There are two issues dominating the endurance-sporting world’s headlines in 2009; Lance Armstrong’s return and the ever-present issue of doping.
While many will say that in fact the two stories are linked, not a day goes past without a story on one or the other. And as much as this columnist would like to avoid writing about juiced-up cyclists, the latter is just too important to ignore.
The latest scandal involves Europe’s new doping capital, Austria. In the past 18 months the country has hosted a blood doping ring, a triathlete who tried to bribe her way out of trouble, disgraced athletes spilling the beans, plus a cyclist, a pharmacist and ex-ski coach Walter Mayer who were all arrested for dealing in doping substances.
Mayer is like a bad smell – extremely difficult to make go away. He was banned from future Winter Olympics after blood boosting equipment was found in a house used by the Austrian cross-country skiing team at the Utah Olympics in 2002.
Despite this, he was spotted with the national team at the 2006 Turin Winter Games, fleeing the country when Italian police conducted a surprise raid. However his dash for freedom ended when he crashed into a police roadblock. Italian investigators later found syringes and a blood transfusion machine in the house where he had been staying.
On May 6, 2009, national cycling champion Christian Pfannberger was suspended by his team and the UCI following a positive test for an undisclosed substance. ‘Pfanni’ as he is affectionately known (yes, that’s pronounced ‘fanny’) is acting in strict accordance with the cyclists code of denial, saying it’s all a big mistake.
This comes just weeks after the Austrian Cycling Federation (OERV) began an anti-doping initiative, which would supposedly salvage some honour in the country’s athletes.
‘Against Doping’ is a voluntary programme whereby athletes submit themselves for regular tests, the results of which are posted on www.against-doping.at. Perhaps an indication of exactly how big a lame duck the programme is likely to be, on the day of its launch the introductory homepage text was 500 words of, “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr...”
As of May 9, just nine athletes have signed up, and Pfanni’s suspension has splashed cold water on any progress the initiative may have made in cleaning up Austria’s dreadful doping image.
"I drank vodka and ate fish at 5 am. This was probably not a good idea.”
Easily the most amusing drug-related story of 2009 so came to a conclusion on April 30, when Lebanese skier Georges Salameh was handed a two-year ban for cocaine use.
At the time, Salameh, who was competing at the World Alpine Skiing Championships in Val d’Isere, France, pointed the finger of blame at unnamed “enemies who may have pushed people to do this.”
The 33-year-old explained he went out partying until only hours before he was due to ski in a qualification race for the giant slalom event. Surprisingly, he failed to progress further, telling one journalist that he hadn’t slept and that he had “drunk vodka and ate fish at 5am.”
“This was probably not a good idea,” he summarised.
After his positive result was made public, he said, “I never used these drugs. I don’t know what happened to me out there,” claiming saboteurs had given him something while he was inebriated.
