never_doped
Here is an accumulation of information taken from the web on the subject. Make your own conclusions but I think it is impossible to come up with any other conclusion other than that the entire sport is doped and that the UCI is complacent and complicit. There is no other reasonable conclusion.
EPO, HGH, IGF, anabolic steroids, corticosteroids,
bronchodilators, vasodilators and vasoconstrictors, potent analgesics, creatine, Actovegin
Lance also tested positive for corticoids which he claimed he was using to treat saddle sores. He was exonerated after a second test showed no 'systematic use'.
More info on corticoids:
ALTERNATIVE DOPING CONTROL FOR CORTICOIDS BY HAIR ANALYSIS WITH LC/MS
P. Kintz, V. Cirimele, J.S. Raul, J.P. Goullé, B. Ludes
Institut de Médecine Légale, 11 rue Humann, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
Cortisone and hydrocortisone, naturally occuring homones, influence metabolism, inflammation, electrolyte and water balance …Their synthetic derivatives are used in therapeutic for their anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive actions. They are used in certain sports to improve the performances of the athletes (euphoria, motor activity).
Repetitive abuse of corticosteroids by athletes can be demonstrated by segmental analysis along the hair shaft, in contrast to ponctual urinalysis. A single treatment of about 1 week will positive a single 1-cm segment, while long-term abuse will lead to the identification of the corticoïd (s) in several segments. For such an application, particularly in case of longitudinal survey of athletes, hair analysis appears as the solution of choice to document doping practices. However, this procedure does not allow the discrimination between local administration, that is permitted with a medical prescription, and systemic use, that is banned.
Hair strands were washed in methylene chloride, pulverized in a ball mill and 100 mg of the powdered hair were incubated in 1 ml Soerensen buffer, pH 7.6 for 16 h at 40 °C, in presence of 5 ng cortisol-d3 used as internal standard. Purification of the incubation medium was achieved on SPE C18 Isolute extraction columns followed by an alkaline liquid-liquid extraction with diethylether. The eluate was evaporated to dryness and resuspended in 25 µl of acetonitrile. The chromatography was operated on a Nucleosil C18 1 mm column using a linear gradient of acetonitrile from 30 to 70% in 15 min. The detector was a Perkin Elmer Sciex API 100 mass spectrometer.
Physiological concentrations (n=25) of cortisone and cortisol were in the range 2 to 132 (mean 42 pg/mg) and 2 to 57 pg/mg (mean 15 pg/mg), respectively. Concentrations were not dependant on hair colour (probably due to the absence of a nitrogen atom in the structure), but seemed to be age-dependant.
A general screening procedure was established to test 10 corticosteroids (triamcinolone, prednisolone, prednisone, methylprednisone, cortisone, cortisol, beta- and dexa-methasone, flumethasone and beclomethasone), with LODs in the range 1 to 30 pg/mg.
Prednisone was identified in the hair (30 à 130 pg/mg, mean 65 pg/mg) of 9/10 patients daily treated by Cortancyl® at 5 to 60 mg/day, in an apparent dose-concentration relationship.
A single therapeutic treatment can be documented, as demonstrated by the unique identification of betamethasone in the hair, at 4.7 pg/mg, of a subject receiving for 9 consecutive days 4 mg of the drug. By segmental analyses, no migration of betamethasone was observed in the hair shaft.
Finally, in case of 2 cyclists, segmental hair analyses demonstrated chronic abuse of triamcinolone and betamethasone over several months.
(Short hair would be beneficial.)
List of CORTICOIDS & DIURETICS
http://www.innovrsrch.com/corticoids___diuretics.html
Dope And Glory
Were American Athletes Given Performance-Enhancing Drugs
Without Their Knowledge?
(CBS) In 1990, Greg Strock was
one of the greatest bicycle racers
in America. At the age of 17, he
was flying past cycling records,
blistering the road on his way out
of Indiana and into the world.
"It was kind of a blur," he told 60
Minutes II Correspondent Scott
Pelley. "You know, one minute I'm
riding my bike in the cornfields,
and, and the next minute I'm on
the national team, and going to
Moscow for the junior Worlds."
The national teams are where America's Olympic athletes are
trained, and Strock was on the fast track. Lance
Armstrong and five
future Olympians were also riding for America that year. Strock
never made it to the Olympics. At the top of his game, he was struck
down by a catastrophic illness.
"I was sleeping 18 hours a day, my knees were swollen," he said.
"I was having trouble walking up stairs, walking down stairs, and had
sore throats, large lymph node swelling in my, my neck and my
groin, and under my arms."
Doctors thought it was AIDS, then lymphatic cancer. It turned out
to
be a breakdown in Strock's immune system that no one could
explain. After failed comebacks, Strock gave up his Olympic dream
for medical school. It was there, while studying steroids, that
he
became suspicious about his coaches on the cycling team.
Strock believes he was given banned drugs to enhance his
performance - dope that he says ruined his health. He's now suing
U.S.A. Cycling, which is in charge of Olympic training.
Strock says the doping began in France, when he was racing poorly
because of a bad cold. His condition improved rapidly after the U.
S.
team coach gave him pills that were supposedly vitamins and an
injection which he says the coach called extract of cortisone.
But there's no such thing as an extract of cortisone. Cortisone
is a
cortico-steroid, banned in the kind of injections that Strock
describes. In large doses, cortisone depresses the immune
system, and Strock says those injections became routine.
Strock thought he was alone until he filed his lawsuit 5 months
ago
and got a call from someone he hadn't seen in 10 years - Erich
Kaiter, his teammate at U.S.A. Cycling.
"We were given the same injections at the same times, and we
raced together pretty much at every race during that year,"
Kaiter
said. "And I became very ill with a lot of the same symptoms that I
now know Greg suffered."
They don't know what was in those syringes, and they don't recall
taking a drug test in those days. But they say the injections
were
given by the U.S.A. Cycling staff, including coach Rene Wenzel,
trainer Angus Fraser and, according to documents, coach Chris
Carmichael.
Strock and Kaiter are convinced that that was a
program of doping,
and there is considerable evidence that, in U.S.
Olympic sport,
doping has reached much further than you might
imagine.
That charge comes from an insider: Dr. Wade Exum,
who was in
charge of doping control at the U.S. Olympic
committee until last
summer, three months before the Sydney games.
Told there was a serious program to eliminate
doping from U.S.
sports, Exum now believes "it was all a sham."
Exum says drug tests, done at random during
training and
competition, routinely crossed his desk, showing
athletes were
doping.
"In the last year that I was at the US Olympic
Committee," he said,
"there were positive tests for anabolic steroids
in badminton. I had
anabolic steroid positives in shooting when I was
at the Olympic
Committee."
Exum is suing the USOC, saying it undermined his
effort to protect
athletes. He is offering his records in court. But
the committee is
asking the judge to keep the records confidential
because "public
disclosure of these documents would cause
annoyance and
possible embarrassment for many individual
athletes..."
Exum estimated that fewer than one in seven
American athletes
who tested positive for banned substances, was
ever sanctioned.
Last fall, Joseph Califano, the head of the
National Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse, finished a two-year
study of
Olympic doping. He says there is a mindset that
you can't compete
successfully in the Olympics today if you're not
using dope.
Califano says it was tough to get hard information
because he had
great difficulty, just as 60 Minutes II had, in
getting cooperation from
U. S. Olympic officials.
"I think you get silent treatment from people when
they have
something to hide," Califano said.
For several months, the U.S. Olympic Committee and
U.S.A. Cycling
have declined to be interviewed In a letter, the
USOC said Exum's
allegations "are patently false" and Strock's
legal actions are
"without merit."
Carmichael, who is currently Lance Armstrong's
coach, said "the
Strock issue is in litigation so I am not going to
comment on it."
Angus Fraser declined an interview; Wenzel says he
never gave any
injections. He left the team in 1992 in what he
called a downsizing.
The USOC says he was fired for doping.
"I believe we were being doped, we were being
groomed," Strock
said.
Exum said not all Olympic athletes were doping: "I
think that there
are a lot of athletes who end up in fourth place
because they're not
using substances."
News - 05/07/2001
Bassons quits cycling
Christophe Bassons, seen by many as the face of drug-free cycling since the
doping scandals of 1998 that enveloped the Festina team, has decided to
retire from the sport. "We had a meeting on Wednesday afternoon. Christophe
Bassons asked me to break the contract that was binding him with our team
until the end of the year," Delatour team chief Michel Gros said.
Bassons, who started riding professionally in 1996, became the symbol of a
cleaner sport when with almost his entire team implicated in the scandal,
his teammates admitted he was one of the only riders in the team who had
refused to take the performance enhancers.
With his team kicked out of the race in 1998 for doping, Bassons recently
said he was "fed up" with cycling and that he had had to put up with
"harassment" from other competitors.
"My current experience is hard to live and I'm afraid I might crack up," he
told daily newspaper Liberation in an interview last week.
The Frenchman also said that during the 1999 Tour de France, American
cyclist Lance Armstrong had approached him and told him it was in the best
interests of the sport if he quit the race.
"...during a stage, Armstrong came to me and told me I was doing a lot of
harm to cycling", Bassons told Reuters. "He (Armstrong) told me I had better
go home," he said of quitting that race and skipping the event in 2000.
(Let's focus on the facts and history of what appears to be mounting evidence and not resort to personal attacks when responding to this post.)
When asked point blank about whether he has ever used performance enhancing drugs.
"The only thing I can say is that I never tested positive or was ever caught for anything."
When asked about other cyclists guilty of doping:
"For me, once they have served their time, I look at
them all as clean riders."
On his relationship since 1995 with Dr. Ferrari who has been charged with doping and doping procedures.
"I'm confident in the relationship, I've never denied the relationship. I believe he's an honest man, I believe he's an innocent man. I've never seen something to make me believe otherwise."
Simeoni is suing Armstrong for a symbolic amount when Armstrong called Simeoni 'a liar' based on his testimony in the Ferrari trial.
Simeoni appears to be honest despite the cost to his own reputation and career. Simeoni had to serve a suspension as the result of his own honesty and openness.
Some note on Simeoni:
Simeoni told Soprani he worked with Ferrari between October 1996 and July 1997 and alleges Ferrari advised him how to dodge the tests for blood thickness, intended to restrict the use of EPO.
In one of his diaries Simeoni wrote: "Doctor Ferrari advised me to use two alternatives: Hemagel [a blood thinning agent] on the morning of the control, albumin [an element contained in white blood cells] on the evening before a possible control."
(these procedures assist getting below detectable limits for HGH and EPO)
Simeoni, who won four races last year, said Ferrari had not warned him about possible side-effects and that he stopped working with him because he felt Ferrari was giving preferential treatment to others. "Ferrari did not treat me with the same efficiency he showed to other athletes," he said.
Simeoni on Armstrong:
"I'm determined to take this all the way. I decided to start legal action against Armstrong because he told lies about me.
"I did my duty as a citizen and told the truth during the Ferrari trial. I was suspended from racing and humiliated in front of everybody and don't deserve to be called a liar by Armstrong."
(from velonews.com)
In the response filed with the court, Wenzel also names the other coach who
was allegedly present in a hotel room with him and Strock in Spokane,
Washington, in August of 1990. While conceding that he accompanied Strock to
the room occupied by then-U.S. national coach Chris Carmichael, Wenzel said
the two did not go to the room for an injection of "extract of cortisone,"
or a performance-enhancing drug, as was alleged in Strock's suit.
"Mr. Wenzel admits that Mr. Carmichael had a briefcase from which he
produced a vitamin injection," but added that the injection was made at
Strock's request.
When contacted by VeloNews, Carmichael said he had "no recollection of an
alleged incident that happened more than 10 years ago." When asked if he had
ever been contacted in the case by Strock or his attorneys, Carmichael said
that he didn't care to comment on any aspect of the matter beyond noting
that he didn't recall the alleged incident in question.
Apparently later Chris remembered the incident well enough to make an out of court settlement to Strock. Of course if you injected 100's of riders 1000's of times there would be no reason that one single injection would stand out of what was a routine.
By Lynn Zinser /The Gazette
Edited by Kamon Simpson; headline by Andy Obermueller
A former junior national cyclist is suing USA Cycling and a former coach,
claiming he was injected with performance-enhancing drugs that wrecked his
career and threatened his health.
Greg Strock, a promising cyclist in the early '90s, said in his lawsuit that
junior national coach Rene Wenzel administered the drugs 10 years ago with no
medical supervision and told Strock at the time that they were vitamins or
"extract of cortisone."
The suit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Denver. Strock is
represented by the same lawyers involved in a suit against the U.S. Olympic
Committee by its former drug control administrator, Wade Exum, who claimed the
USOC discriminated against him and thwarted his drug-testing efforts. Strock's
suit is only against USA Cycling and doesn't mention the USOC.
USA Cycling officials, who received a copy of the suit Monday afternoon,
responded only with a statement saying they would investigate the charges.
Strock alleges the doping occurred in April 1990, when he was 17, after he
joined the junior national team for a race in France, and continued through
that year. One of his teammates at the time was Lance Armstrong, now a two-time
Tour de France winner.
Strock did not comment on his lawsuit Monday but said during a television
interview in September that, "I would have no reason to believe that...other
members (of the national team) wouldn't have been given the same substances."
He also said he never saw any other cyclists injected, nor did he discuss it
with his teammates.
Strock thinks the injections were cortisone, a steroid not only banned as a
performance-enhancing drug but an immunosuppressant that left him vulnerable to
a virus that ended his career.
"We've talked to a lot of experts and considering Greg's reaction to the
experience and the fact that it was described to him as 'extract of cortisone,'
there's little doubt we can prove it by clear and convincing evidence," said
John Pineau, Strock's Denver-based attorney.
Pineau compared Strock's treatment with the doping East Germany forced on its
athletes in the '80s, a practice confirmed in recent criminal trials in
Germany.
"It was the same thing for the same goal: to win medals," Pineau said. "They
told those kids they were injecting them with vitamins."
Pineau said Strock didn't suspect the injections had harmed him until he
entered medical school and took a pharmacology class. Strock, now a fourth-year
medical student at the University of Indiana, concluded that the cortisone had
weakened his immune system. He said his career was ruined by a long illness in
1991 diagnosed as parvovirus, normally a harmless condition except for those
with immune deficiencies.
In the lawsuit, Strock appears to try to connect his woes with Armstrong - a
testicular cancer survivor - without mentioning his former teammate by name:
"Medical studies have concluded that this virus has an 85 percent correlation
with testicular cancer."
Strock is suing for unspecified damages based on lost earnings as a potential
professional cyclist, as well as punitive damages.
Wenzel was fired by the U.S. Cycling Federation - the precursor to USA Cycling
- in 1992. He was director of the Saturn professional cycling team until
earlier this year, when he resigned.
Wenzel, who lives in McKenzie Bridge, Ore., did not return phone calls Monday.
Pineau said he thinks that Wenzel was fired when the U.S. Cycling Federation
learned of the doping. USA Cycling officials would not disclose the reason for
dismissal.
He earns $8m a year. Endorsements run to another $5m. He once held a
press conference in New York and the billionaire Donald Trump turned
up to hear him speak. Nowadays, he charges twice as much as former
president Bill Clinton for speaking engagements and when not
recounting history, he is creating it. Lance Armstrong is his name. He
is the world's best cyclist.
Yesterday, he launched his bike from a ramp in Dunkirk and set out on
the Tour de France. He is favourite to win for the third consecutive
time and become only the fifth cyclist to do so. It is not solely
success that draws us to Armstrong but also what his achievements
symbolise. Less than five years ago he was stricken with testicular
cancer that spread to his lungs and brain.
Surgeons suggested he might not live but they didn't know their
patient. Armstrong has been to hell and back. First to good health,
then to the famed yellow jersey. His spirit and good drugs enabled him
to make the first part of the journey. But for two years there has
been endless speculation about Armstrong, his remarkable recovery and
his relationship with drugs, not just those taken to kill the cancer
but also those taken by cyclists to help them compete.
Doping is a way of life in professional cycling. It is as old as the
sport itself. Police raids on the 1998 Tour de France and on this
year's Tour of Italy exposed the enormity of the deception that is
widespread. In this game, Mr Clean competes against the majority and
against the odds. Can a clean rider beat those on drugs?
The search for an answer began in Indianapolis six months ago. It is a
Sunday afternoon and the Starbucks cafe is almost empty. Greg Strock,
five months before graduating from medical school, tells of his short
career as an elite cyclist. He was 17-going-on-18; the coaching staff
at USA Cycling told him that not since the great Greg LeMond had
anybody performed better in physiological tests. But it ended before
it began. Strock claims he was told injections were necessary. Within
a year, he became ill and though he would return to competition, he
never regained his former strength.
Ten years have passed. The memory angers him. It takes time, he says,
to appreciate fully what has happened. Strock is suing USA Cycling and
his former coach, Rene Wenzel. Erich Kaiter, his teammate on the US
junior team in 1990, corroborates Strock's story of systematic doping.
He, too, is suing USA Cycling. In the national programme, Strock and
Kaiter were one year behind Armstrong.
From a coffee shop in Indianapolis to a San Francisco restaurant where
Dr Prentice Steffen tells his story. He had been team doctor with the
US Postal team in 1996; the year before Armstrong joined. Towards the
end of that season, US Postal informed Steffen they would no longer
need him. Steffen believes it was because he refused to help with any
kind of drugs.
From a doctor in San Francisco to a former professional on another
continent. This is a man who rode with Armstrong for four years at
Motorola. The team, Armstrong believes, was "white as snow". That is
not what his one-time teammate says. This rider tells of a decision by
certain members of the Motorola squad to use the blood-boosting drug
erythropoietin [EPO] during the 1995 season: "The contract with our
main sponsor was up for renewal and we needed results. It was as
simple as that."
Nothing is so simple for the carabinieri of the Florence-based NAS
team who enforce Italy's food and drug laws. Here in the basement of
their old police quarters in the city, the cardboard boxes are stacked
10-feet high, each packed with files seized from doctors alleged to
have been doping their athlete-patients. The files seized from Michele
Ferrari, one of the doctors being investigated, show that Kevin
Livingston was one of those treated by Ferrari. During the Tour de
France of 1999 and 2000, Livingston was Armstrong's most able
equipier, a man he described as his closest friend. Ferrari also kept
an Armstrong file, one that indicated a role in the rider's training.
Asked whether he had ever visited Ferrari, Armstrong replied:
"Perhaps."
From one doping investigation in Italy to another in Paris where
Hugues Huet, a journalist with the state-run television organisation
France 3, tells of how, during last year's Tour de France, he tailed
an unmarked US Postal car and eventually filmed the driver and his
companion disposing of five plastic bags in a bin many miles from
their team hotel. The rubbish contained 160 syringe wrappers, bloodied
compresses and discarded packaging that indicated use of the
blood-boosting product, Actovegin. That led to a nine-month French
investigation into the US Postal team, which will conclude later this
month. So many questions.
Then, out of the blue the phone rang. It was Armstrong. He had heard
things, he wanted to talk. Any time, any place. The interview was
arranged for two days later at Hotel La Fauvelaie, near the village of
St Sylvain d'Anjou in eastern France.
EIGHT years have passed since our last meeting. Back then, Armstrong
was an ambitious 21-year-old setting out on his first Tour de France.
The years have changed him. His body is harder now, the eyes more
wary. There is a sense that come-what-may, he will overcome. He
stretches out his hand, matter-of-factly. He is aware of your
suspicions; he wants to restate his case.
"Do you mind," he says, "if Bill sits in?" (Bill is Bill Stapleton,
his agent and lawyer.)
"I would prefer it to be one-to-one, but your choice."
"Yeah, I'd like Bill present."
"I have come to discuss one subject: doping."
"Okay," he says.
The first part of the interview is a gentle journey through his
career. In late 1992, he joined Motorola and the professional peloton.
You must have been aware by then that doping was part of the culture?
"I don't know the answer to that because Motorola was white as snow
and I was there all the way through to 1996."
What of the Fleche Wallonne classic in 1994 when three members of the
same Italian team Gewiss-Ballon broke away and finished first, second
and third? He had been strong that day but couldn't live with the
Italians. It was unusual for three riders from the same team to break
clear in a classic and suspicions were aroused when, a few days later,
the Gewiss team doctor, one Michele Ferrari, claimed EPO "was no more
harmful than five litres of orange juice". Was Armstrong surprised by
Ferrari's approval of EPO? He says he doesn't remember his reaction.
Surely he wondered what EPO was? "EPO wasn't an issue for us. Jim
Ochowitz [Motorola team manager] ran a clean programme."
Armstrong's recovery from cancer came at a time when the sickness in
his sport was, at last, properly diagnosed. On his way to the 1998
Tour de France, Willy Voet, a soigneur with the Festina team, was
stopped by French customs officials. His car contained 234 doses of
EPO and a cargo of other banned substances. Armstrong says he was
astonished: "It was unbelievable, the contents of the car."
When he returned to competition in 1998, it was with US Postal.
Armstrong says Postal's programme was clean. He insists he won the
Tour de France in 1999 and 2000 without doping. Others may have doped;
he can't speak for them. Other teams may have used drugs; the
authorities must police them. Armstrong speaks for himself. He has won
without drugs. He is, and always has been, clean.
WE NOW move on to discuss specific incidents in more detail. Armstrong
rode for the US amateur cycling team in the late 1980s and early
1990s. Chris Carmichael was then a US coach and he soon became
Armstrong's coach. Twelve years later, Carmichael remains the rider's
coach. "He is my main advisor, I talk to him all the time." Carmichael
has been implicated in the case taken by Strock against USA Cycling.
In his formal submission, Strock describes being taken by his coach,
Rene Wenzel, to see another US coach during a race at Spokane in
Washington in 1990. Strock tells how this second coach gave him an
injection, but does not name him. In a formal answer to the Strock
suit, Wenzel recalls the same Spokane encounter and says the other
coach was Carmichael.
Asked why he did not name the coach at Spokane, Strock says he is not
in a position to answer that question, and not in a position to say
why he can't. It is believed Carmichael has agreed an out-of-court
settlement with Strock's attorney. Carmichael says he cannot recollect
the incident in Spokane and declined to comment when asked if he had
settled out of court.
Armstrong knows of the case and understands the implications. Has your
coach Chris Carmichael made any settlement with Greg Strock?
"Ask Greg or Chris," says Armstrong.
Didn't Chris explain whether he did or didn't?
"No."
Didn't you ask him?
"As far as I am concerned, it was a case between Greg and his coach,
Rene Wenzel."
What if Carmichael had made a settlement, would that not be a shock?
"Would I be shocked? I haven't even thought about it."
It wouldn't look good, would it?
"Does it look good that Greg Strock just takes the money? Let's flip
it around. Is this about money or is this about principle?" We talk
about the professional teams for whom Armstrong has ridden, Motorola
and US Postal. He insists neither doped: "There are programmes in this
sport and there are athletes that are clean."
A former professional rider who was a contemporary of Armstrong's at
Motorola from 1992 to 1996 tells a different story. Now retired from
the sport, this former professional agreed to speak on the basis that
his name would not be used. Should it become necessary, though, he
will come forward and stand up for his account of the Motorola years.
"The team results in 1994 were not impressive and '95 started off the
same. We had access to the same training as other teams, the same
equipment; we ate the same food, slept the same number of hours but,
in races, we were not as competitive. The picture was becoming clear
for the upcoming Tour de France: we were going to have to give in and
join the EPO race.
"Lance was a key spokesperson when EPO was the topic. From the riders'
point of view, we felt the mounting pressure not only from within the
team but also from what was being said and written about us as a team.
No one starts out wanting to dope but you become a victim of the
sport." As well as believing Motorola was clean, Armstrong says he has
proof that US Postal runs a clean programme. He points to the team's
three weeks of drug-free urine at last year's Tour de France. To the
suggestion that the Tour's tests find only detectable drugs, he
replies that there will always be "cynics and sceptics and zealots".
We talk about Prentice Steffen, team doctor for US Postal in 1996, the
year before Armstrong joined the team. Steffen had been with the team
since 1993, when it was Subaru-Montgomery, and continued as team
doctor in the first year of US Postal's involvement. With Postal's
backing came the ambition to compete against Europe's best. In 1996
they entered the Tour of Switzerland.
"We were wiped out," said Steffen. "Two of my riders approached me
saying they wanted to 'talk about the medical programme'. It was said
that as a team, we weren't able to get to where we wanted to go with
what I was doing for them. I said, 'Well, right now I am doing
everything I can.' They might have come back with 'more could be done'
and I said, 'Yeah, I understand, but I am not going to be involved in
that'."
Steffen is sure he was being asked to help two riders to dope. After
that informal discussion, relations cooled between the doctor and his
riders. Four months later, a message was left on Steffen's voicemail
saying the team no longer needed him.
In November 1996, Steffen received a letter from firm Keesal, Young
and Logan, attorneys for the US Postal team. The letter said his
suspicions about his departure were incorrect but he would be held
responsible for his comments if he made them public. Until now,
Steffen has not spoken out in public. Armstrong says he is surprised
by the doctor's story. But is it not a serious accusation against the
team? "If it's so serious and so sincere, I would think I would have
heard that [before now]."
OUR conversation turns to Kevin Livingston, Armstrong's first
lieutenant and close friend on the US Postal team during the Tour de
France victories. Livingston has been listed as one of 60 riders
treated by Ferrari, the Italian doctor awaiting trial on doping
charges.
Ferrari is accused of treating riders with EPO, the drug that
increases the blood's oxygen-carrying red cells and enhances the
rider's endurance. For most humans, red cells account for 43% or 44%
of the total blood volume, a measure known as the haematocrit level.
To counter the abuse of EPO, the authorities now ban riders whose
haematocrit exceeds 50%. The Sunday Times has seen pages from
Livingston's file at Ferrari's office. The readings for his blood
parameters are unusual. In December 1997 Livingston's haematrocrit is
recorded at 41.2%. Seven months later, a few days before the start of
the 1998 Tour de France, Livingston's haematrocrit is 49.9%. Such a
variation in a seven-month period is uncommon.
Did you know Kevin was linked with the doping investigation?
"Yes."
Did you talk with him about it?
"No."
Never?
"No. You keep coming up with all these side stories. I can only
comment on Lance Armstrong. I don't speak for others."
This was your best friend?
"But I don't meddle in their business."
So we speak of Lance Armstrong and Michele Ferrari. Did you ever visit
Dr Ferrari?
"I did know Michele Ferrari."
How did you get to know him?
"When you go to races, you see people. I know every team's doctor.
It's a small community."
Did you ever visit Ferrari?
"Have I been tested by him, gone there and consulted on certain
things? Perhaps."
Sources close to the investigation of Ferrari are more precise about
Armstrong's relationship with the doctor. They tell of a series of
visits by the rider to Ferrari's practice at Ferrara in northern
Italy: two days in March 1999, three days in May 2000, two days in
August 2000, one day in September 2000 and three days in late
April/early May of this year. While he was in Ferrara, Armstrong
stayed at the five-star Hotel Duchessa Isabella and at the four-star
Hotel Annunziata.
Is Ferrari a good trainer?
"Regardless of what goes on," he replies, "these guys that are under a
lot of pressure, guys like Conconi, Cecchini, Ferrari; these Italian
guys, they are fantastic minds, great trainers. They know about
physiology."
Francesco Conconi and Ferrari have been investigated on doping charges
and the prosecuting judges have recommended that both be sent for
trial. The case against Luigi Cecchini was dropped.
WE speak about the French investigation into the US Postal team. On
last year's Tour de France two staff members of the US Postal team
were followed by journalists from the TV station, France 3. They were
seen to carry rubbish bags from the team hotel and put them in an
unmarked car. The journalists followed.
The chase lasted for five days. Thirty miles from Morzine, the US
Postal employees dumped the bags in a bin by the side of the road.
Tipped off about the discovery of the blood-boosting drug Actovegin in
the medical waste, French police opened an investigation.
Seven months later, the inquiry has not been completed. Armstrong says
that analyses of blood and urine samples provided by the team to the
investigation are clean. The judge leading the inquiry, Sophie-Helene
Chateau, says such a conclusion is premature.
Who were the team members who dumped that rubbish?
"One was a team doctor, the other was our chiropractor."
Names?
"That's not important."
US Postal said it carried Actovegin to treat riders' abrasions and to
treat a staff member who suffers from diabetes. Who was the staff
member?
"That is medical privacy," says Armstrong.
For more than an hour and a half, we traded punches. At times he was
generous and charming; at others confrontational. Wearied by my
scepticism, he reached for the put-down: "There will always be
sceptics, cynics and zealots." But he knows it is not that simple. He
knows, too, that for the next three weeks on the Tour de France, the
questions will follow him.
Not having the answers won't bother him. What matters is that his
urine and his blood are clear.
Those who expect him to falter, either on the murderous road to Alpe
d'Huez or under the weight of public scepticism, may be in for a long,
long wait.
"For many years now, dating back to 1990, Chris Carmichael has been my coach
and most important technical and training advisor. Others who work with
Chris include Johan Bruyneel, my director sportif, John Cobb, in charge of
aerodynamics, Dr. Luis del Moral, our team physician and Jeff Spencer my
chiropractor.
Also included are my close friends, former Belgian champion Eddy Merckx and
former Motorola team director Jim Ochowitz.
Chris and I met Michele Ferrari during a training camp in San Diego,
California, in 1995. His primary role has always been limited. Since Chris
cannot be in Europe on an ongoing basis, Michele does my physiological
testing and provides Chris with that data on a regular basis. Chris has
grown to trust Michele's opinion regarding my testing and my form on the
bike. And lately, we have been specifically working on a run at the hour
record. I do not know exactly when I will do that, only that I will in the
near future.
He has also consulted with Chris and me on dieting, altitude preparation,
hypoxic training and the use of altitude tents, which are all natural
methods of improvements.
In the past, I have never denied my relationship with Michele Ferrari. On
the other hand, I have never gone out of my way to publicize it. The reason
for that is that he has had a questionable public reputation due to the
irresponsible comments he made in 1994 regarding EPO.
I want to make it clear that I do not associate myself with those remarks
or, for that matter, with anyone who utilizes unethical sporting procedures.
However, in my personal experience I have never had occasion to question the
ethics or standard of care of Michele. Specifically, he has never discussed
EPO with me and I have never used it.
I have always been very clear on the necessity of cycling to be a clean
sport and I have firmly stated that anyone, including me, who tests positive
for banned substances should be severely punished.
As everyone knows, I am one of the very few riders who have no prescriptions
in my health book. I have been repeatedly tested during my career including
during the entire 1999 and 2000 Tours de France and most recently during the
Tour de Suisse ten days ago.
I ask that I be allowed to address these issues publicly at a later date.
When asked point blank about whether he has ever used performance enhancing drugs.
"The only thing I can say is that I never tested positive or was ever caught for anything."
When asked about other cyclists guilty of doping:
"For me, once they have served their time, I look at
them all as clean riders."
On his relationship since 1995 with Dr. Ferrari who has been charged with doping and doping procedures.
"I'm confident in the relationship, I've never denied the relationship. I believe he's an honest man, I believe he's an innocent man. I've never seen something to make me believe otherwise."
Simeoni is suing Armstrong for a symbolic amount when Armstrong called Simeoni 'a liar' based on his testimony in the Ferrari trial.
Simeoni appears to be honest despite the cost to his own reputation and career. Simeoni had to serve a suspension as the result of his own honesty and openness.
Some note on Simeoni:
Simeoni told Soprani he worked with Ferrari between October 1996 and July 1997 and alleges Ferrari advised him how to dodge the tests for blood thickness, intended to restrict the use of EPO.
In one of his diaries Simeoni wrote: "Doctor Ferrari advised me to use two alternatives: Hemagel [a blood thinning agent] on the morning of the control, albumin [an element contained in white blood cells] on the evening before a possible control."
(these procedures assist getting below detectable limits for HGH and EPO)
Simeoni, who won four races last year, said Ferrari had not warned him about possible side-effects and that he stopped working with him because he felt Ferrari was giving preferential treatment to others. "Ferrari did not treat me with the same efficiency he showed to other athletes," he said.
Simeoni on Armstrong:
"I'm determined to take this all the way. I decided to start legal action against Armstrong because he told lies about me.
"I did my duty as a citizen and told the truth during the Ferrari trial. I was suspended from racing and humiliated in front of everybody and don't deserve to be called a liar by Armstrong."
What do you think now?
Willy Voet comments on blood testing procedure:
Willy Voet: It's a joke! When the doctors doing the testing showed up at 6:30 AM, the riders had until 8:15 AM to try to lower their hematocrit level. All we need is a quarter of an hour to do this. Basically, we run a liter of water into the bloodstream through an intravenous drip with a 0.09 sodium solution that we inject at high speed, because there is no risk involved, and we're home free. Twenty minutes later, the hematocrit level has gone down by about three percent. That is why the UCI has reduced the time of intervention since then. In any case, we had a machine equipped with a centrifuge as small as two packets of cigarettes to check the level in the evening. They're German-made, I believe. At first we only had one of those because they cost as much as $700, but the guys were lining up in front of it. Now, almost all of the riders concerned have their personal machine. Six out of nine Festina riders on the 1998 TDF own one.
(what is P?)
Read further:
Willy Voet: Let's say that it was in code. For instance, instead of one dose of EPO, I would write an X underlined in red. For a dose of HGH, I wrote a Z underlined in green. And then there was the P...
PB: The P?
Willy Voet: Well...Uh-oh! Well, I can tell you everything. The P stood for a new product. It isn't specified in the records because we would use this subterfuge in telephone conversations when speaking about this product just in case the telephone was tapped. It is a revolutionary product. It was Ryckaert who had it used. Some riders had tried it in 1997 and asked for more this year.
PB: How many of them?
Willy Voet: Two or three.... No, four.
PB: In what way is this product revolutionary?
Willy Voet: It is an anabolic steroid. It helps the muscular mass develop in a spectacular way. It is a tablet that we had shipped from Portugal. It is taken in a course of treatment. After seven days of that, which means ten tablets in total, it is undetectable. I guess I should talk to my lawyer about it.
PARIS, Nov 7 (AFP) - A preliminary inquiry has been opened by
the public prosecutor here into alleged doping within the US Postal
team of two-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, judicial
sources said Tuesday.
The inquiry, which got underway on October 18, will determine
whether there is sufficient evidence to pursue further
investigations.
French satirical daily Le Canard Enchaine reported the French
judiciary were investigating allegations that the team had used
products containing calves' blood, products whose effects are
similar to those of EPO.
EPO increases the blood's ability to store oxygen and therefore
fight fatigue and several sports stars, including cyclists, have
been caught using it.
The paper said the Parisian police specialist drugs detection
team had been looking into the case at the instigation of the Paris
prosecutor for the past three weeks.
On Tuesday, French daily "Le Monde" reported that a car had
driven away several boxes from the US Postal camp during this year's
Tour de France and that there was speculation as to their content.
Le Canard Enchaine believed it had the answer.
"One thing is certain: they are boxes (containing) a Norwegian
medicine: actovegin", the paper said.
"The phials contain extracts of veal blood" treated to purify it
of toxins.
"(It's effectiveness) would appear to be roughly similar to that
of erythropoietin (EPO)," Le Canard Enchaine reported.
Actovegin, which is supposed to treat arterial deficiency and
offset weak blood circulation, is not currently on the list of
banned substances.
According to Le Monde, an anonymous letter was sent to the Paris
prosecutor's office referring to an enquiry into the doping affair
by journalists working for French television.
A crew from the station, France 3, witnessed the car carrying
away the boxes in question.
Herve Brusini, director of information of France 3, tried to
play down the story Tuesday.
"We are only at the stage of suspicions and you can't base an
enquiry on suspicions and doubts," he told AFP.
Jacques de Ceaurriz, director of the French laboratory charged
with uncovering instances of doping, described actovegin as "an
ill-defined product which is not on sale in France because it is an
animal extract."
The product, administered as a gel, is generally used to aid
blood circulation.
Ceaurriz added the product was largely used in eastern and Asian
countries.
The allegations were levelled at US Postal amid the Festina
trial in Lille, which has heard similar insinuations against
Armstrong's team.
"On the Hautacam climb, a climb at the end of the stage (of last
July's Tour de France) (Armstrong) was finding more power at the
summit than at the bottom," said former Festina trainer Antoine
Vayer.
Meanwhile at the Lille trial, the court said the verdict would
be handed down on December 22 after a fortnight of intense
deliberations.
On Monday, the prosecutor demanded that French cycling star
Richard Virenque should not be sentenced for his part in the Festina
doping scandal.
Deputy public prosecutor Gerald Vinsonneau told the Tribunal
there was insufficient evidence to suggest that the former Festina
rider, who admited doping on the second day after previously denying
any wrongdoing, had taken part in organised doping within his team.
However, Vinsonneau requested a 14-month suspended jail sentence
and a 20,000 French Francs (2,600 dollars) fine against former
Festina team masseur Willy Voet, and an 18-month suspended sentence
and 50,000 French Francs (6,600 dollars) fine against former team
sporting director Bruno Roussel.
Virenque, five-time winner of the King of the Mountains climbing
title at the Tour de France, admitted last month taking drugs after
having maintained his innocence for two years.
Virenque, 30, the most high-profile defendant in the Tour de
France doping trial, appeared along with five former members of the
Festina training staff, including Roussel, 43, and Voet, 54.
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (December 12, 2000 4:21 p.m. EST
http://www.sportserver.com) - The product at the core of doping
allegations
against Lance Armstrong's team in the Tour de France was banned by
the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday.
Armstrong, meanwhile, said he might not defend his championship in
next
year's Tour if charges of drug use continue.
The IOC medical commission said Actovegin, containing extracts of
calf's
blood, was banned as blood doping.
"I think we need to be very precise that the position of the medical
commission is that this is a banned substance," panel chairman Prince
Alexandre de Merode said. "There may have been a bit of hesitation a
few
months ago. This hesitation no longer exists today."
Actovegin has been at the center of controversy since October, when
French judicial authorities opened a preliminary investigation into
whether
the U.S. Postal Service team used banned substances during the 2000
Tour. Armstrong, who came back from cancer, won the Tour for the
second straight year.
Armstrong and the team have repeatedly denied using banned drugs.
"Here's the bottom line to everyone: I'll start by saying that we are
completely innocent," Armstrong said on his personal Website on
Tuesday. "We run a very clean and professional team that has been
singled out due to our success.
"I will say that the substance on people's minds, Activ-o-something
(Actovegin) is new to me. Before this ordeal I had never heard of it,
nor
had my teammates."
Armstrong said that the drugs and medical products found near the
team
were simply tools to treat 25-50 people on the Tour de France over
three
weeks.
"If something were to go wrong with any of them, he (the team doctor)
would be responsible for their well-being. That's why he would have
things
like adrenaline, cortisone, scissors, stitches, etc.," Armstrong
said.
"Some may be viewed as `performance enhancers' but they're not used
in that sense.
"And to so incorrectly call something a substitute for doping is
clueless
and irresponsible. I can assure everyone we do everything in the
highest
moral standard."
Armstrong also indicated he might skip the 2001 Tour if the charges
of
drug use persist.
"I will say that if the current situation exists, then I will not
ride the Tour in
2001. Period," Armstrong said. "I'm not saying that to `threaten' or
`warn'
anyone as I really don't think the French care either way if I go."
The Paris prosecutor's office launched the investigation into the
U.S.
Postal team after receiving an anonymous letter saying suspicious
behavior had been detected during the Tour. A TV crew noticed two men
dumping plastic bags that contained compresses, packaging from
foreign
products and medicine, including Actovegin.
Actovegin, manufactured in Norway, contains deproteinized extracts of
calf's blood. Injected into the body, it improves the circulation of
oxygen in
the blood in a manner similar to the banned drug EPO, or
erythropoetin,
which builds endurance by boosting the production of oxygen-rich red
blood cells.
"It's advertised as enhancing the flow of oxygen to the brain," IOC
medical
director Patrick Schamasch said. "And if it brings oxygen to the
brain, it
can also bring oxygen to the other parts of the body."
De Merode said some Olympic teams brought Actovegin to the Sydney
Games this year with the approval of Australian customs, which did
not
consider the product illegal.
Here's a summary of parts of the US Postal doping investigation story,
culled from my reading of the story on the L'Equipe web site at
http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/USPostal.html
--
Preliminary investigation by Paris magistrates court was started Oct 18.
Formal opening of judicial enquiry on Nov 22 after investigators
determined there was information to warrant proceeding. At present
the enquiry is an "information judiciaire contre X" - basically an
investigation of unknown parties.
Initial accusation came anonymously on Oct 18, addressed anonymously
to "procureur de la RÝpublique de Paris", Jean-Pierre Dintilhac.
Further information comes from a France 3 TV crew who had been
conducting "discreet" surveillance of US Postal during the most recent
TdF. They observed and filmed what producer HervÝ Brusini described
as "a strange ballet in the US Postal camp", after stage 18:
A car with German registration was parked in the area reserved for US
Postal. Two men who did not seem to be part of the usual team
personnel loaded several plastic bags into the car. Intrigued by this
strange activity, the journalists decided to start filming. The
vehicle took to the road at a brisk pace, went some way along the
freeway, then took a small local road, before stopping in front of a
large container in a public area, at a respectable distance from the
hotel. The two unknowns unloaded the bags and took off promptly. It
remained only for the journalists to recover the bags from the trash
container: in it they found compresses, bandages, and medicine
bottles. Unable to establish the products as dope, the France 3
reporters were not able to broadcast their film.
Part of the contents were revealed by the "Canard enchaänÝ" in their
edition of Wed 8 Nov. The trash contained bottles of Actovegin, made
by the Norwegian lag Nycomed, and usually intended for the treatment
of arterial disease. Actovegin contains filtered calf's blood, and
allows improved oxygenation of blood with elevating the hematocrit.
According to Jean-Pierre de Mondenard, former TdF doctor, Actovegin
"facilitates the circulation of oxygen while avoiding the coagulation
problems caused by EPO." Although Actovegin is not explicitly
prohibited by the UCI, doping with blood products is.
According to HervÝ Brusini, the France 3 investigation is
incomplete. "We are at the stage of suspicions only, and one does not
base an investigative report on suspicion and doubt."
Police from the Paris narcotics squad must now determine whether the
famous bags really belonged to the US Postal team, something that
Johan Bruyneel vigorously denies. "I want first to make clear that if
the inquest has been going on since mid-October, no one from French
justice or the French police has contacted me for a statement. I have
my own thoughts about this affair and I am convinced that someone out
is to dirty our reputation. I remember that from the 2nd day of this
year's Tour, certain team directors where recipients of an anonymous
letter alleging doping among the US Postal team. They came to find me
and give me a friendly warning to watch out for these accusations, a
baseless lie. Under these conditions how can one give the least
credit to this new story today?"
Bruyneel, who said he was shocked by those who "only want to tarnish
Armstrong's reputation", disputed the accusations by suggesting that
"it is all being orchestrated by people whose job is to produce
trash. France 3 days they found the suspicious bags in the area of
the US Postal team, but that's very different from having found them
in the US Postal vehicles, or in the racers' room. No one can show
that there is doping in our team. For now I hold that all this rests
only on vague statements and that it is very serious to accuse the
team of the winner of the Tour de France on such slender grounds.
There is a Belgium proverb that sums it all up: The tallest trees are
those that catch the most wind. But Lance has seen other storms
during his life."
US Postal spokesman Dan Osipow said: "It seems the enquiry was started
in mid October, but I heard about it today for the first time. We are
like everyone else. We learned about it from the media. We need to
learn more before making any pronouncements. But I can reaffirm that
the US Postal position on doping has not changed. It is zero
tolerance."
All had begun with L ' sending D ' an anonymous mail with French justice, following a survey carried out by journalists of France 3 at the time of the Turn of France 2000. All finishes in quasi an anonymity by a nonsuit returned at the end of August by the judge D ' instruction Sophie-Helene Chateau, charged of the file. Since mid-June, since François Franchi, head of the section of fight against non-financial criminality organized with the parquet floor of Paris, had entrusted that " juridically, nothing allows D ' to establish doping in this file ", L ' investigation lived these last hours. This withdrawal of case thus does not constitute a surprise insofar as no setting in examination N ' had been marked in this business, analyses N ' not having made it possible D ' to identify doping products.
In addition, Lance Armstrong, quadruples victorious Turn of France, always formally contradicted to have taken some doping product that it is. Three weeks before the departure of the Turn 2002, L ' American, wearied like never, its dissatisfaction with vehemence had expressed:
" Maintaining that is enough! They do not want to include/understand why our samples are clean! "
At the end of August, "they" finally included/understood. What has L ' hor to like to L ' lawyer of the runner texan, Me George Kiejman, who announced his "satisfaction" . " the decision was acquired since June. There N ' ever was the least concrete suspicion against Lance Armstrong ", it explained " One could eternally have continued to seek something D ' imaginary. Justice functioned well in this business even if we would have naturally wished that this decision be returned more quickly ", it concluded.
Without surprise, the US formation Postal, by the voice of its spokesman daN Osipow, also announced its immense satisfaction following the decision returned by French justice " C ' is what we had said since the beginning and we are obviously delighted. I do not think that Lance is well-informed, because C ' is today a feastday in the United States, but I am persuaded qu ' it will be relieved in L ' learning. "And D ' to add not without making the blusterer. " We knew since the beginning that it would be thus. C ' was ashamed. We collaborated with the authorities in the measurement of our means. We did all that L ' one could in so much qu ' equips to advance the things. Why did that take as many time? It is necessary to ask them. "
Summary of the preceding episodes
Following the letter of request delivered at the beginning of the month March 2001 by the judge D ' Parisian instruction Sophie-Helene Castle, in load of L ' inquires open on November 22, 2000 by the parquet floor of Paris, L ' UCI had announced officially, March 15, 2001, qu ' it gave to French justice the samples and the codes D ' identification of the blood taking away carried out before the departure of the Turn 2000 on the runners of L ' equips US Postal. In addition, the samples D ' urinates frozen taken at the time of this same Turn, and seized by French justice at the end of December 2000, were in progress D ' examination.
" If L ' US Postal announces his agreement to us, L ' UCI N ' has any problem to place at the disposal the codes which allow D ' to identify the runners of L ' equips ", the spokesman of L ' UCI had declared on February 1, 2001. " the blood samples (*), which S ' do not compare to a traditional control antidopage, are taken on the basis of confidentiality ", it however had added.
Following this decision of L ' UCI, Mark Gorski, the manager of the American formation, had reacted the evening even in an official statement: " We N ' let us have any reason to hide anything which could be discovered thanks to these samples of blood. "
Such an amount of better, because L ' authority international N ' had not too much been long in joining the acts to the word, pressed however by the letter of request delivered at the beginning of March by Château judge for " infringement with the law relating to the prevention of L ' use of doping products, incentive with L ' use of doping products and infringement with the legislation on the poisonous substances ".
March 15, 2001, L ' UCI had thus agreed to then give to French justice the famous blood samples of the runners of L ' US Postal, preserved jusqu ' in a laboratory of Lausanne.
Hardly the lawsuit Festina S ' it was completed in Lille, November 7, 2000, after eleven days of debates which put at the day the drifts D ' a medium gangréné by doping, qu ' a new suspect business started to come up as of the following day. This time, C ' was with the turn of L ' equips American US Postal with Armstrong Lance to be found in the storm.
Alerted by an anonymous denunciation addressed to the public prosecutor of Paris Jean-Pierre Dintilhac, the parquet floor opened a preliminary investigation on October 18, 2000, and L ' entrusted to the Drug squad of the prefecture of police force of Paris.
The accused facts, which go up with the Turn of France 2000 , were filmed by a team of the national drafting of France 3 , dispatched on the Outer Loop to inquire discreetly and exclusively on L ' equips US Postal following L ' incredible exploit (suspect?) of Armstrong Lance in the rise towards Doors on July 10, 2000 ( 10th stage ).
The images were taken on July 18, 2000 after L ' Courchevel-Morzine stage. Questioned by the newspaper the World , Herve Brusini, the director of the national drafting of France 3 , evoked: " a strange ballet in the wake of L ' equips US Postal. "
This 18 July, the journalists of France 3 locate, indeed, a big-engined car registered in Germany, stationed in the reserved perimeter with L ' US Postal. Two men, who N ' do not belong apparently to the usual personnel of the American formation, load several plastic bags in the car. Intrigued by this strange horse-gear, the journalists decide to film. The truck takes the road with sharp pace, borrowing a part D ' motorway, then a small secondary road, before S ' to stop close D ' a large container on a public surface, remotely sizeable of L ' hotel. The two unknown ones get rid then of the famous bags and set out again also dry. There does not remain any more qu ' with the journalists to recover the contents of the dustbin: compress, plates and packing of drugs. Incompetents D ' to establish the doping character of these products, the reporters of France 3 cannot diffuse their subject. The anonymous letter of October 18 accelerates the things. The " stups " start to inquire.
Part of the contents was revealed by Duck connected in its edition of Wednesday November 8, 2000. The dustbin contained packing D ' Actovegin, manufactured by the Norwegian laboratory Nycomed and usually intended to treat the arterial insufficiencies.
Bulbs of calf blood!
Used in form D ' bulbs and container of the calf blood deproteneized and filtered so D ' to eliminate D ' possible let us request and other bacteria, L ' Actovegin would allow a better oxygenation of blood without increasing the rate D ' hématocrite. Virtues rather close to those of L ' EPO, even higher according to Jean-Pierre de Mondenard, former doctor of the Turn of France, questioned by connected Duck : L ' Actovegin " facilitates the circulation of L ' oxygenates in blood while avoiding the blood coagulation which L ' EPO causes. "
Even if L ' Actovegin N ' is not indexed on the list of the products prohibited by L ' UCI, the process of blood doping (definite thus by the texts: " administration with an athlete of blood, red globules, artificial conveyors D ' oxygenates or of related blood products " ) L ' is formally .
Herve Brusini moderated the range of this information. " Our investigation N ' is not finished. We N ' are qu ' at the stage of the suspicions and one does not melt an investigation into suspicions and on the doubt ", explained the owner of the drafting of France 3 .
According to Jacques de Ceaurriz, general manager of the national Laboratory of tracking of doping (LNPP), L ' Actovegin is " a badly defined product, which N ' is not marketed in France because C ' is an extract D ' origin animal. C ' is a preparation without formal identification of the active ingredient ". Proposed in particular in the form of freezing, it is used in particular to improve blood circulation, but is also acted as drugs of comfort for D ' other pathologies.
"a bottom of drawer"
" For me, C ' is a bottom of drawer, marketed especially in the countries of L ' Is and in Asia, a preparation indeed starting from calf serum, with the virtues is saying overall. I do not want to say that C ' is charlatanism but C ' is rather vast all the same ", still indicated professor de Ceaurriz.
L ' inquires revival nevertheless the insinuations of certain witnesses come to deposit at the time of the Festina lawsuit, in front of the correctional court of Lille " In the rise of Hautacam , that is to say a rise of collar in fine D ' stage, (Armstrong) developed more power with top qu ' with the foot of the difficulty ", S ' astonished thus Antoine Vayer, former trainer of Feasted.
A doctor of the Parisian sport, S ' expressing under cover D ' anonymity, posted on his side a mixture of skepticism and fatalism: " All is possible. But L ' placébo effect of doping exists too. There are many doctors who make pay very expensive with the runners products which are not used for nothing ", estimated it.
Voet: "I know from an inside source that Armstrong uses more than a
dozen products on medical prescription."
(just an IV-quote, nothing to do with this investigation)
Of course there's lots of stuff to be found in teams' bins. And in
Lance's particular case that might even be more evident .
EPO activity is limited by shortages of iron in the body. Hence part of the
treatment includes iron suppliments.
I haven't seen the study nor a citation as such. However, liver and
pancreatic irregularities can be fairly accurately monitored since these
two organs dump a plethora of unique chemicals into the bloodstream that
are easily monitored via blood sampling.
One interesting study noted that IGF-1 (insulin growth factor 1) causes
natural EPO to be generated by the body in dose-dependant amounts. This
means that testing for rEPO may not be the best method of suppressing
doping. IGF-1 is another difficult to detect hormone and is active in
extremely small amounts in the bloodstream.
It is beginning to seem that the only way to keep drugs out of the Peloton
is a continuous monitoring to establish baseline metabolic functions of
each athlete on upper levels.
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=igf+doping&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=78sq0d%24q6q%241%40nnrp1.dejanews.com&rnum=7
ell, I suspect that systematic coping was in place long before this,
in both amateur and professional sports. In any endeavor where the
stakes are high, people will seek whatever edge they can. In the case
of Olympic teams, they are thinly disguised soldiers fighting a war for
their countries. Soldiers are notoriously used as guinea pigs for
experimentation, and the soldier-athletes that go to the Olympics are
no exception, IMHO.
However, the sophistication of the methods and materials underwent a
quantum leap- under the impetus of Dr. Conconi and Dr. Ferrari in
particular. Prior to this, the team doctor for Freddy Maertens and
Michel Pollentier (Velda-Flandria) was reportedly involved in the use
of drugs by both of those riders, and probably team mates as well.
Jacques Antequil is alleged to have used performance enhancing drugs
(and famously refused to comply with dope testing after breaking the
Hour Record), and a number of other famous riders including Bernard
Thevent and IIRC Big Ted himself admitted to using steroids. Fignon
was alleged to use blood doping and there was some muttering about
Hinault usng steroids in Robin Magowan's book. Paul Kimmage's book
suggested that doping was rife in the peloton, although he did not
really seem to suggest that it was organized per se. Soigneurs have
been securing such products for years and providing riders with the
instructions about their use.
The use of EPO, HGH and IGF requires the complicity of a doctor,
however. And that is where the difference comes in. The majority of
previous doping products were probably ineffective and perhaps even
counterproductive. The modern doping agents do have relatively
predictable benefit.
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=22261-37940285-133%40newsd-123.bryant.webtv.net
Of course it's a sham. Any doping test is. I think that about 1 or 2 % of
the riders using doping are caught - and only the suckers. True, tests have
made it difficult (but not impossible) to use amphitamines, cortisone or
testeron. On the other hand, none of the most sophisticated drugs can be
detected: interleukine, IGF 1, "hemoglobine reticulee" (I don't know the
English term), PFC, EPO. The hematocrit level only gives an indication, but
can be lowered artificially. Moreover, since 38 - 42 % is usual, the 50 %
rule gives most riders a golden opportunity to use EPO without the fear to
be caught.
The first tests in the Tour de France were in 1965. Since then, none of
the winners tested positive. But who's believing that any one them was
really "clean", must be dreaming. The main function of tests is to convince
the public that drugs are taken seriously and that the majority of the
riders are not using them.
There are only two ways to make an end of this sham: to put all
professional riders 24 hours a day under surveillance by a team of
incurruptible offcials or (partly) legalize doping. The first solution is
technically impossible, the second politically unacceptable. So there are
two possiblities: reject bicycle racing completyely (and most other sports,
for that matter), or accept it and enjoy it.
SYDNEY, March 19 (Reuters) - A television report alleging widespread use of
illegal muscle-building drugs has prompted the Australian government to
launch an immediate investigation.
The report, broadcast on Australian television on Sunday, alleged that
athletes at the internationally-acclaimed Australian Institute of Sport
(AIS) were engaging in the use of an undetectable growth stimulant known as
IGF-1.
A former Australian Olympic sprinter, who was not identified, told the
programme that the use of drugs at the AIS was rampant and had been going on
for years.
A powerlifter, who admitted using performance-enhancing drugs, also claimed
that he had been advising some of Australia's top athletes on how they could
safely pass doping tests at this year's Sydney Olympics.
But AIS director John Boultbee swiftly cast doubts on the claims, insisting
the bulk of Australia athletes were clean.
He said: ``We have a very extensive education system for our athletes and
also the basic point is athletes in Australia are very interested in
competing fairly and don't think about these drugs.''
Boultbee added: ``I'm angry, I'm really angry - the Sunday Program has used
hearsay to cast a slur on all Australian athletes and on AIS athletes and
coaches in particular.
``This is nothing more than self-serving statements from people who admit
they are involved in performance enhancing drugs and who are casting this
slur on other athletes to try to justify their own involvement in drugs.''
UNFORTUNATE
Australian Olympic Committee secretary-general Craig McLatchey said: ``It is
unfortunate that most of what was put forward by (the programme) was either
anecdotal or unsubstantiated information by drug cheats or people who are
assisting drug cheats.
``Therefore one has to question the validity of this information.
``Nevertheless the story is clearly concerning and highlights the need for
action in the fight against doping in sport.''
Australia's federal sports minister Jackie Kelly announced shortly after the
programme was aired that she had ordered an immediate report into the
allegations, although she said she doubted some of the claims.
``I maintain a high level of confidence in the integrity and natural
sporting ability of Australia's Olympic athletes,'' Kelly said. ``No country
anywhere in the world has done more, or is doing more, to get tough on drugs
in sport than Australia.
The programme claimed Australian federal police investigations had
discovered that IGF-1 was being supplied to elite sportsmen and their
coaches.
SPRINTER INTERVIEWED
They interviewed a former Australian Olympic sprinter who said that the
practice had been going on since the build-up to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
``Leading into the Olympics of '96, almost everyone I knew was involved at
some stage with IGF-1,'' the athlete, whose identity was kept secret, said.
``I think you'd be looking at 70-80 per cent of people, maybe more.
``The fact that it was undetectable was like a godsend to everybody, it was
a real buzz around the community.''
Grant Ellison, a former powerlifter who has confessed to using
performance-enhancing drugs, told the programme he had advised around 20 top
Australian athletes, including ``three or four incredibly well-known
names,'' how they could safely use drugs in the lead-up to the Sydney Games.
He said the feeling among most of the top athletes he deals with, which
include runners, weightlifters, cyclists and rowers, was that they believed
they had to cheat to win Olympic gold because everyone else was.
``There will always be a freak who will come out of nowhere and can possibly
do it clean,'' Ellison said.
``But if you want the gold medal ... in general, you need to be taking
something.''
EPO, HGH, IGF, anabolic steroids, corticosteroids,
bronchodilators, vasodilators and vasoconstrictors, potent analgesics, creatine, Actovegin
Lance also tested positive for corticoids which he claimed he was using to treat saddle sores. He was exonerated after a second test showed no 'systematic use'.
More info on corticoids:
ALTERNATIVE DOPING CONTROL FOR CORTICOIDS BY HAIR ANALYSIS WITH LC/MS
P. Kintz, V. Cirimele, J.S. Raul, J.P. Goullé, B. Ludes
Institut de Médecine Légale, 11 rue Humann, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
Cortisone and hydrocortisone, naturally occuring homones, influence metabolism, inflammation, electrolyte and water balance …Their synthetic derivatives are used in therapeutic for their anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive actions. They are used in certain sports to improve the performances of the athletes (euphoria, motor activity).
Repetitive abuse of corticosteroids by athletes can be demonstrated by segmental analysis along the hair shaft, in contrast to ponctual urinalysis. A single treatment of about 1 week will positive a single 1-cm segment, while long-term abuse will lead to the identification of the corticoïd (s) in several segments. For such an application, particularly in case of longitudinal survey of athletes, hair analysis appears as the solution of choice to document doping practices. However, this procedure does not allow the discrimination between local administration, that is permitted with a medical prescription, and systemic use, that is banned.
Hair strands were washed in methylene chloride, pulverized in a ball mill and 100 mg of the powdered hair were incubated in 1 ml Soerensen buffer, pH 7.6 for 16 h at 40 °C, in presence of 5 ng cortisol-d3 used as internal standard. Purification of the incubation medium was achieved on SPE C18 Isolute extraction columns followed by an alkaline liquid-liquid extraction with diethylether. The eluate was evaporated to dryness and resuspended in 25 µl of acetonitrile. The chromatography was operated on a Nucleosil C18 1 mm column using a linear gradient of acetonitrile from 30 to 70% in 15 min. The detector was a Perkin Elmer Sciex API 100 mass spectrometer.
Physiological concentrations (n=25) of cortisone and cortisol were in the range 2 to 132 (mean 42 pg/mg) and 2 to 57 pg/mg (mean 15 pg/mg), respectively. Concentrations were not dependant on hair colour (probably due to the absence of a nitrogen atom in the structure), but seemed to be age-dependant.
A general screening procedure was established to test 10 corticosteroids (triamcinolone, prednisolone, prednisone, methylprednisone, cortisone, cortisol, beta- and dexa-methasone, flumethasone and beclomethasone), with LODs in the range 1 to 30 pg/mg.
Prednisone was identified in the hair (30 à 130 pg/mg, mean 65 pg/mg) of 9/10 patients daily treated by Cortancyl® at 5 to 60 mg/day, in an apparent dose-concentration relationship.
A single therapeutic treatment can be documented, as demonstrated by the unique identification of betamethasone in the hair, at 4.7 pg/mg, of a subject receiving for 9 consecutive days 4 mg of the drug. By segmental analyses, no migration of betamethasone was observed in the hair shaft.
Finally, in case of 2 cyclists, segmental hair analyses demonstrated chronic abuse of triamcinolone and betamethasone over several months.
(Short hair would be beneficial.)
List of CORTICOIDS & DIURETICS
http://www.innovrsrch.com/corticoids___diuretics.html
Dope And Glory
Were American Athletes Given Performance-Enhancing Drugs
Without Their Knowledge?
(CBS) In 1990, Greg Strock was
one of the greatest bicycle racers
in America. At the age of 17, he
was flying past cycling records,
blistering the road on his way out
of Indiana and into the world.
"It was kind of a blur," he told 60
Minutes II Correspondent Scott
Pelley. "You know, one minute I'm
riding my bike in the cornfields,
and, and the next minute I'm on
the national team, and going to
Moscow for the junior Worlds."
The national teams are where America's Olympic athletes are
trained, and Strock was on the fast track. Lance
Armstrong and five
future Olympians were also riding for America that year. Strock
never made it to the Olympics. At the top of his game, he was struck
down by a catastrophic illness.
"I was sleeping 18 hours a day, my knees were swollen," he said.
"I was having trouble walking up stairs, walking down stairs, and had
sore throats, large lymph node swelling in my, my neck and my
groin, and under my arms."
Doctors thought it was AIDS, then lymphatic cancer. It turned out
to
be a breakdown in Strock's immune system that no one could
explain. After failed comebacks, Strock gave up his Olympic dream
for medical school. It was there, while studying steroids, that
he
became suspicious about his coaches on the cycling team.
Strock believes he was given banned drugs to enhance his
performance - dope that he says ruined his health. He's now suing
U.S.A. Cycling, which is in charge of Olympic training.
Strock says the doping began in France, when he was racing poorly
because of a bad cold. His condition improved rapidly after the U.
S.
team coach gave him pills that were supposedly vitamins and an
injection which he says the coach called extract of cortisone.
But there's no such thing as an extract of cortisone. Cortisone
is a
cortico-steroid, banned in the kind of injections that Strock
describes. In large doses, cortisone depresses the immune
system, and Strock says those injections became routine.
Strock thought he was alone until he filed his lawsuit 5 months
ago
and got a call from someone he hadn't seen in 10 years - Erich
Kaiter, his teammate at U.S.A. Cycling.
"We were given the same injections at the same times, and we
raced together pretty much at every race during that year,"
Kaiter
said. "And I became very ill with a lot of the same symptoms that I
now know Greg suffered."
They don't know what was in those syringes, and they don't recall
taking a drug test in those days. But they say the injections
were
given by the U.S.A. Cycling staff, including coach Rene Wenzel,
trainer Angus Fraser and, according to documents, coach Chris
Carmichael.
Strock and Kaiter are convinced that that was a
program of doping,
and there is considerable evidence that, in U.S.
Olympic sport,
doping has reached much further than you might
imagine.
That charge comes from an insider: Dr. Wade Exum,
who was in
charge of doping control at the U.S. Olympic
committee until last
summer, three months before the Sydney games.
Told there was a serious program to eliminate
doping from U.S.
sports, Exum now believes "it was all a sham."
Exum says drug tests, done at random during
training and
competition, routinely crossed his desk, showing
athletes were
doping.
"In the last year that I was at the US Olympic
Committee," he said,
"there were positive tests for anabolic steroids
in badminton. I had
anabolic steroid positives in shooting when I was
at the Olympic
Committee."
Exum is suing the USOC, saying it undermined his
effort to protect
athletes. He is offering his records in court. But
the committee is
asking the judge to keep the records confidential
because "public
disclosure of these documents would cause
annoyance and
possible embarrassment for many individual
athletes..."
Exum estimated that fewer than one in seven
American athletes
who tested positive for banned substances, was
ever sanctioned.
Last fall, Joseph Califano, the head of the
National Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse, finished a two-year
study of
Olympic doping. He says there is a mindset that
you can't compete
successfully in the Olympics today if you're not
using dope.
Califano says it was tough to get hard information
because he had
great difficulty, just as 60 Minutes II had, in
getting cooperation from
U. S. Olympic officials.
"I think you get silent treatment from people when
they have
something to hide," Califano said.
For several months, the U.S. Olympic Committee and
U.S.A. Cycling
have declined to be interviewed In a letter, the
USOC said Exum's
allegations "are patently false" and Strock's
legal actions are
"without merit."
Carmichael, who is currently Lance Armstrong's
coach, said "the
Strock issue is in litigation so I am not going to
comment on it."
Angus Fraser declined an interview; Wenzel says he
never gave any
injections. He left the team in 1992 in what he
called a downsizing.
The USOC says he was fired for doping.
"I believe we were being doped, we were being
groomed," Strock
said.
Exum said not all Olympic athletes were doping: "I
think that there
are a lot of athletes who end up in fourth place
because they're not
using substances."
News - 05/07/2001
Bassons quits cycling
Christophe Bassons, seen by many as the face of drug-free cycling since the
doping scandals of 1998 that enveloped the Festina team, has decided to
retire from the sport. "We had a meeting on Wednesday afternoon. Christophe
Bassons asked me to break the contract that was binding him with our team
until the end of the year," Delatour team chief Michel Gros said.
Bassons, who started riding professionally in 1996, became the symbol of a
cleaner sport when with almost his entire team implicated in the scandal,
his teammates admitted he was one of the only riders in the team who had
refused to take the performance enhancers.
With his team kicked out of the race in 1998 for doping, Bassons recently
said he was "fed up" with cycling and that he had had to put up with
"harassment" from other competitors.
"My current experience is hard to live and I'm afraid I might crack up," he
told daily newspaper Liberation in an interview last week.
The Frenchman also said that during the 1999 Tour de France, American
cyclist Lance Armstrong had approached him and told him it was in the best
interests of the sport if he quit the race.
"...during a stage, Armstrong came to me and told me I was doing a lot of
harm to cycling", Bassons told Reuters. "He (Armstrong) told me I had better
go home," he said of quitting that race and skipping the event in 2000.
(Let's focus on the facts and history of what appears to be mounting evidence and not resort to personal attacks when responding to this post.)
When asked point blank about whether he has ever used performance enhancing drugs.
"The only thing I can say is that I never tested positive or was ever caught for anything."
When asked about other cyclists guilty of doping:
"For me, once they have served their time, I look at
them all as clean riders."
On his relationship since 1995 with Dr. Ferrari who has been charged with doping and doping procedures.
"I'm confident in the relationship, I've never denied the relationship. I believe he's an honest man, I believe he's an innocent man. I've never seen something to make me believe otherwise."
Simeoni is suing Armstrong for a symbolic amount when Armstrong called Simeoni 'a liar' based on his testimony in the Ferrari trial.
Simeoni appears to be honest despite the cost to his own reputation and career. Simeoni had to serve a suspension as the result of his own honesty and openness.
Some note on Simeoni:
Simeoni told Soprani he worked with Ferrari between October 1996 and July 1997 and alleges Ferrari advised him how to dodge the tests for blood thickness, intended to restrict the use of EPO.
In one of his diaries Simeoni wrote: "Doctor Ferrari advised me to use two alternatives: Hemagel [a blood thinning agent] on the morning of the control, albumin [an element contained in white blood cells] on the evening before a possible control."
(these procedures assist getting below detectable limits for HGH and EPO)
Simeoni, who won four races last year, said Ferrari had not warned him about possible side-effects and that he stopped working with him because he felt Ferrari was giving preferential treatment to others. "Ferrari did not treat me with the same efficiency he showed to other athletes," he said.
Simeoni on Armstrong:
"I'm determined to take this all the way. I decided to start legal action against Armstrong because he told lies about me.
"I did my duty as a citizen and told the truth during the Ferrari trial. I was suspended from racing and humiliated in front of everybody and don't deserve to be called a liar by Armstrong."
(from velonews.com)
In the response filed with the court, Wenzel also names the other coach who
was allegedly present in a hotel room with him and Strock in Spokane,
Washington, in August of 1990. While conceding that he accompanied Strock to
the room occupied by then-U.S. national coach Chris Carmichael, Wenzel said
the two did not go to the room for an injection of "extract of cortisone,"
or a performance-enhancing drug, as was alleged in Strock's suit.
"Mr. Wenzel admits that Mr. Carmichael had a briefcase from which he
produced a vitamin injection," but added that the injection was made at
Strock's request.
When contacted by VeloNews, Carmichael said he had "no recollection of an
alleged incident that happened more than 10 years ago." When asked if he had
ever been contacted in the case by Strock or his attorneys, Carmichael said
that he didn't care to comment on any aspect of the matter beyond noting
that he didn't recall the alleged incident in question.
Apparently later Chris remembered the incident well enough to make an out of court settlement to Strock. Of course if you injected 100's of riders 1000's of times there would be no reason that one single injection would stand out of what was a routine.
By Lynn Zinser /The Gazette
Edited by Kamon Simpson; headline by Andy Obermueller
A former junior national cyclist is suing USA Cycling and a former coach,
claiming he was injected with performance-enhancing drugs that wrecked his
career and threatened his health.
Greg Strock, a promising cyclist in the early '90s, said in his lawsuit that
junior national coach Rene Wenzel administered the drugs 10 years ago with no
medical supervision and told Strock at the time that they were vitamins or
"extract of cortisone."
The suit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Denver. Strock is
represented by the same lawyers involved in a suit against the U.S. Olympic
Committee by its former drug control administrator, Wade Exum, who claimed the
USOC discriminated against him and thwarted his drug-testing efforts. Strock's
suit is only against USA Cycling and doesn't mention the USOC.
USA Cycling officials, who received a copy of the suit Monday afternoon,
responded only with a statement saying they would investigate the charges.
Strock alleges the doping occurred in April 1990, when he was 17, after he
joined the junior national team for a race in France, and continued through
that year. One of his teammates at the time was Lance Armstrong, now a two-time
Tour de France winner.
Strock did not comment on his lawsuit Monday but said during a television
interview in September that, "I would have no reason to believe that...other
members (of the national team) wouldn't have been given the same substances."
He also said he never saw any other cyclists injected, nor did he discuss it
with his teammates.
Strock thinks the injections were cortisone, a steroid not only banned as a
performance-enhancing drug but an immunosuppressant that left him vulnerable to
a virus that ended his career.
"We've talked to a lot of experts and considering Greg's reaction to the
experience and the fact that it was described to him as 'extract of cortisone,'
there's little doubt we can prove it by clear and convincing evidence," said
John Pineau, Strock's Denver-based attorney.
Pineau compared Strock's treatment with the doping East Germany forced on its
athletes in the '80s, a practice confirmed in recent criminal trials in
Germany.
"It was the same thing for the same goal: to win medals," Pineau said. "They
told those kids they were injecting them with vitamins."
Pineau said Strock didn't suspect the injections had harmed him until he
entered medical school and took a pharmacology class. Strock, now a fourth-year
medical student at the University of Indiana, concluded that the cortisone had
weakened his immune system. He said his career was ruined by a long illness in
1991 diagnosed as parvovirus, normally a harmless condition except for those
with immune deficiencies.
In the lawsuit, Strock appears to try to connect his woes with Armstrong - a
testicular cancer survivor - without mentioning his former teammate by name:
"Medical studies have concluded that this virus has an 85 percent correlation
with testicular cancer."
Strock is suing for unspecified damages based on lost earnings as a potential
professional cyclist, as well as punitive damages.
Wenzel was fired by the U.S. Cycling Federation - the precursor to USA Cycling
- in 1992. He was director of the Saturn professional cycling team until
earlier this year, when he resigned.
Wenzel, who lives in McKenzie Bridge, Ore., did not return phone calls Monday.
Pineau said he thinks that Wenzel was fired when the U.S. Cycling Federation
learned of the doping. USA Cycling officials would not disclose the reason for
dismissal.
He earns $8m a year. Endorsements run to another $5m. He once held a
press conference in New York and the billionaire Donald Trump turned
up to hear him speak. Nowadays, he charges twice as much as former
president Bill Clinton for speaking engagements and when not
recounting history, he is creating it. Lance Armstrong is his name. He
is the world's best cyclist.
Yesterday, he launched his bike from a ramp in Dunkirk and set out on
the Tour de France. He is favourite to win for the third consecutive
time and become only the fifth cyclist to do so. It is not solely
success that draws us to Armstrong but also what his achievements
symbolise. Less than five years ago he was stricken with testicular
cancer that spread to his lungs and brain.
Surgeons suggested he might not live but they didn't know their
patient. Armstrong has been to hell and back. First to good health,
then to the famed yellow jersey. His spirit and good drugs enabled him
to make the first part of the journey. But for two years there has
been endless speculation about Armstrong, his remarkable recovery and
his relationship with drugs, not just those taken to kill the cancer
but also those taken by cyclists to help them compete.
Doping is a way of life in professional cycling. It is as old as the
sport itself. Police raids on the 1998 Tour de France and on this
year's Tour of Italy exposed the enormity of the deception that is
widespread. In this game, Mr Clean competes against the majority and
against the odds. Can a clean rider beat those on drugs?
The search for an answer began in Indianapolis six months ago. It is a
Sunday afternoon and the Starbucks cafe is almost empty. Greg Strock,
five months before graduating from medical school, tells of his short
career as an elite cyclist. He was 17-going-on-18; the coaching staff
at USA Cycling told him that not since the great Greg LeMond had
anybody performed better in physiological tests. But it ended before
it began. Strock claims he was told injections were necessary. Within
a year, he became ill and though he would return to competition, he
never regained his former strength.
Ten years have passed. The memory angers him. It takes time, he says,
to appreciate fully what has happened. Strock is suing USA Cycling and
his former coach, Rene Wenzel. Erich Kaiter, his teammate on the US
junior team in 1990, corroborates Strock's story of systematic doping.
He, too, is suing USA Cycling. In the national programme, Strock and
Kaiter were one year behind Armstrong.
From a coffee shop in Indianapolis to a San Francisco restaurant where
Dr Prentice Steffen tells his story. He had been team doctor with the
US Postal team in 1996; the year before Armstrong joined. Towards the
end of that season, US Postal informed Steffen they would no longer
need him. Steffen believes it was because he refused to help with any
kind of drugs.
From a doctor in San Francisco to a former professional on another
continent. This is a man who rode with Armstrong for four years at
Motorola. The team, Armstrong believes, was "white as snow". That is
not what his one-time teammate says. This rider tells of a decision by
certain members of the Motorola squad to use the blood-boosting drug
erythropoietin [EPO] during the 1995 season: "The contract with our
main sponsor was up for renewal and we needed results. It was as
simple as that."
Nothing is so simple for the carabinieri of the Florence-based NAS
team who enforce Italy's food and drug laws. Here in the basement of
their old police quarters in the city, the cardboard boxes are stacked
10-feet high, each packed with files seized from doctors alleged to
have been doping their athlete-patients. The files seized from Michele
Ferrari, one of the doctors being investigated, show that Kevin
Livingston was one of those treated by Ferrari. During the Tour de
France of 1999 and 2000, Livingston was Armstrong's most able
equipier, a man he described as his closest friend. Ferrari also kept
an Armstrong file, one that indicated a role in the rider's training.
Asked whether he had ever visited Ferrari, Armstrong replied:
"Perhaps."
From one doping investigation in Italy to another in Paris where
Hugues Huet, a journalist with the state-run television organisation
France 3, tells of how, during last year's Tour de France, he tailed
an unmarked US Postal car and eventually filmed the driver and his
companion disposing of five plastic bags in a bin many miles from
their team hotel. The rubbish contained 160 syringe wrappers, bloodied
compresses and discarded packaging that indicated use of the
blood-boosting product, Actovegin. That led to a nine-month French
investigation into the US Postal team, which will conclude later this
month. So many questions.
Then, out of the blue the phone rang. It was Armstrong. He had heard
things, he wanted to talk. Any time, any place. The interview was
arranged for two days later at Hotel La Fauvelaie, near the village of
St Sylvain d'Anjou in eastern France.
EIGHT years have passed since our last meeting. Back then, Armstrong
was an ambitious 21-year-old setting out on his first Tour de France.
The years have changed him. His body is harder now, the eyes more
wary. There is a sense that come-what-may, he will overcome. He
stretches out his hand, matter-of-factly. He is aware of your
suspicions; he wants to restate his case.
"Do you mind," he says, "if Bill sits in?" (Bill is Bill Stapleton,
his agent and lawyer.)
"I would prefer it to be one-to-one, but your choice."
"Yeah, I'd like Bill present."
"I have come to discuss one subject: doping."
"Okay," he says.
The first part of the interview is a gentle journey through his
career. In late 1992, he joined Motorola and the professional peloton.
You must have been aware by then that doping was part of the culture?
"I don't know the answer to that because Motorola was white as snow
and I was there all the way through to 1996."
What of the Fleche Wallonne classic in 1994 when three members of the
same Italian team Gewiss-Ballon broke away and finished first, second
and third? He had been strong that day but couldn't live with the
Italians. It was unusual for three riders from the same team to break
clear in a classic and suspicions were aroused when, a few days later,
the Gewiss team doctor, one Michele Ferrari, claimed EPO "was no more
harmful than five litres of orange juice". Was Armstrong surprised by
Ferrari's approval of EPO? He says he doesn't remember his reaction.
Surely he wondered what EPO was? "EPO wasn't an issue for us. Jim
Ochowitz [Motorola team manager] ran a clean programme."
Armstrong's recovery from cancer came at a time when the sickness in
his sport was, at last, properly diagnosed. On his way to the 1998
Tour de France, Willy Voet, a soigneur with the Festina team, was
stopped by French customs officials. His car contained 234 doses of
EPO and a cargo of other banned substances. Armstrong says he was
astonished: "It was unbelievable, the contents of the car."
When he returned to competition in 1998, it was with US Postal.
Armstrong says Postal's programme was clean. He insists he won the
Tour de France in 1999 and 2000 without doping. Others may have doped;
he can't speak for them. Other teams may have used drugs; the
authorities must police them. Armstrong speaks for himself. He has won
without drugs. He is, and always has been, clean.
WE NOW move on to discuss specific incidents in more detail. Armstrong
rode for the US amateur cycling team in the late 1980s and early
1990s. Chris Carmichael was then a US coach and he soon became
Armstrong's coach. Twelve years later, Carmichael remains the rider's
coach. "He is my main advisor, I talk to him all the time." Carmichael
has been implicated in the case taken by Strock against USA Cycling.
In his formal submission, Strock describes being taken by his coach,
Rene Wenzel, to see another US coach during a race at Spokane in
Washington in 1990. Strock tells how this second coach gave him an
injection, but does not name him. In a formal answer to the Strock
suit, Wenzel recalls the same Spokane encounter and says the other
coach was Carmichael.
Asked why he did not name the coach at Spokane, Strock says he is not
in a position to answer that question, and not in a position to say
why he can't. It is believed Carmichael has agreed an out-of-court
settlement with Strock's attorney. Carmichael says he cannot recollect
the incident in Spokane and declined to comment when asked if he had
settled out of court.
Armstrong knows of the case and understands the implications. Has your
coach Chris Carmichael made any settlement with Greg Strock?
"Ask Greg or Chris," says Armstrong.
Didn't Chris explain whether he did or didn't?
"No."
Didn't you ask him?
"As far as I am concerned, it was a case between Greg and his coach,
Rene Wenzel."
What if Carmichael had made a settlement, would that not be a shock?
"Would I be shocked? I haven't even thought about it."
It wouldn't look good, would it?
"Does it look good that Greg Strock just takes the money? Let's flip
it around. Is this about money or is this about principle?" We talk
about the professional teams for whom Armstrong has ridden, Motorola
and US Postal. He insists neither doped: "There are programmes in this
sport and there are athletes that are clean."
A former professional rider who was a contemporary of Armstrong's at
Motorola from 1992 to 1996 tells a different story. Now retired from
the sport, this former professional agreed to speak on the basis that
his name would not be used. Should it become necessary, though, he
will come forward and stand up for his account of the Motorola years.
"The team results in 1994 were not impressive and '95 started off the
same. We had access to the same training as other teams, the same
equipment; we ate the same food, slept the same number of hours but,
in races, we were not as competitive. The picture was becoming clear
for the upcoming Tour de France: we were going to have to give in and
join the EPO race.
"Lance was a key spokesperson when EPO was the topic. From the riders'
point of view, we felt the mounting pressure not only from within the
team but also from what was being said and written about us as a team.
No one starts out wanting to dope but you become a victim of the
sport." As well as believing Motorola was clean, Armstrong says he has
proof that US Postal runs a clean programme. He points to the team's
three weeks of drug-free urine at last year's Tour de France. To the
suggestion that the Tour's tests find only detectable drugs, he
replies that there will always be "cynics and sceptics and zealots".
We talk about Prentice Steffen, team doctor for US Postal in 1996, the
year before Armstrong joined the team. Steffen had been with the team
since 1993, when it was Subaru-Montgomery, and continued as team
doctor in the first year of US Postal's involvement. With Postal's
backing came the ambition to compete against Europe's best. In 1996
they entered the Tour of Switzerland.
"We were wiped out," said Steffen. "Two of my riders approached me
saying they wanted to 'talk about the medical programme'. It was said
that as a team, we weren't able to get to where we wanted to go with
what I was doing for them. I said, 'Well, right now I am doing
everything I can.' They might have come back with 'more could be done'
and I said, 'Yeah, I understand, but I am not going to be involved in
that'."
Steffen is sure he was being asked to help two riders to dope. After
that informal discussion, relations cooled between the doctor and his
riders. Four months later, a message was left on Steffen's voicemail
saying the team no longer needed him.
In November 1996, Steffen received a letter from firm Keesal, Young
and Logan, attorneys for the US Postal team. The letter said his
suspicions about his departure were incorrect but he would be held
responsible for his comments if he made them public. Until now,
Steffen has not spoken out in public. Armstrong says he is surprised
by the doctor's story. But is it not a serious accusation against the
team? "If it's so serious and so sincere, I would think I would have
heard that [before now]."
OUR conversation turns to Kevin Livingston, Armstrong's first
lieutenant and close friend on the US Postal team during the Tour de
France victories. Livingston has been listed as one of 60 riders
treated by Ferrari, the Italian doctor awaiting trial on doping
charges.
Ferrari is accused of treating riders with EPO, the drug that
increases the blood's oxygen-carrying red cells and enhances the
rider's endurance. For most humans, red cells account for 43% or 44%
of the total blood volume, a measure known as the haematocrit level.
To counter the abuse of EPO, the authorities now ban riders whose
haematocrit exceeds 50%. The Sunday Times has seen pages from
Livingston's file at Ferrari's office. The readings for his blood
parameters are unusual. In December 1997 Livingston's haematrocrit is
recorded at 41.2%. Seven months later, a few days before the start of
the 1998 Tour de France, Livingston's haematrocrit is 49.9%. Such a
variation in a seven-month period is uncommon.
Did you know Kevin was linked with the doping investigation?
"Yes."
Did you talk with him about it?
"No."
Never?
"No. You keep coming up with all these side stories. I can only
comment on Lance Armstrong. I don't speak for others."
This was your best friend?
"But I don't meddle in their business."
So we speak of Lance Armstrong and Michele Ferrari. Did you ever visit
Dr Ferrari?
"I did know Michele Ferrari."
How did you get to know him?
"When you go to races, you see people. I know every team's doctor.
It's a small community."
Did you ever visit Ferrari?
"Have I been tested by him, gone there and consulted on certain
things? Perhaps."
Sources close to the investigation of Ferrari are more precise about
Armstrong's relationship with the doctor. They tell of a series of
visits by the rider to Ferrari's practice at Ferrara in northern
Italy: two days in March 1999, three days in May 2000, two days in
August 2000, one day in September 2000 and three days in late
April/early May of this year. While he was in Ferrara, Armstrong
stayed at the five-star Hotel Duchessa Isabella and at the four-star
Hotel Annunziata.
Is Ferrari a good trainer?
"Regardless of what goes on," he replies, "these guys that are under a
lot of pressure, guys like Conconi, Cecchini, Ferrari; these Italian
guys, they are fantastic minds, great trainers. They know about
physiology."
Francesco Conconi and Ferrari have been investigated on doping charges
and the prosecuting judges have recommended that both be sent for
trial. The case against Luigi Cecchini was dropped.
WE speak about the French investigation into the US Postal team. On
last year's Tour de France two staff members of the US Postal team
were followed by journalists from the TV station, France 3. They were
seen to carry rubbish bags from the team hotel and put them in an
unmarked car. The journalists followed.
The chase lasted for five days. Thirty miles from Morzine, the US
Postal employees dumped the bags in a bin by the side of the road.
Tipped off about the discovery of the blood-boosting drug Actovegin in
the medical waste, French police opened an investigation.
Seven months later, the inquiry has not been completed. Armstrong says
that analyses of blood and urine samples provided by the team to the
investigation are clean. The judge leading the inquiry, Sophie-Helene
Chateau, says such a conclusion is premature.
Who were the team members who dumped that rubbish?
"One was a team doctor, the other was our chiropractor."
Names?
"That's not important."
US Postal said it carried Actovegin to treat riders' abrasions and to
treat a staff member who suffers from diabetes. Who was the staff
member?
"That is medical privacy," says Armstrong.
For more than an hour and a half, we traded punches. At times he was
generous and charming; at others confrontational. Wearied by my
scepticism, he reached for the put-down: "There will always be
sceptics, cynics and zealots." But he knows it is not that simple. He
knows, too, that for the next three weeks on the Tour de France, the
questions will follow him.
Not having the answers won't bother him. What matters is that his
urine and his blood are clear.
Those who expect him to falter, either on the murderous road to Alpe
d'Huez or under the weight of public scepticism, may be in for a long,
long wait.
"For many years now, dating back to 1990, Chris Carmichael has been my coach
and most important technical and training advisor. Others who work with
Chris include Johan Bruyneel, my director sportif, John Cobb, in charge of
aerodynamics, Dr. Luis del Moral, our team physician and Jeff Spencer my
chiropractor.
Also included are my close friends, former Belgian champion Eddy Merckx and
former Motorola team director Jim Ochowitz.
Chris and I met Michele Ferrari during a training camp in San Diego,
California, in 1995. His primary role has always been limited. Since Chris
cannot be in Europe on an ongoing basis, Michele does my physiological
testing and provides Chris with that data on a regular basis. Chris has
grown to trust Michele's opinion regarding my testing and my form on the
bike. And lately, we have been specifically working on a run at the hour
record. I do not know exactly when I will do that, only that I will in the
near future.
He has also consulted with Chris and me on dieting, altitude preparation,
hypoxic training and the use of altitude tents, which are all natural
methods of improvements.
In the past, I have never denied my relationship with Michele Ferrari. On
the other hand, I have never gone out of my way to publicize it. The reason
for that is that he has had a questionable public reputation due to the
irresponsible comments he made in 1994 regarding EPO.
I want to make it clear that I do not associate myself with those remarks
or, for that matter, with anyone who utilizes unethical sporting procedures.
However, in my personal experience I have never had occasion to question the
ethics or standard of care of Michele. Specifically, he has never discussed
EPO with me and I have never used it.
I have always been very clear on the necessity of cycling to be a clean
sport and I have firmly stated that anyone, including me, who tests positive
for banned substances should be severely punished.
As everyone knows, I am one of the very few riders who have no prescriptions
in my health book. I have been repeatedly tested during my career including
during the entire 1999 and 2000 Tours de France and most recently during the
Tour de Suisse ten days ago.
I ask that I be allowed to address these issues publicly at a later date.
When asked point blank about whether he has ever used performance enhancing drugs.
"The only thing I can say is that I never tested positive or was ever caught for anything."
When asked about other cyclists guilty of doping:
"For me, once they have served their time, I look at
them all as clean riders."
On his relationship since 1995 with Dr. Ferrari who has been charged with doping and doping procedures.
"I'm confident in the relationship, I've never denied the relationship. I believe he's an honest man, I believe he's an innocent man. I've never seen something to make me believe otherwise."
Simeoni is suing Armstrong for a symbolic amount when Armstrong called Simeoni 'a liar' based on his testimony in the Ferrari trial.
Simeoni appears to be honest despite the cost to his own reputation and career. Simeoni had to serve a suspension as the result of his own honesty and openness.
Some note on Simeoni:
Simeoni told Soprani he worked with Ferrari between October 1996 and July 1997 and alleges Ferrari advised him how to dodge the tests for blood thickness, intended to restrict the use of EPO.
In one of his diaries Simeoni wrote: "Doctor Ferrari advised me to use two alternatives: Hemagel [a blood thinning agent] on the morning of the control, albumin [an element contained in white blood cells] on the evening before a possible control."
(these procedures assist getting below detectable limits for HGH and EPO)
Simeoni, who won four races last year, said Ferrari had not warned him about possible side-effects and that he stopped working with him because he felt Ferrari was giving preferential treatment to others. "Ferrari did not treat me with the same efficiency he showed to other athletes," he said.
Simeoni on Armstrong:
"I'm determined to take this all the way. I decided to start legal action against Armstrong because he told lies about me.
"I did my duty as a citizen and told the truth during the Ferrari trial. I was suspended from racing and humiliated in front of everybody and don't deserve to be called a liar by Armstrong."
What do you think now?
Willy Voet comments on blood testing procedure:
Willy Voet: It's a joke! When the doctors doing the testing showed up at 6:30 AM, the riders had until 8:15 AM to try to lower their hematocrit level. All we need is a quarter of an hour to do this. Basically, we run a liter of water into the bloodstream through an intravenous drip with a 0.09 sodium solution that we inject at high speed, because there is no risk involved, and we're home free. Twenty minutes later, the hematocrit level has gone down by about three percent. That is why the UCI has reduced the time of intervention since then. In any case, we had a machine equipped with a centrifuge as small as two packets of cigarettes to check the level in the evening. They're German-made, I believe. At first we only had one of those because they cost as much as $700, but the guys were lining up in front of it. Now, almost all of the riders concerned have their personal machine. Six out of nine Festina riders on the 1998 TDF own one.
(what is P?)
Read further:
Willy Voet: Let's say that it was in code. For instance, instead of one dose of EPO, I would write an X underlined in red. For a dose of HGH, I wrote a Z underlined in green. And then there was the P...
PB: The P?
Willy Voet: Well...Uh-oh! Well, I can tell you everything. The P stood for a new product. It isn't specified in the records because we would use this subterfuge in telephone conversations when speaking about this product just in case the telephone was tapped. It is a revolutionary product. It was Ryckaert who had it used. Some riders had tried it in 1997 and asked for more this year.
PB: How many of them?
Willy Voet: Two or three.... No, four.
PB: In what way is this product revolutionary?
Willy Voet: It is an anabolic steroid. It helps the muscular mass develop in a spectacular way. It is a tablet that we had shipped from Portugal. It is taken in a course of treatment. After seven days of that, which means ten tablets in total, it is undetectable. I guess I should talk to my lawyer about it.
PARIS, Nov 7 (AFP) - A preliminary inquiry has been opened by
the public prosecutor here into alleged doping within the US Postal
team of two-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, judicial
sources said Tuesday.
The inquiry, which got underway on October 18, will determine
whether there is sufficient evidence to pursue further
investigations.
French satirical daily Le Canard Enchaine reported the French
judiciary were investigating allegations that the team had used
products containing calves' blood, products whose effects are
similar to those of EPO.
EPO increases the blood's ability to store oxygen and therefore
fight fatigue and several sports stars, including cyclists, have
been caught using it.
The paper said the Parisian police specialist drugs detection
team had been looking into the case at the instigation of the Paris
prosecutor for the past three weeks.
On Tuesday, French daily "Le Monde" reported that a car had
driven away several boxes from the US Postal camp during this year's
Tour de France and that there was speculation as to their content.
Le Canard Enchaine believed it had the answer.
"One thing is certain: they are boxes (containing) a Norwegian
medicine: actovegin", the paper said.
"The phials contain extracts of veal blood" treated to purify it
of toxins.
"(It's effectiveness) would appear to be roughly similar to that
of erythropoietin (EPO)," Le Canard Enchaine reported.
Actovegin, which is supposed to treat arterial deficiency and
offset weak blood circulation, is not currently on the list of
banned substances.
According to Le Monde, an anonymous letter was sent to the Paris
prosecutor's office referring to an enquiry into the doping affair
by journalists working for French television.
A crew from the station, France 3, witnessed the car carrying
away the boxes in question.
Herve Brusini, director of information of France 3, tried to
play down the story Tuesday.
"We are only at the stage of suspicions and you can't base an
enquiry on suspicions and doubts," he told AFP.
Jacques de Ceaurriz, director of the French laboratory charged
with uncovering instances of doping, described actovegin as "an
ill-defined product which is not on sale in France because it is an
animal extract."
The product, administered as a gel, is generally used to aid
blood circulation.
Ceaurriz added the product was largely used in eastern and Asian
countries.
The allegations were levelled at US Postal amid the Festina
trial in Lille, which has heard similar insinuations against
Armstrong's team.
"On the Hautacam climb, a climb at the end of the stage (of last
July's Tour de France) (Armstrong) was finding more power at the
summit than at the bottom," said former Festina trainer Antoine
Vayer.
Meanwhile at the Lille trial, the court said the verdict would
be handed down on December 22 after a fortnight of intense
deliberations.
On Monday, the prosecutor demanded that French cycling star
Richard Virenque should not be sentenced for his part in the Festina
doping scandal.
Deputy public prosecutor Gerald Vinsonneau told the Tribunal
there was insufficient evidence to suggest that the former Festina
rider, who admited doping on the second day after previously denying
any wrongdoing, had taken part in organised doping within his team.
However, Vinsonneau requested a 14-month suspended jail sentence
and a 20,000 French Francs (2,600 dollars) fine against former
Festina team masseur Willy Voet, and an 18-month suspended sentence
and 50,000 French Francs (6,600 dollars) fine against former team
sporting director Bruno Roussel.
Virenque, five-time winner of the King of the Mountains climbing
title at the Tour de France, admitted last month taking drugs after
having maintained his innocence for two years.
Virenque, 30, the most high-profile defendant in the Tour de
France doping trial, appeared along with five former members of the
Festina training staff, including Roussel, 43, and Voet, 54.
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (December 12, 2000 4:21 p.m. EST
http://www.sportserver.com) - The product at the core of doping
allegations
against Lance Armstrong's team in the Tour de France was banned by
the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday.
Armstrong, meanwhile, said he might not defend his championship in
next
year's Tour if charges of drug use continue.
The IOC medical commission said Actovegin, containing extracts of
calf's
blood, was banned as blood doping.
"I think we need to be very precise that the position of the medical
commission is that this is a banned substance," panel chairman Prince
Alexandre de Merode said. "There may have been a bit of hesitation a
few
months ago. This hesitation no longer exists today."
Actovegin has been at the center of controversy since October, when
French judicial authorities opened a preliminary investigation into
whether
the U.S. Postal Service team used banned substances during the 2000
Tour. Armstrong, who came back from cancer, won the Tour for the
second straight year.
Armstrong and the team have repeatedly denied using banned drugs.
"Here's the bottom line to everyone: I'll start by saying that we are
completely innocent," Armstrong said on his personal Website on
Tuesday. "We run a very clean and professional team that has been
singled out due to our success.
"I will say that the substance on people's minds, Activ-o-something
(Actovegin) is new to me. Before this ordeal I had never heard of it,
nor
had my teammates."
Armstrong said that the drugs and medical products found near the
team
were simply tools to treat 25-50 people on the Tour de France over
three
weeks.
"If something were to go wrong with any of them, he (the team doctor)
would be responsible for their well-being. That's why he would have
things
like adrenaline, cortisone, scissors, stitches, etc.," Armstrong
said.
"Some may be viewed as `performance enhancers' but they're not used
in that sense.
"And to so incorrectly call something a substitute for doping is
clueless
and irresponsible. I can assure everyone we do everything in the
highest
moral standard."
Armstrong also indicated he might skip the 2001 Tour if the charges
of
drug use persist.
"I will say that if the current situation exists, then I will not
ride the Tour in
2001. Period," Armstrong said. "I'm not saying that to `threaten' or
`warn'
anyone as I really don't think the French care either way if I go."
The Paris prosecutor's office launched the investigation into the
U.S.
Postal team after receiving an anonymous letter saying suspicious
behavior had been detected during the Tour. A TV crew noticed two men
dumping plastic bags that contained compresses, packaging from
foreign
products and medicine, including Actovegin.
Actovegin, manufactured in Norway, contains deproteinized extracts of
calf's blood. Injected into the body, it improves the circulation of
oxygen in
the blood in a manner similar to the banned drug EPO, or
erythropoetin,
which builds endurance by boosting the production of oxygen-rich red
blood cells.
"It's advertised as enhancing the flow of oxygen to the brain," IOC
medical
director Patrick Schamasch said. "And if it brings oxygen to the
brain, it
can also bring oxygen to the other parts of the body."
De Merode said some Olympic teams brought Actovegin to the Sydney
Games this year with the approval of Australian customs, which did
not
consider the product illegal.
Here's a summary of parts of the US Postal doping investigation story,
culled from my reading of the story on the L'Equipe web site at
http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/USPostal.html
--
Preliminary investigation by Paris magistrates court was started Oct 18.
Formal opening of judicial enquiry on Nov 22 after investigators
determined there was information to warrant proceeding. At present
the enquiry is an "information judiciaire contre X" - basically an
investigation of unknown parties.
Initial accusation came anonymously on Oct 18, addressed anonymously
to "procureur de la RÝpublique de Paris", Jean-Pierre Dintilhac.
Further information comes from a France 3 TV crew who had been
conducting "discreet" surveillance of US Postal during the most recent
TdF. They observed and filmed what producer HervÝ Brusini described
as "a strange ballet in the US Postal camp", after stage 18:
A car with German registration was parked in the area reserved for US
Postal. Two men who did not seem to be part of the usual team
personnel loaded several plastic bags into the car. Intrigued by this
strange activity, the journalists decided to start filming. The
vehicle took to the road at a brisk pace, went some way along the
freeway, then took a small local road, before stopping in front of a
large container in a public area, at a respectable distance from the
hotel. The two unknowns unloaded the bags and took off promptly. It
remained only for the journalists to recover the bags from the trash
container: in it they found compresses, bandages, and medicine
bottles. Unable to establish the products as dope, the France 3
reporters were not able to broadcast their film.
Part of the contents were revealed by the "Canard enchaänÝ" in their
edition of Wed 8 Nov. The trash contained bottles of Actovegin, made
by the Norwegian lag Nycomed, and usually intended for the treatment
of arterial disease. Actovegin contains filtered calf's blood, and
allows improved oxygenation of blood with elevating the hematocrit.
According to Jean-Pierre de Mondenard, former TdF doctor, Actovegin
"facilitates the circulation of oxygen while avoiding the coagulation
problems caused by EPO." Although Actovegin is not explicitly
prohibited by the UCI, doping with blood products is.
According to HervÝ Brusini, the France 3 investigation is
incomplete. "We are at the stage of suspicions only, and one does not
base an investigative report on suspicion and doubt."
Police from the Paris narcotics squad must now determine whether the
famous bags really belonged to the US Postal team, something that
Johan Bruyneel vigorously denies. "I want first to make clear that if
the inquest has been going on since mid-October, no one from French
justice or the French police has contacted me for a statement. I have
my own thoughts about this affair and I am convinced that someone out
is to dirty our reputation. I remember that from the 2nd day of this
year's Tour, certain team directors where recipients of an anonymous
letter alleging doping among the US Postal team. They came to find me
and give me a friendly warning to watch out for these accusations, a
baseless lie. Under these conditions how can one give the least
credit to this new story today?"
Bruyneel, who said he was shocked by those who "only want to tarnish
Armstrong's reputation", disputed the accusations by suggesting that
"it is all being orchestrated by people whose job is to produce
trash. France 3 days they found the suspicious bags in the area of
the US Postal team, but that's very different from having found them
in the US Postal vehicles, or in the racers' room. No one can show
that there is doping in our team. For now I hold that all this rests
only on vague statements and that it is very serious to accuse the
team of the winner of the Tour de France on such slender grounds.
There is a Belgium proverb that sums it all up: The tallest trees are
those that catch the most wind. But Lance has seen other storms
during his life."
US Postal spokesman Dan Osipow said: "It seems the enquiry was started
in mid October, but I heard about it today for the first time. We are
like everyone else. We learned about it from the media. We need to
learn more before making any pronouncements. But I can reaffirm that
the US Postal position on doping has not changed. It is zero
tolerance."
All had begun with L ' sending D ' an anonymous mail with French justice, following a survey carried out by journalists of France 3 at the time of the Turn of France 2000. All finishes in quasi an anonymity by a nonsuit returned at the end of August by the judge D ' instruction Sophie-Helene Chateau, charged of the file. Since mid-June, since François Franchi, head of the section of fight against non-financial criminality organized with the parquet floor of Paris, had entrusted that " juridically, nothing allows D ' to establish doping in this file ", L ' investigation lived these last hours. This withdrawal of case thus does not constitute a surprise insofar as no setting in examination N ' had been marked in this business, analyses N ' not having made it possible D ' to identify doping products.
In addition, Lance Armstrong, quadruples victorious Turn of France, always formally contradicted to have taken some doping product that it is. Three weeks before the departure of the Turn 2002, L ' American, wearied like never, its dissatisfaction with vehemence had expressed:
" Maintaining that is enough! They do not want to include/understand why our samples are clean! "
At the end of August, "they" finally included/understood. What has L ' hor to like to L ' lawyer of the runner texan, Me George Kiejman, who announced his "satisfaction" . " the decision was acquired since June. There N ' ever was the least concrete suspicion against Lance Armstrong ", it explained " One could eternally have continued to seek something D ' imaginary. Justice functioned well in this business even if we would have naturally wished that this decision be returned more quickly ", it concluded.
Without surprise, the US formation Postal, by the voice of its spokesman daN Osipow, also announced its immense satisfaction following the decision returned by French justice " C ' is what we had said since the beginning and we are obviously delighted. I do not think that Lance is well-informed, because C ' is today a feastday in the United States, but I am persuaded qu ' it will be relieved in L ' learning. "And D ' to add not without making the blusterer. " We knew since the beginning that it would be thus. C ' was ashamed. We collaborated with the authorities in the measurement of our means. We did all that L ' one could in so much qu ' equips to advance the things. Why did that take as many time? It is necessary to ask them. "
Summary of the preceding episodes
Following the letter of request delivered at the beginning of the month March 2001 by the judge D ' Parisian instruction Sophie-Helene Castle, in load of L ' inquires open on November 22, 2000 by the parquet floor of Paris, L ' UCI had announced officially, March 15, 2001, qu ' it gave to French justice the samples and the codes D ' identification of the blood taking away carried out before the departure of the Turn 2000 on the runners of L ' equips US Postal. In addition, the samples D ' urinates frozen taken at the time of this same Turn, and seized by French justice at the end of December 2000, were in progress D ' examination.
" If L ' US Postal announces his agreement to us, L ' UCI N ' has any problem to place at the disposal the codes which allow D ' to identify the runners of L ' equips ", the spokesman of L ' UCI had declared on February 1, 2001. " the blood samples (*), which S ' do not compare to a traditional control antidopage, are taken on the basis of confidentiality ", it however had added.
Following this decision of L ' UCI, Mark Gorski, the manager of the American formation, had reacted the evening even in an official statement: " We N ' let us have any reason to hide anything which could be discovered thanks to these samples of blood. "
Such an amount of better, because L ' authority international N ' had not too much been long in joining the acts to the word, pressed however by the letter of request delivered at the beginning of March by Château judge for " infringement with the law relating to the prevention of L ' use of doping products, incentive with L ' use of doping products and infringement with the legislation on the poisonous substances ".
March 15, 2001, L ' UCI had thus agreed to then give to French justice the famous blood samples of the runners of L ' US Postal, preserved jusqu ' in a laboratory of Lausanne.
Hardly the lawsuit Festina S ' it was completed in Lille, November 7, 2000, after eleven days of debates which put at the day the drifts D ' a medium gangréné by doping, qu ' a new suspect business started to come up as of the following day. This time, C ' was with the turn of L ' equips American US Postal with Armstrong Lance to be found in the storm.
Alerted by an anonymous denunciation addressed to the public prosecutor of Paris Jean-Pierre Dintilhac, the parquet floor opened a preliminary investigation on October 18, 2000, and L ' entrusted to the Drug squad of the prefecture of police force of Paris.
The accused facts, which go up with the Turn of France 2000 , were filmed by a team of the national drafting of France 3 , dispatched on the Outer Loop to inquire discreetly and exclusively on L ' equips US Postal following L ' incredible exploit (suspect?) of Armstrong Lance in the rise towards Doors on July 10, 2000 ( 10th stage ).
The images were taken on July 18, 2000 after L ' Courchevel-Morzine stage. Questioned by the newspaper the World , Herve Brusini, the director of the national drafting of France 3 , evoked: " a strange ballet in the wake of L ' equips US Postal. "
This 18 July, the journalists of France 3 locate, indeed, a big-engined car registered in Germany, stationed in the reserved perimeter with L ' US Postal. Two men, who N ' do not belong apparently to the usual personnel of the American formation, load several plastic bags in the car. Intrigued by this strange horse-gear, the journalists decide to film. The truck takes the road with sharp pace, borrowing a part D ' motorway, then a small secondary road, before S ' to stop close D ' a large container on a public surface, remotely sizeable of L ' hotel. The two unknown ones get rid then of the famous bags and set out again also dry. There does not remain any more qu ' with the journalists to recover the contents of the dustbin: compress, plates and packing of drugs. Incompetents D ' to establish the doping character of these products, the reporters of France 3 cannot diffuse their subject. The anonymous letter of October 18 accelerates the things. The " stups " start to inquire.
Part of the contents was revealed by Duck connected in its edition of Wednesday November 8, 2000. The dustbin contained packing D ' Actovegin, manufactured by the Norwegian laboratory Nycomed and usually intended to treat the arterial insufficiencies.
Bulbs of calf blood!
Used in form D ' bulbs and container of the calf blood deproteneized and filtered so D ' to eliminate D ' possible let us request and other bacteria, L ' Actovegin would allow a better oxygenation of blood without increasing the rate D ' hématocrite. Virtues rather close to those of L ' EPO, even higher according to Jean-Pierre de Mondenard, former doctor of the Turn of France, questioned by connected Duck : L ' Actovegin " facilitates the circulation of L ' oxygenates in blood while avoiding the blood coagulation which L ' EPO causes. "
Even if L ' Actovegin N ' is not indexed on the list of the products prohibited by L ' UCI, the process of blood doping (definite thus by the texts: " administration with an athlete of blood, red globules, artificial conveyors D ' oxygenates or of related blood products " ) L ' is formally .
Herve Brusini moderated the range of this information. " Our investigation N ' is not finished. We N ' are qu ' at the stage of the suspicions and one does not melt an investigation into suspicions and on the doubt ", explained the owner of the drafting of France 3 .
According to Jacques de Ceaurriz, general manager of the national Laboratory of tracking of doping (LNPP), L ' Actovegin is " a badly defined product, which N ' is not marketed in France because C ' is an extract D ' origin animal. C ' is a preparation without formal identification of the active ingredient ". Proposed in particular in the form of freezing, it is used in particular to improve blood circulation, but is also acted as drugs of comfort for D ' other pathologies.
"a bottom of drawer"
" For me, C ' is a bottom of drawer, marketed especially in the countries of L ' Is and in Asia, a preparation indeed starting from calf serum, with the virtues is saying overall. I do not want to say that C ' is charlatanism but C ' is rather vast all the same ", still indicated professor de Ceaurriz.
L ' inquires revival nevertheless the insinuations of certain witnesses come to deposit at the time of the Festina lawsuit, in front of the correctional court of Lille " In the rise of Hautacam , that is to say a rise of collar in fine D ' stage, (Armstrong) developed more power with top qu ' with the foot of the difficulty ", S ' astonished thus Antoine Vayer, former trainer of Feasted.
A doctor of the Parisian sport, S ' expressing under cover D ' anonymity, posted on his side a mixture of skepticism and fatalism: " All is possible. But L ' placébo effect of doping exists too. There are many doctors who make pay very expensive with the runners products which are not used for nothing ", estimated it.
Voet: "I know from an inside source that Armstrong uses more than a
dozen products on medical prescription."
(just an IV-quote, nothing to do with this investigation)
Of course there's lots of stuff to be found in teams' bins. And in
Lance's particular case that might even be more evident .
EPO activity is limited by shortages of iron in the body. Hence part of the
treatment includes iron suppliments.
I haven't seen the study nor a citation as such. However, liver and
pancreatic irregularities can be fairly accurately monitored since these
two organs dump a plethora of unique chemicals into the bloodstream that
are easily monitored via blood sampling.
One interesting study noted that IGF-1 (insulin growth factor 1) causes
natural EPO to be generated by the body in dose-dependant amounts. This
means that testing for rEPO may not be the best method of suppressing
doping. IGF-1 is another difficult to detect hormone and is active in
extremely small amounts in the bloodstream.
It is beginning to seem that the only way to keep drugs out of the Peloton
is a continuous monitoring to establish baseline metabolic functions of
each athlete on upper levels.
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=igf+doping&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=78sq0d%24q6q%241%40nnrp1.dejanews.com&rnum=7
ell, I suspect that systematic coping was in place long before this,
in both amateur and professional sports. In any endeavor where the
stakes are high, people will seek whatever edge they can. In the case
of Olympic teams, they are thinly disguised soldiers fighting a war for
their countries. Soldiers are notoriously used as guinea pigs for
experimentation, and the soldier-athletes that go to the Olympics are
no exception, IMHO.
However, the sophistication of the methods and materials underwent a
quantum leap- under the impetus of Dr. Conconi and Dr. Ferrari in
particular. Prior to this, the team doctor for Freddy Maertens and
Michel Pollentier (Velda-Flandria) was reportedly involved in the use
of drugs by both of those riders, and probably team mates as well.
Jacques Antequil is alleged to have used performance enhancing drugs
(and famously refused to comply with dope testing after breaking the
Hour Record), and a number of other famous riders including Bernard
Thevent and IIRC Big Ted himself admitted to using steroids. Fignon
was alleged to use blood doping and there was some muttering about
Hinault usng steroids in Robin Magowan's book. Paul Kimmage's book
suggested that doping was rife in the peloton, although he did not
really seem to suggest that it was organized per se. Soigneurs have
been securing such products for years and providing riders with the
instructions about their use.
The use of EPO, HGH and IGF requires the complicity of a doctor,
however. And that is where the difference comes in. The majority of
previous doping products were probably ineffective and perhaps even
counterproductive. The modern doping agents do have relatively
predictable benefit.
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=22261-37940285-133%40newsd-123.bryant.webtv.net
Of course it's a sham. Any doping test is. I think that about 1 or 2 % of
the riders using doping are caught - and only the suckers. True, tests have
made it difficult (but not impossible) to use amphitamines, cortisone or
testeron. On the other hand, none of the most sophisticated drugs can be
detected: interleukine, IGF 1, "hemoglobine reticulee" (I don't know the
English term), PFC, EPO. The hematocrit level only gives an indication, but
can be lowered artificially. Moreover, since 38 - 42 % is usual, the 50 %
rule gives most riders a golden opportunity to use EPO without the fear to
be caught.
The first tests in the Tour de France were in 1965. Since then, none of
the winners tested positive. But who's believing that any one them was
really "clean", must be dreaming. The main function of tests is to convince
the public that drugs are taken seriously and that the majority of the
riders are not using them.
There are only two ways to make an end of this sham: to put all
professional riders 24 hours a day under surveillance by a team of
incurruptible offcials or (partly) legalize doping. The first solution is
technically impossible, the second politically unacceptable. So there are
two possiblities: reject bicycle racing completyely (and most other sports,
for that matter), or accept it and enjoy it.
SYDNEY, March 19 (Reuters) - A television report alleging widespread use of
illegal muscle-building drugs has prompted the Australian government to
launch an immediate investigation.
The report, broadcast on Australian television on Sunday, alleged that
athletes at the internationally-acclaimed Australian Institute of Sport
(AIS) were engaging in the use of an undetectable growth stimulant known as
IGF-1.
A former Australian Olympic sprinter, who was not identified, told the
programme that the use of drugs at the AIS was rampant and had been going on
for years.
A powerlifter, who admitted using performance-enhancing drugs, also claimed
that he had been advising some of Australia's top athletes on how they could
safely pass doping tests at this year's Sydney Olympics.
But AIS director John Boultbee swiftly cast doubts on the claims, insisting
the bulk of Australia athletes were clean.
He said: ``We have a very extensive education system for our athletes and
also the basic point is athletes in Australia are very interested in
competing fairly and don't think about these drugs.''
Boultbee added: ``I'm angry, I'm really angry - the Sunday Program has used
hearsay to cast a slur on all Australian athletes and on AIS athletes and
coaches in particular.
``This is nothing more than self-serving statements from people who admit
they are involved in performance enhancing drugs and who are casting this
slur on other athletes to try to justify their own involvement in drugs.''
UNFORTUNATE
Australian Olympic Committee secretary-general Craig McLatchey said: ``It is
unfortunate that most of what was put forward by (the programme) was either
anecdotal or unsubstantiated information by drug cheats or people who are
assisting drug cheats.
``Therefore one has to question the validity of this information.
``Nevertheless the story is clearly concerning and highlights the need for
action in the fight against doping in sport.''
Australia's federal sports minister Jackie Kelly announced shortly after the
programme was aired that she had ordered an immediate report into the
allegations, although she said she doubted some of the claims.
``I maintain a high level of confidence in the integrity and natural
sporting ability of Australia's Olympic athletes,'' Kelly said. ``No country
anywhere in the world has done more, or is doing more, to get tough on drugs
in sport than Australia.
The programme claimed Australian federal police investigations had
discovered that IGF-1 was being supplied to elite sportsmen and their
coaches.
SPRINTER INTERVIEWED
They interviewed a former Australian Olympic sprinter who said that the
practice had been going on since the build-up to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
``Leading into the Olympics of '96, almost everyone I knew was involved at
some stage with IGF-1,'' the athlete, whose identity was kept secret, said.
``I think you'd be looking at 70-80 per cent of people, maybe more.
``The fact that it was undetectable was like a godsend to everybody, it was
a real buzz around the community.''
Grant Ellison, a former powerlifter who has confessed to using
performance-enhancing drugs, told the programme he had advised around 20 top
Australian athletes, including ``three or four incredibly well-known
names,'' how they could safely use drugs in the lead-up to the Sydney Games.
He said the feeling among most of the top athletes he deals with, which
include runners, weightlifters, cyclists and rowers, was that they believed
they had to cheat to win Olympic gold because everyone else was.
``There will always be a freak who will come out of nowhere and can possibly
do it clean,'' Ellison said.
``But if you want the gold medal ... in general, you need to be taking
something.''
