Topic: News: The Greek Doping Scandal

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

11 Greek weightlifters caught doping, to miss Olympics

Athens, May 3 (DPA) A second doping test on a group of 11 Greek weightlifters who initially tested positive for banned substances was also found to be positive, making the athletes unlikely competitors for the 2008 Beijing Olympics in August, say reports. The second test was conducted in a laboratory in Cologne, Germany, and confirmed results first announced April 4, which found almost the entire men’s and women’s national teams to have failed tests conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Their 60-year-old coach Christos Iacovou was suspended after the the doping allegations were first announced and later handed in his resignation, saying he was leaving the world of weightlifting.

The athletes’ coach blamed the initial test results on a faulty batch of dietary supplements by Chinese drugmaker, Auspure Biotechnology.

The lawyer of 10 of the athletes of the Greek national team said they support Iacovou. One athlete, Vassiliki Kasapi, however, took legal action against the weightlifting federation, saying she was unknowingly being placed at risk by taking the drugs.

The scandal has thrown the Greek weightlifting team’s preparations for the upcoming Beijing Olympics into turmoil.

Reports said the athletes told the investigative committee, set up by the Greek Weightlifting Federation, that they took vitamin supplements and were not aware that they may have contained banned substances.

Iacovou is one of Greece’s most respected coaches, whose team has won five Olympic gold medals along with five silver and two bronze since the 1992 Games in Barcelona.

Under International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) anti-doping rules, entire teams can be suspended from international competitions for up to two years if three or more athletes fail doping tests within one year.

The IWF has handed out such bans before, but then changed them into fines. Iran, Russia, Argentina and Kazakhstan, for instance, were allowed to compete at the 2006 worlds after paying a $50,000 fine for each caught athlete (in Iran’s case $450,000 for nine positive tests).

Weightlifting has been plagued by doping over the years, with 42 athletes suspended in 2007 alone, according to the IWF website.

Greece was also involved, with Leonidas Sampanis losing his Olympic 63kg category bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics after a positive test.

[AlekoKouva]

Its not the end for greek weightlifting...all positions in the federation are gonna change...new politics..new coaches...new dream team....shift ur attention to mutlu now...who is going for his forth comming out of a suspension...

[igorheren]

Its not the end for greek weightlifting...all positions in the federation are gonna change...new politics..new coaches...new dream team....shift ur attention to mutlu now...who is going for his forth comming out of a suspension...

I agree.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

Greek weightlifting coach submits statements to prosecutor in doping scandal

ATHENS, Greece: The five-member Greek weightlifting team gave testimony Monday as part of an investigation into a doping scandal that could prevent it from competing at the Beijing Olympics.

Suspended head coach Christos Iakovou, his assistant Valerios Leonidis, and another three coaches submitted statements through their lawyers.

Eleven of the team's 13 weightlifters tested positive for a banned substance in a spot doping check in March. The results were announced in April.

In his statement, Iakovou again blamed a faulty batch of diet supplements from China. He called on prosecutor Andreas Karaflos to ask Chinese judicial authorities to seek testimony from officials of the Shanghai-based drug company.

The 60-year-old Iakovou, who was suspended last month, is one of Greece's most successful coaches. His lifters have won 12 Olympic medals, including five gold, since the 1992 Barcelona Games.

[Roman Hunt]

If these guys were really taking methyltren then this is a huge blessing that they have been stopped before they all gave themselves liver cancer.

[Roman Hunt]

Sorry to double post but this subject got me thinking. Many of the lifters say that they didn't know and while that is kind of hard to believe the fact that the chemical in question was an oral that was NEVER released for human consumption due to hepatoxicity kind of leads a person to believe that maybe they really didn't. It really is suicide to take it. Drugged up bodybuilders even know better. Some insane people do actually take the non oral form which is called trenbolone and is used for .... CATTLE but is not as toxic to the liver. I digress though. My point really is that maybe the athletes didn't know.

What has me conflicted though is the fact that this stuff causes terrible jaundice, insomnia, and a ton of other symptoms one might expect from hormones made for livestock. How on earth could people so in tune with their bodies not know something was up immediately?!

[Dave Almeida]

I agree to an extent. As soon as I heard it was methyltren i was shocked. All lifters know they are doping because many of them admit it eventually. The Russians certainly admit it. Klokov admitted it when he complained that the iranians had much better drugs than they did and they still dont do all that much better at the world championships.  However, i feel the greek lifters had no idea what drugs they were actually taking. Remember, most of these athletes are not scientists, they are simply athletes.

I wonder why they resorted to using methyltren... it's not even one of the more efficient drugs for a weightlifter and it clearly is testable. Iakovu clearly messed this up, or the chinese sent them the wrong steroids and he's covering it up by saying he ordered vitamins.

I'll leave you with a translated Ilya Ilin quote of sorts: The kazakhy lifters don't use drugs. The coaches just give us very good vitamins.

[Emil Rinse]

I wonder why they resorted to using methyltren... it's not even one of the more efficient drugs for a weightlifter and it clearly is testable. Iakovu clearly messed this up, or the chinese sent them the wrong steroids and he's covering it up by saying he ordered vitamins.

I looked up methyltrienolone and found a number of desirable effects for a weightlifter:

• Minimum gain of bodyweight
• Big increase in strenght
• Increase in aggressiveness
• Very low doses are used (around a total of 3-3,5mg/week, compared to, ex. testosterone with around 100-500mg/week) wich makes the traces of the drug leave the body much faster.