Topic: News: The Greek Doping Scandal

[Jim Hooper]

Alright, I'll go ahead and ask it:  How many of you think past Iakovou-coached superstars (see Hall of Fame section) were also probably doping?

I've always held out some faint hope that Kakiashvilis might possibly have been clean, simply because I have trouble imagining how anyone could use AS/HGH and, at the same time, look that much like a bus driver. 

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Greek authorities seize steroids from Thailand amid doping scandal

Greek custom officials seized a shipment of supplements containing anabolic steroids from Thailand on Monday amid a doping scandal that has shaken the country's weightlifting federation.

Reports said officers seized more than 90,000 pills at an Athens post office after it was discovered that they would pass into Greece from Thailand via France.

The Greek weightlifting federation has been rocked by a doping scandal after 11 of its athletes tested positive for using banned substances on April 4. The results of a second test are expected this week.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

Former Olympian accuses Greek coach of drugs link
By Barney Spender, Additional reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by John Mehaffey

ATHENS, April 14 (Reuters) - Former Olympic weightlifter Christos Konstantinidis has accused suspended national coach Christos Iacovou of giving banned substances to athletes, a court official said on Monday.

Konstantinidis, who represented Greece at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, was giving evidence to a judicial investigation set up to look into a recent doping scandal in which 11 members of the 14-member national weightlifting team tested positive for the anabolic steroid methyltrienolone.

He told prosecutor Andreas Karaflos that Iacovou, who has been suspended by the Greek Weightlifting Federation pending the outcome of the case, had pressed him to take banned substances in 1997.

"The former athlete told the prosecutor that Iacovou had urged him to take banned substances and that when he refused he found himself off the national team," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Konstantinidis made identical claims in 1997 but was then forced to sign an apology for fear of losing his job with the the police.

The court official said Konstantinidis told the prosecutor that despite signing the apology 11 years ago, he had never retracted his comments.

"He stood by what he had said in 1997 and he repeated those claims today again," the official said.

Nikos Kourtidis, one of the three weightlifters who did not test positive said, however, he did not believe that Iacovou would give steroids to his athletes.

All 11 weightlifters who tested positive for banned substances are due to face Karaflos in two days and face doping charges, a misdemeanour under the Greek law.

Meanwhile, Greek authorities have revealed that they intercepted a large parcel containing 91,200 anabolic steroid pills shipped from Thailand to Athens.

The shipment was originally detected by French customs officers at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Authorities allowed the recipient in an eastern suburb of Athens to be notified to collect the package but nobody turned up.

[Shaun Le Conte]

It's probably easier to have a training camp in Thailand than to send that many pills through customs. The Greek team should search these forums for the Bangkok thread to find their training center 

http://weightliftingexchange.com/smf/index.php?topic=3990.0

[igorheren]

I've always held out some faint hope that Kakiashvilis might possibly have been clean, simply because I have trouble imagining how anyone could use AS/HGH and, at the same time, look that much like a bus driver. 

I agree.

[igorheren]

Meanwhile, Greek authorities have revealed that they intercepted a large parcel containing 91,200 anabolic steroid pills shipped from Thailand to Athens.

Interesting, 

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

China company in Greek case 'not approved' to make drugs
By Ian Ransom, Editing by Peter Rutherford

BEIJING, April 15 (Reuters) - A Chinese company blamed by the Greek weightlifting team for providing tainted supplements was not approved to produce drugs, state media reported on Tuesday.

China is investigating Greek claims that a mix-up at Shanghai-based drug maker Auspure Biotechnology Co Ltd led to banned ingredients being added to dietary supplements that were supplied to the national team for months.

Chinese investigators had found that Auspure was neither registered nor approved as a drug producer, the China Daily said citing Yan Jiangying, a spokeswoman with China's drug watchdog the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA).

Greek weightlifting officials last week linked the tainted goods to the 11 athletes' positive tests and said the Chinese company had sent an email apologizing for the mix-up. An employee at Auspure told Reuters the company was being investigated.

Yan confirmed that Auspure had sent an apology letter to Greek officials, but allegations that the company had accidentally included "toxic and cancer-causing supplements in the supplements (had) not been substantiated," the paper quoted her as saying.

Greek police have asked Interpol to help shed light on the doping case, which has seen national weightlifting coach Christos Iakovou suspended and could lead to the team being expelled from the Beijing Olympics in August.

Greece's weightlifting federation has blamed the coach for ordering the supplements "on his own initiative".

Bian Zhejia, director of the SFDA's drug safety supervision department, said the deal involving Auspure supplying supplements to the Greek team had been "made over the Internet."

"The two parties had never met before," the paper quoted Bian as saying.

In the wake of the Greek scandal, China's Health Ministry has ordered doctors to check whether patients are athletes before they prescribe drugs that contain banned substances, Xinhua news agency said in a separate report.

Doctors would have to write athletes' identities on the prescriptions and clearly mark them as "dope-containing medicines," Xinhua said, citing a health ministry notice.

Inspectors would also be posted to drug makers "authorized to make products that contain controlled substances," to vet their product from May 1, the agency said.

[Jack]

Konstantinidis's testimony would wrap it up, awful stuff.

Sjaak