey and lost third place in the final ranking. A little later Kohl confessed his use of doping, he was suspended for two years and announced his retirement in 2009.

"In a system where you cannot win without doping, I used doping voluntarily. For me, that double-based life is no longer necessary. It is over," said Kohl, who lost his 2009 contract with Silence-Lotto.

In July there was a complete turn in the "Amstrong case". The Anti-Doping Review Board decided that the US Anti-Doping Agency USADA was allowed to continue the charges against Lance Armstrong (1971-) for alleged doping use. The seven-time Tour winner was formally accused of doping for the period from 1998 to 2011. The net around Armstrong tightened slowly but surely, and former teammates from the 2012 Tour de France refused to respond. It was "No Comment". At his comeback, one would have found traces of EPO and blood transfusions in Armstrong's blood samples. In addition, USADA had testimonials that linked 'The Boss', Italian physician Michele Ferrari (1953-), Johan Bruyneel (1964-) and three other trainers to a large-scale doping network with the then US Postal team.

During the Tour de France, the police invaded the hotel of the Cofidis team on July 10 and caught Frenchman Rémy Di Gregorio (1985-), a consequence of the doping affair of the year before when he was still driving for Astana.

That same day USADA issued a lifelong suspension for Italian sports physician Michele Ferrari (1953-) (photo 1), Spanish sports physician Luis Garcia del Moral and Spanish coach Jose Pepe Marti (together in photo 2) because of their share in multiple doping scandals.

On July 17, Luxemburger Frank Schleck (1980-) delivered a positive pee on Xipamide after the thirteenth Tour stage. Xipamide is an agent that was used to mask doping.

On July 18 it was announced that Bulgarian Ivailo Gabrovski (1978-) had tested positive for EPO after his victory in the third stage of the Tour of Turkey. He won that round, but when the B-sample turned out to be positive, the victory was taken away from him.

On the same July 18 it was announced that Rasa Leleyvite (1988-) had also delivered a positive EPO pee. The Lithuanian was the 2006 junior world champion.

American Jonathan Vaughters (1973-), who was active in the US Postal Service team of Lance Amstrong (1971-) in the 1998-1999 season, the two seasons later with Crédit Agricole and furthermore with many smaller teams, known in August to the New York Times that he was a doping user. However, he was not a high flyer, he rode four Tours de France and as the best performance he could only present the American title time trial from 1997. After his sporting career he became team leader at Garmin-Sharp.

"I had to choose between cheating or giving up on my dream. I chose to lie. I hated it, but I was ambitious. My guilt forced me to stop racing and start a professional cycling team where that choice should not be made."

Because the federal court of Texas-based Austin rejected Lance Armstrong's (1971-) complaint against the US anti-doping agency USADA, the US rider waived further proceedings in August. The USADA accused him of using doping in the period from 1999 to 2005. This put an end to a series of years of suspicions and accusations. His decision also meant that he had to hand in the yellow jerseys that he had won in seven Tours de France, as well as his bronze medal of the 2000 Olympic Games and the prize money, all titles and awards that he won since 1998. In addition, he was given a lifelong ban on coaching athletes or practicing any other sport.

On August 29, 47-year-old Soren Svenningsen (1965-) tested positive on three different drugs after an amateur competition. What made the case dramatic was that he was a board member of the Danish Cycling Association and of the Clearidium anti-doping agency. He immediately resigned from all those positions.

At the beginning of September it became known that the US anti-doping agency USADA had found traces of doping in old blood samples from Lance Armstrong (1971-) via a new detecting method.

A few days before, Belgian former world champion Johan Museeuw (1965-) called on all involved to a 'collective confession of debt'. According to him, the only way to get rid of a time when the use of EPO, blood transfusions and growth hormones was part of the daily routine of many riders.

“We have to break with this hypocrisy. The only way to get out of that murderous spiral is to deal with the constant denial, the silence that keeps haunting us. I am the first to openly admit it and perhaps many people will blame me for breaking the silence, but it must be, for almost everyone, doping use was just part of it at the time."

On October 9, Frenchman Steve Houanard (1986-) was suspended by the UCI after a positive EPO test.

On Wednesday, October 10, "The New York Times" reported that the American Anti-Doping Agency said that Lance Armstrong (1971-) was the focal point of the most advanced and professional doping program of the past sports history and that it would be there in no time with more details would come out.

Armstrong is said to have paid more than a million dollars to the notorious Italian doping physician Michele Ferrari (1953-). The entire file was based on testimonials from 26 people, including sixteen riders, eleven of whom had ridden for the former Armstrong US Postal team.

The USADA immediately suspended six former Armstrong teammates, Levi Leipheimer (1973-), Christian Vande Velde (1976-), David Zabriskie (1979-), Tom Danielson (1978-), Michael Barry (1975-) and George Hincapie (1973-) had admitted the use of prohibited substances. E-mails, financial transactions, scientific data and laboratory analyzes were cited as evidence and the Belgian team leader and former rider Johan Bruyneel (1954-) would have been the pivotal figure of the whole event.

On the following web page you will find the summary of the 1000-page report: http://www.scribd.com/doc/109637096/Lance-Armstrong-USADA-report.

The USADA report hit like a bomb shell  and caused a real snowball effect.

October 12

A former masseuse from Lance Armstrong (1971-) stated that you could see from many small details that US Postal doping was used. For example, the nails of paintings were used to hang baxters in hotel rooms.

October 12

WADA's chief executive David Howman, claimed that Armstrong had probably received help from some doping controllers during his career.

October 12

Belgian Johan Bruyneel (1954-), former Armstrong team leader, received his resignation letter from Radio Shack.

October 13

Matthew White (1974-) stepped up as a team leader at Orica GreenEdge and also resigned from the Australian League. White confessed, like many former team mates, that he had used doping.

"I am sorry that I was part of a team where doping was part of the strategy. I was also part of that strategy. I am not at all proud of it and I apologize to fans, the media, my family and friends who trusted me. I also want to apologize to the other riders who then chose not to be doped."

The Australian rode for US Postal (2001-2003), Cofidis (2004-2005) and Discovery Channel (2006-2007), not coincidentally three teams with a suspicious past and also not coincidentally two ex-teams of Lance Armstrong.

October 13

Just like many former teammates, Tyler Hamilton (1971-) Armstrong talked to the gallows. In an interview with CNN, he stated to feel sorry for his former leader.

"I know how tough it is. I too lied for a long time. And at some point you start believing your own lies. I feel sorry for the man. I have lied since my positive test in 2004. Partly not to  break the law of silence that applies in European cycling. Actually it is a kind of mafia. If you say something inappropriate, you will no longer have a contract the following year and you will be refused by all teams."

In an interview with BBC radio, he revealed that Armstrong had a golden Rolex for the transportation and delivery of EPO in 1999, plus a sum of 15,000 to 20,000 dollars. A mysterious motorcyclist followed the US Postal team everywhere and regularly provided Armstrong and co with the necessary EPO to recover faster and better from all the efforts of that day.

"That motorcyclist always stayed close to us during the Tour. We knew that other teams also took risks. That's why we did it. So there is someone in the world who wears a golden Rolex from us."

October 16

After the announcement of the USADA report, insurance company SCA Promotions demanded about six million euros from Lance Armstrong. After his second Tour victory in 2000, Armstrong and his US Postal team signed a generous deal with SCA: an amount of 3.47 million Euros in exchange for a premium of 324,000 Euros if The Boss also won the 2001, 2002 and 2003 Tour editions. With a bonus on top if he would do the same in 2004. Armstrong succeeded in his intent, but SCA refused to pay after witnesses accused him of doping. In court, the Texan then declared on oath that he had never used doping, so that SCA had to settle the agreed amount of 5.79 million euros. After the USADA report, the insurance company came back to claim its money back.

October 16

Cycling team Omega Pharma-Quick.Step fired American Levi Leipheimer (1973-) with immediate effect, after admitting the use of doping in his US Postal period.

"I used doping because I wanted to realize my dream of driving the Tour de France. It was 'do it or go home' and the latter was not an option for me. Doping was the norm, not the exception."

October 17

Lance Armstrong himself resigned from Livestrong, the organization he had set up in his fight against cancer in 1997. Afterwards it became known that the organization broke all ties with Armstrong and that the Texan government services accepted on October 30 that the name Lance Armstrong Foundation was replaced by Livestrong Foundation.

October 17

Emma O'Reilly (1970-), former caregiver at US Postal, also admitted the use of doping with the American cycling team.

“During the riders' breakfast I saw 'medical stuff' appear. That raised questions, but I didn't ask them. No matter of life and death, I thought. .... For a photo session I had to conceil Lance's needle marks with make-up. I became a prey for the hunter he was. Not only me, but also my friend. Lance called me a whore."

October 17

Sponsor Nike stopped the collaboration with Armstrong.

"The overwhelming evidence that Armstrong has a doping history and that he has misled us in that regard for more than ten years makes us forced to break the contract with him. Nike wants nothing to do with doping. Regarding Livestrong, we intend to continue sponsorship."

October 18

The Anheuser-Bush brewery and bicycle manufacturer Trek also broke ties with Armstrong

"After reading the USADA report, we cannot help but be deeply disappointed in Armstrong. The conclusions of the USADA are clear. We therefore end our many years of collaboration with Armstrong."

October 18

Dutchman Hein Verbruggen (1941-2017), honorary chairman of the international cycling union, continued to support Armstrong.

"He has never been positive, not even by USADA. So there is no shred of evidence."

However, Greg Lemond's (1961-) wife accused the Dutchman of having received five hundred thousand dollars from sponsor Nike to conceal a positive doping test from Armstrong during the 1999 Tour of Switzerland.

October 19

Because of all those doping troubles, the Dutch Rabobank decided to stop sponsoring its professional cycling team after seventeen years.

October 22

In Geneva, the UCI International Cycling Union announced that it would follow the USADA report in the Armstrong case and not appeal to the TAS and therefore accepted the sanction.

"For people like Lance Armstrong there is no place in cycling anymore," Pat McQuaid (1949) said, “Armstrong has lost his seven Tour victories and is suspended for life. It is not the first time that cycling has reached a crossroads and has to take a new start, so we have to delete Lance Armstrong from the past."

After USADA suspended Amstrong for life at the end of August and immediately scrapped all its results from 1998, including his seven Tour victories and a bronze medal at the Sydney Olympics, this statement was confirmed by the UCI. The more than a thousand-page USADA report on Armstrong and his US Postal team showed that they had set up and implemented the most developed doping program in sports history.

At a press conference in Geneva, McQuaid strongly denied that the UCI had helped Armstrong falsify the results of the doping test, as some sources suggested.

"The accusations are false. There is nothing to it. The UCI formally denies that. We have arrived today at a milestone. Supporters and sponsors can be sure that cycling still has a future, and the fight against doping became a priority when I took office in 2005. I still admit that there was a doping culture in sport, but we have done a lot to that in recent years."

Armstrong had deposited a large sum in the bank account of the UCI, but according to the Belgian lawyer of the organization, this was used to purchase sophisticated equipment that facilitated the detection of doping.

October 22

Immediately after the decision, the American glasses manufacturer Oakley also broke all ties with Armstrong, the fourth sponsor who dropped out.

October 23

The day after Pat McQuaid (1949-) described the whistleblowers as 'skum', Tyler Hamilton (1971-) bounced the ball back and called on the Irishman to resign as UCI chairman.

"Pat McQuaid's reaction proves the hypocrisy of his leadership and shows why he is unable to make any significant changes. Instead of seizing this opportunity to give hope to the next generation of riders, he remains accusing he points the finger and attacks those who speak. That tactic is no longer effective. Pat McQuaid no longer has a place in cycling."

McQuaid had attacked Hamilton and Floyd Landis (1975-) at the press conference because they had written down their experiences in a book, including how doping tests could be avoided.

"Landis and Hamilton are now elevated to be heroes, but they are as far away from them as day and night. They are not heroes. They are scum. All they did is damage cycling. We called Hamilton after his positive test. He replied that our machines gave wrong results. We told him "we are going after you". He was positive twice, maybe three times."

October 24

American ex-cyclist Greg Lemond (1961-) also advised Pat McQuaid (1949-) to step up and posted an open letter for this on his facebook page:

"I have never seen such a abuse of power in the history of cycling. Pat, resign if you like cycling. Do it even if you hate the sport. You know well enough what has happened in cycling. You and Hein Verbruggen are the corrupt part of the sport. Not doping, but corruption is the problem. You are the embodiment of the word corruption."

LeMond previously claimed that Armstrong had tested positive in 1999 during his first tour win and referred to the $ 125,000 that Armstrong had transferred to the UCI in recent years.

"Hush money, just like the Mafia."

October 25

American ex-cyclist Bobby Julich (1971-) confessed that he had used EPO from 1996 to 1998. That last year he finished third in the Tour de France. He immediately resigned as a sports coordinator with the Sky cycling team and wrote an open letter on the Cyclingnews website:

"Dear Team Sky, family, friends, fans and cycling lovers, First of all I want to tell you that I don't expect you to believe everything I am going to tell you now. I made the decision to use EPO several times between August 1996 and July 1998 Those were totally different times then now, but it was not an easy choice, I knew it was wrong, but during those two years the attitude in the peloton towards EPO usage was so established and accepted that I was no longer aware of the gravity of the situation. During the 1998 Tour, my fiance (now my wife) found out through another rider's wife. She confronted me with it and it was one of the most horrible moments of my life, telling me that our relationship would be over if I ever used EPO again, that was enough motivation for me to stop. I hope everyone realizes that the Sky team is special. Manager Dave Brailsford does things differently. I am very honored to be part of this team and to contribute to its success. I apologize to them. I have made wrong decisions in the past and I now pay a heavy price for it. I hope the young generation of riders will learn lessons from the past and not make the same mistakes as we do. I am sorry that you are now confronted with something that you have nothing to do with."

Julich started his professional career at Motorola as a teammate of Lance Armstrong.

October 26

The UCI announced that it would replace Armstrong's victories between 1998 and 2005 with a cross. That meant that no winner was noted for seven Tours de France. Moreover, the prize money that the American won during that period was reclaimed.

October 28

The English newspaper Sunday Telegraph reported that the Dutch team leader Steven de Jongh (1973-) and his English colleague Sean Yates (1960-) had forced to leave the Sky cycling team. The reason for this dismissal was their confession that they had actively used doping as a rider in the past. De Jongh cycled at TVM, the team that stepped out of the Tour in 1998 due to the notorious EPO affair. He then rode for the Dutch Rabobank (2000-2005) and the Belgian Quick.Step (2006-2009). Yates was with Motorola from 1992 to 1996 as a team mate of Lance Armstrong and in 2005 became sports director at Discovery Channel, then Armstrong's team. After the Armstrong doping case, Sky set strict rules, requiring every employee to sign a statement stating that he had never used doping.

"And I couldn't do that," de Jongh said, "it was time to be honest. I could have kept my mouth shut, but this was the opportunity to admit my mistakes and make everything public. More than twelve years ago I was wrong, but now I have to go further I want to stay active in the cycling world, but unfortunately that is not possible with Sky It hurts that I have to leave this team, but there is no other option. confessing what happened in the past, the public may accept it and forgive us."

October 30

The Texan insurance company SCA Promotions officially demanded that Lance Armstrong pay back twelve million US dollars. If not, the company would go to court.

"Mr. Armstrong is no longer the official winner of seven editions of the Tour de France. It is therefore inappropriate and wrong for him to keep the SCA premiums", the lawyer of SCA Promotions declared.

October 31

The IOC announced that it had launched an investigation into Lance Armstrong, but also other riders and their entourage and the connection with the Olympic Games.

October 31

Irish journalist Paul Kimmage (1962-) filed a complaint with a Swiss court against UCI chairman Pat McQuaid (1949-) and his co-worker Hein Verbruggen (1941-2017). He accused the duo of defamation, honor and fraud. The two had called Kimmage and other whistleblowers "liars," "cowards," "scum," or "bastards."

October 31

Joaquim Rodriguez (1979-), the Tour of Lombardy winner, told journalists that Armstrong had destroyed a lot.

“Today's riders are the biggest victim of the Armstrong case. We lose sponsors, money, credibility and the love of the public. And Lance? He lies on a beach and doesn't care. Just at a time when cycling was back on its feet, the USADA case broke loose. And we can start again from the beginning."

November 1

The World Anti-Doping Agency WADA announced that it did not appeal against USADA's decision in the Lance Armstrong case.

"It is not because the athlete in this case never tested positive that the competent federation was unable to do anything. It was ultimately a national anti-doping agency that was able to gather evidence with great difficulty. This resulted in a correct and appropriate sanction for the athlete in issue and was a revelation for the sports world. USADA deserves a lot of praise for this."

November 3

For centuries the English village of Edenbridge burns the image of the Catholic rebel Guy Fawkes (1570-1606) during a traditional celebration, in memory of the failed conspiracy against parliament and King James I (1566-1626) from 1605. On Saturday, November 3 however, the image of Armstrong burned.

After having been sidelined by the use of anabolica for another six months in 2001, Let Andris Naudužs (1974-) was caught a second time.

When Italian Michele Scarponi (1979-) confessed that he regularly visited Italian doping physician Michele Ferrari (1953-), his team Lampre put him inactive. In December the Italian Olympic Committee announced that Scarponi was suspended for three months retroactively.

In October the Norwegian ex-rider Steffen Kjærgaard (1973-) announced during a TV interview that he used EPO from 2000 to 2003 when he was driving for Lance Armstrong (1971-).

"In 1998 I started on my own with EPO and cortisones, which I got through the Belgian physician Georges Mouton. After my transfer to US Postal, I no longer needed my own doctor. Everything was arranged by the team."

After his confession, the Norwegian Cycling Federation suspended him as technical director.

Finn Matti Helminen (1975-) was caught during the Tour of Luxembourg on the use of the masking agent probenecid and was suspended for two years by the Belgian Cycling Federation.

Football

The Bulgarian Olympic Committee suspended Kostadin Stoyanov (1986-), Rumen Trifonov (1985-) and Todor Yantsyev (1976-) from CSKA Sofia for three months because they had tested positive for methylhexanamine at the end of October. The month before, the club had fired team physician Milcho Krajnov when he admitted that he had given the drug to the players.

The disciplinary committee of the European football association UEFA suspended goalkeeper Oleksandr Ribka (1987-) from Sjachtar Donetsk for two years, because he reacted positively to a prohibited conceiling agent.

In January it was announced that Brit Mark Marshall (1987-) was suspended by his club Barnet because methylhexaneamine had been found during a test. The British Football Association made it two years, after which Barnet fired him.

Hope Solo (1981-), the goalkeeper of the American team, delivered a positive pee on diuretics, causing her to fly aside for three months.

Amanda Sister (1990-), who played for the South African Banyana Banyana, tested positive during the African football championship and was suspended for a year. The team doctor who gave her the stuff flew to the side for four years.

After the qualifying match of his national team against Bolivia, Peruvian Joel Melchor Sánchez Alegría (1989-) tested positive for methylhexanamine for which he received a two-year suspension.

At the beginning of April it was announced that Senegalese Ismail N'Diaye (1984-), who played in the Belgian league for KV Kortrijk, had delivered a positive pee after the game against Mons and that no counter-expertise was requested.

Equestrian sport

Italian top jockey Frankie Dettori (1970-) was suspended by the French horse racing federation for six months after a positive test for cocaine.

Ice hockey

Canadian Brent Hughes (1982-) played in the Scottish league with the Dundee Stars, but was caught using furosemide in February, for which he received a six-month suspension.

Ice skating

The international skating association ISU suspended natural talent Pavel Koelichnikov (1993-) for two years because of the use of methyl hexanamine at the World Junior Championship in Japan. The Russian also had to hand in the gold medal of the 1,000m and the bronze medal of the 500m.

Kickboxing

Dutch former world kickboxing champion Alistair Overeem (1980-) was caught with twice the normal testosterone level in an out-of-competition check.

Mixed Martial Arts

Brazilian Cristiane Justino (1985-) knocked out her opponent Hiroko Yamanaka (1978-), but fought that game on Stanozolol. She lost her license and had to cough up 2,500 dollars.

Motorcycle racing

Australian motorcycle racer Anthony West (1981-) was caught using Methylhexanamine during the Grand Prix of France. The FIM deleted him from the results and gave him a one-month suspension. WADA did not consider it sufficient and increased his suspension to 18 months. During the 2018 World Cup race in Misano, Italy, he again responded positive to that product and again received a suspension of eighteen months, against which he appealed.

Power lifting

In January, New Zealand power lifter Rodney Newman was given a lifelong suspension, because he ignored anti-doping laws five times. Despite two years of suspension, he took part in a competition in November 2008 and refused to deliver a urine sample afterwards. Between October 2006 and October 2009, he was arrested several times with several prohibited substances in his pocket. Two other New Zealand powerlifters were caught afterwards, Scott Parsons received a four-month suspension due to cannabis, Nigel Cordes had to leave for eighteen months after finding Methylhexaneamine.

Rowing

The International Rowing Federation suspended six Russian rowers for the use of prohibited substances for two years. Alexander Litvinchev (1972-), Evgeny Luzyanin (1981-) and Ivan Podshivalov (1982-) had used EPO during the World Cup of the previous year.

Vladimir Varfolomeev (1982-), Denis Moiseev (1978-) and Svetlana Fedorova (1982-) received the sanction because their DNA was found on an installation for intravenous infusions, which had turned up in the waste container of their hotel. Because of this whole fuss, the Russian women's team of coxed eight  and the men of the double scull could not participate in the World Cup.

Rugby

British Martin Gleeson (1980-) was suspended for seven years by his club Hull FC for trading and using methylhexaneamine. Coach Ben Cooper and board member James Rule participated in the conspiracy and received the same punishment.

Skiing

The Russian ski federation caught snowboarder Svetlana Vinogradova (1987-) on carphedon and skier Andrei Bistrov (1991-) on marijuana. Both were suspended for two years and as a result, they missed the 2014 Winter Games in their own country.

Swimming

Let Nauris Pundors (1983-) was excluded from competition for four years after a positive test.

Chinese Li Zhesi (1993-) received a two-year suspension because she had used EPO.

Dane Mads Glæsner (1988-) won the 1,500m at the European Championship short course in Istanbul and the bronze medal at the 400m freestyle, but had to surrender those medals with a three-month suspension on top after it turned out that he had taken levomethamfetamine.

Russian Ksenia Moskvina (1989-) held the European record 100m backstroke short track. In December, her swimming federation announced that she would be suspended for a year because she had not filled out her where-abouts several times. In March 2013, she was given a six year suspension because she had sinned a second time

Taekwondo

In early February, Jimmy Gariépy, a taekwondo trainer from Quebec, Canada, received a five-year suspension because he had given a 16-year-old Caroline Pyzik (1996-) a diuretic. This resulted in a doping test after the Canadian championship, where Pyzik had won in her weight category. The athlete herself was suspended for two years because it later appeared that she had asked her trainer if he didn't know how to keep her weight.

Tennis

Swiss Roger Federer (1981-) and British Andy Murray (1987-) complained about the lacking doping policy in tennis, as there were fewer checks than seven years before.

"It is of vital importance that our sport remains pure, we must. We have a good reputation, and we want to ensure that it stays that way."

Bulgarian Dimitar Kutrovsky (1987-) responded positive to methylhexaneamine during the indoor tournament of San Jose, California and was put aside for two years. Later that sentence was reduced to fifteen months.

Wheelchair athlete Anthony Carter (1988-) received a three-month suspension in May after the check revealed the use of cannabis after a competition.

Track and Field

Because of her use of anabolic steroids, British anti-doping agency Bernice Wilson (1984-) imposed the maximum penalty of four years of suspension.

"This is a very bad thing. Instead of confessing guilt, she tried to blame others."

The Russian Athletics Association suspended its long jumper Irina Meleshina (1982-) for two years after she was caught in a out of competition check on the use of testosterone.

Moroccan long jumper Yahya Berrabah (1981-) was suspended for two years after a positive doping test in January 2012.

After a positive EPO test in Arizona, marathon runner Martin Fagan (1983-) was suspended for two years. The Irishman confessed to the newspaper 'Irish Times' that he had injected himself, but cited a combination of depression, financial problems and injuries as an apology:

"I remember thinking during the injection: that's how junkies must feel."

Mohammed Yunus Lasalleh (1989-) and his Malaysian teammates won the 4 x 400m at the Asian Games, but they had to surrender the gold medal after a positive pee. Yunus later admitted his doping use, but along with other athletes and trainers, he declared on oath that Datuk Karim Ibrahim (1957-), the president of the Malaysian Athletic Union, had given him the pills through a Bulgarian physician.

In 2010, Lithuanian Zivile Balciunaite (1979-) crowned herself as the European marathon champion in Barcelona. In April 2011, the National Athletics Association announced that after the race she had tested positive for anabolics, giving her two years of suspension. The athlete appealed this, but it was rejected at the beginning of April 2012.

Multiple champion hurdling Stanislavs Olijars (1979-) from Latvia was caught using steroids and was banned for two years by his national athletics association, after which the Let announced his retirement.

In September 2011, the Swiss relay team improved the national record 4 x 100m during the Diamond League in Zurich, but the best time was withdrawn from the lists when it turned out that Pascal Mancini (1989-) had used doping. He came off with a warning, but in January 2012 it was announced that he had tested positive for nadrolone twice two months earlier and therefore had to leave for two years now. In July 2018, Mancini was banned for life by the Swiss Athletics Federation because he had compared the players of the French national football team with monkeys after their victory at the World Cup, and during an athletics meeting he had also used the anti-Semitic quenelle greeting, which is called the reverse Hitler greeting.

In October, a doping test indicated that South African 400-meter runner Tsholofelo Thipe-Selemela (1986-) had used norandrosterone during the African championships, which resulted in her being excluded for two years.

The Portuguese Athletics Federation suspended its long-distance runner Hélder Ornelas (1974-) for four years because deviant values were found in his biological passport the year before. After ten months of research, an expert panel of three hematologists came to the conclusion that natural causes were excluded, but that a prohibited substance or method should be considered. Ornelas was thus the first athlete to receive a doping thanks based on the biological passport. The International Athletics Federation suspended him until January 2016.

In India, Pinki Pramanik (1986-), winner of the 4 x 400m gold medal during the 2006 Asian Games, was sued by a woman for assault. The victim claimed that Pramanik was a man dressed as a woman. The chromosome test afterwards revealed that she was a "male pseudo-aphrodite", which Pramanik explained as follows.

"I have a masculine appearance because as part of my training for international competitions, I was regularly injected with testosterone. They called it" Russian medicine."

The Norwegian Athletics Association suspended national coach Petar Vukicevic (1956-) on suspicion of distribution of prohibited substances to colleagues and athletes, and he also provided the funds to the Slovenian physician and coach Srdjan Djordjevic. The Serb was the former coach of Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey (1960-), but also the father and trainer-coach of hurdler runner Christina Vukicevic (1987-), who became European champion on the 100m hurdles in 2009.

Jamaican athletes Dominique Blake (1987-) and Ricardo Cunningham (1982-) were caught using doping. Blake was part of the national selection 4x400 meters, but did not particpate in the London Olympic Games. Cunningham was the reigning Jamaican 800 meters champion.

Trampoline

During the Trampoline World Cup in Loulé, Portugal, Russian Andrey Krylov (1988-) delivered a positive doping test, for which he was suspended for twelve months.

Triathlon

American former number 1 Mark Fretta (1975-) was suspended by USADA for four years because of the use of epo.

Weightlifting

The Russian Weightlifter Association (RWF) suspended 2008 European youth champion Taisja Antonova (1989-) (photo1) for ten years for her violation of the doping regulations. Irina Bondarenko (1979-) (photo 2), Viktoria Dostavalova (photo3) and Alexandra Fjodorova each had to stay aside for two years. Further details were not released.

American Brazilian Patrick Mendes (1991-) was caught in training for the use of human growth hormone and was given two years before that. During the 2015 Pan American Games, he ran into a second time.

During the World Cup in Antalya, Turkey, Albanian Erkand Qerimaj (1988-) won the gold medal in the clean&jerk and the silver medal in snatch in the category up to 77 kg. Afterwards it appeared that he had used doping, on which he was suspended and had to return the medals.

Let Aurimas Didžbalis (1991-) won three medals at the European Championship, but had to surrender them after a positive test for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone.

Firdaus Abdul Razak (1988-) from Malaysia won the bronze medal in the category up to 105 kg at the SEA Games in Indonesia, but subsequently tested positive for drostanolone, a highly used product among bodybuilders.

Wrestling

Myroslav Dykun (1982-) was born in Ukraine but moved to Great Britain in 2003. He represented that country in Greco-Roman as well as in free wrestling style. In 2012 he tested positive for amphetamines, which he also admitted and for which he was suspended for two years.

Bantamweight Bessarion Gotschaschwili (1983-) from Georgia, who collected medals at several European Championships, was suspended for two years for a positive doping test.

Muminjon Abdullaev (1989-) from Uzbekistan, two years earlier bronze medalist at the Asian Games in the category up to 96 kg of Greco-Roman wrestling, tested positive for anabolic steroids in an out-of-competition test and was suspended for two years.


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