Yet another doping threat (Viennese Blood)

Cobblestones

Interesting follow up of the original story in 'Spiegel online' (in German). It is still open whether the 'retraction' or whatever ARD did is because of shoddy reporting, a cover-up, or a little bit of both.

Crankyfeet

Read my sig dipsh#t...

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Crankyfeet

You won't see me arguing with Gregers though...lest I look fuckwittedly specious...

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Crankyfeet

Good post Cobbles. I think I lean with CH, as he has his ear to the ground. Problem is, the more other sports are protected, the more cycling gets screwed. And now that Deutsche Telekom are out, cycling will have even less political protection in Germany.

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bambi

Little bit off topic, but since there was talk of biathlets, Finnish biathlet Kaisa Varis has been caught on doping. No news yet for what substance. She denies everything and wants her B-sample tested. This is the 3rd time she is caught of doping(she used to be a cross country skiier). She has won 1 WC-race this year, couple of top 30 spots too, otherwise no big results...

Wonder if she was a client at the Vienna clinic...

TheDarkLord

Do you mean caught & convicted, or just triggered a positive test (without a conviction)? Third time would be about time for a life ban.

bambi

Gave a positive test.

But with her history, I'm afraid that the B-test turnes positive too. Surely she'll get lifetime ban if the B-test confirms the A-test.
She is now banned from all racing until the B-test comes back.
(Last time, in 2003 when she tested positive for EPO, she also denied all charges after the A-test, and demanded the B-test, which was positive for EPO too..)
I'm amazed that she was even allowed to race after the second (2003) positive. First time she got caught was in 2001... Just after her ban she got caught again(2003)...

poulidor

I have seen her winning ... even the commentators were unusually sceptic.

bambi

So was I.
And the Danish commentators. And probably everyone else following the sport too...

She gave the positive test at Obersdorff...

How stupid can she be??? She gave a press release to the Finnish TV/radio YLE:

"There has been doping charges against me. The case is comletely unjustified.
And on my request the case is going to be continued(=B sample). Because the case is not finished, it's not public."
http://www.yle.fi/urheilu/ampumahiihto/id95862.html

She claims to be innocent. Blah blah blah....

edit. I was sure she was one of the Finns that got caught 2001, but she was not, so this was "only" her second dope vioation. Sorry for the mistake!

RAGT

No reason to be surprised. (this is mostly off-topic, but has some relevance to cycling):

At the 2001 WC scandal, 6 high-profile skiers, including Virpi Kuitunen, were caught, but not Varis. Two trainers were banned for life from competition: Kari-Pekka Kyrö and Jarmo Riski. That did not stop Varis from using Kyrö as a personal trainer. Varis was chosen for the 2003-WC, where her high haematocrit-suspension was questioned by the finn leaders, who said "we have no reason not to believe her" ("altitude tent" - you've heard that before). Well, EPO in the urine showed otherwise.

So what about Riski? He is a personal trainer for Kuitunen (and some others). The swedes, norwegians and FIS (skiing equivalent of UCI) think the "personal trainer" use of these people in skiing is outragous. The finns? Well, they voted Riski "trainer of the year" in Finland last november, while some of them continues their "what about the Swedish/Norwegian skiers" whenever an finn is caught doping (they are otherwise nice neighbours )

A structure that allows the athletes to be associated with such doubious people is a sure way of producing non-negative tests sooner or later.


And that brings us back to cycling: You have to stop athletes from using those people, but its very difficult to use bans to stop the connection. You simply have to somehow get the athletes that continues to use these people to "make training schedules", "cook dinner" (Cecchini) etc.

TheDarkLord

There is a news article today that her B sample has also tested positive for EPO. It is not clear if she will get a life ban, but I hope she does. She is clearly a non-conscientious repeat cheater. To quote the article,

"As a cross-country skier, Varis was stripped of a relay gold medal at the 2001 world championships when teammate Virpi Kuitunen tested positive for doping.

Two years later, in Val di Fiemme, Italy, Varis was suspended for a suspicious blood count.

She was prevented from racing individual events but took part in the relay and won silver -- only to have it stripped when she tested positive for EPO. She was then banned for two years.

Varis was excluded from the 2006 Winter Olympics by Finland's Olympic committee.

She switched sports and took up biathlon.

Finnish Biathlon Association chairman Kalle Lahdesmaki said Varis' case was "regrettable and serious," but that it should not cast suspicion on other Finnish biathletes.

As a repeat offender, Varis risks a lifetime ban, but IBU officials said the legal situation was unclear because the first ban was given while she was a cross-country skier.

The IBU is expected to decide on a penalty within two weeks."

Leafer

No one thinks Lim is a fraud. No one really cares if he deleted your posts. Mostly we just think you're an idiot.

Crankyfeet

Just be careful. House lives in St. Louis where that guy just a few days ago walked into a council meeting and shot everyone. That killer's actions and complaining about how everyone was against him were eerily similar...

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Casa

Ah, Cranky, you and Thunder must be related...you both have the mental acumen of a rock. You hear one thing and then either make a false assumption or are too stupid to comprehend what is actually written. Thanks for the laugh.

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Having a great time laughing at you morons!