| Salt Lake City |
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| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
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| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
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| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
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| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
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| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
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| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
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| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
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| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
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| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
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| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
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Austrian team suspected of illegal blood doping
By Lois M. Collins and Brady Snyder
Deseret News staff writers
The International Olympic Committee is investigating discovery of blood-transfusion equipment left behind by Austrian athletes as a case of blood doping.
"We will use all the different techniques to find who was the recipient of the medical equipment," Dr. Patrick Schamasch, director of the IOC medical commission, said from Switzerland. "We don't know which process was used, but it is blood packing."
The discovery was made Wednesday when a Midway woman was pricked by a needle in a plastic bag that also held blood transfusion equipment, tubing with evidence of blood in it, vitamins and glucose. The home, near Soldier Hollow where nordic skiing events were held during the 2002 Winter Games, had been rented to a male Austrian cross country ski team, which presumably left the supplies behind.
Schamasch made clear the incident is being taken very seriously by the IOC. And he said it was "stupid" to leave such material behind.
Officials said there was no evidence nordic-combined or biathletes from Austria were involved, but the quantity of items indicated several athletes might be implicated.
In blood packing, an athlete takes blood, usually his own frozen earlier, and reinjects it in the days before an event to increase red blood cells and the blood's ability to carry oxygen, thus enhancing athletic performance. It's illegal and unethical under IOC rules, as well as dangerous. It's also outdated, nearly erased by use of synthetic erythropoietin, a banned substance that increases red blood cells.
The bags, which are being analyzed, should also show if any performance-enhancing substance was added. And IOC President Jacques Rogge vowed Thursday to have analysts use all scientific means, including DNA testing, to identify the athletes involved.
It's possible medals could be stripped from athletes, if doping is proven. Two medals are conceivably at risk: a bronze earned by Mikhail Botvinov and a silver by Christian Hoffman. Austrian cross country athletes placed fourth in the four-man relay.
The Deseret News was unable to reach the Austrian Olympic Committee Thursday.
The Wasatch County Sheriff's Office turned the material over to the Salt Lake Organizing Committee's doping control officers, who photographed it and sent it for analysis.
Dr. Charles Rich, SLOC chief medical officer and a member of the IOC medical commission, said it's not known if it's illegal to transfuse blood that way in a private residence. But there's no question it's banned by the IOC.
During the Games, three cross country skiers were disqualified for doping and two of them lost gold medals: Johann Muehlegg of Spain and Larissa Lazutina of Russia. The third, Olga Danilova of Russia, lost her certificate of participation. All three had darbepoetin in their blood but kept medals earned earlier in the Games because they passed the routine doping screen required of all medalists after an event.
That further muddies penalties should doping be proven in this case. Presumably, if doping occurred and any medals were won, then they too passed the after-competition screening. And IOC General Manager Francois Carrard made it clear when sanctioning the three skiers earlier that to strip medals when they'd passed doping-control screenings would raise "legal issues."
It is more likely the athletes would be banned from their sport for two years — a penalty handed to six skiers from Finland who were found guilty of doping last year.
Rich said it might be hard to prove doping since it's hard to link blood residue to a specific athlete and because no Austrian athlete tested positive after an event. Still, "there are ways of connecting blood to an individual."
Rich and Schamasch both said the IOC medical commission wants the results of the investigation before jumping to conclusions. But it's hard, they said, to think of a reason besides blood doping to account for the items.
In spite of recent doping scandals, U.S. nordic director Luke Bodensteiner said, "The field is cleaner than it's been in 30 years."
Bodensteiner declined to speculate on the Midway findings but predicted Muehlegg, Lazutina and Danilova would be banned for two years. "The only unfortunate thing is that they weren't caught earlier in the Games."
Contributing: Jesse Hyde.
E-MAIL: lois@desnews.com ; bsnyder@desnews.com
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March 1, 2002
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