ITALY: OLYMPIC GAMES - International Olympic Committee rejected claims by an Italian Health Ministry official who said several Winter Olympics athletes had tested positive for doping in pre-Games drugs checks.

Record ID: 332098

  • Title: ITALY: OLYMPIC GAMES - International Olympic Committee rejected claims by an Italian Health Ministry official who said several Winter Olympics athletes had tested positive for doping in pre-Games drugs checks.
  • Date: 11th February 2006
  • Summary: TURIN, ITALY (FILE 2006) (REUTERS) VARIOUS: EXTERIOR OF TURIN 2006 DRUG TESTING LABORATORY (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 26th February 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA9K1TQWK2HLT6AUBFC9D2466CI
  • Story Text: The International Olympic Committee on Friday (February 10) rejected claims by an Italian Health Ministry official who said several Winter Olympics athletes had tested positive for doping in pre-Games drugs checks.
    "This information is incorrect," IOC communications director Giselle Davies told Reuters.
    Giovanni Zotta, who is an Italian representative on the International Olympic Committee's anti-doping commission, had earlier told Reuters that preliminary tests had found the banned substance Erythropoietin (EPO) in several athletes.
    "So far there have been cases of EPO haematocrit in several athletes but it must be confirmed," Zotta said, speaking on the day the Games were to open. He did not provide the names of any athletes or numbers involved.
    EPO boosts the number of red blood cells which carry oxygen and improves stamina.
    In a separate incident eight cross-country skiers, including an Olympic gold medallist have been suspended for five days after tests showed they had an abnormally high red blood cell count on the day the Turin Winter Olympics open.
    The International Ski Federation (FIS) said on Friday that among the athletes was German Evi Sachenbacher Stehle, 25, who was a gold medallist in the women's relay in Salt Lake City and also won a silver in the women's sprint at the same Games.
    Sean Crooks (Canada), Sergey Dalidovich (Belarus), Jean Marc Gaillard (France), Alexsandr Latzukin (Belarus), Natalia Matveeva (Russia), Kikkan Randall (U.S.) and Leif Zimmermann (U.S.) were also shown to have abnormally high haemoglobin values, FIS said.
    "This is not a sanction but a health measure," FIS secretary general Sarah Lewis told Reuters.
    "When haemoglobin is too high, there is a risk the blood will be too thick and there could be a clot and obviously that could be a danger."
    She added: "Haemoglobin levels can be affected by altitude training or the use of agents to boost haemoglobin."
    The athletes will miss the women's and men's cross-country skiing pursuit races. The women's 15-km and the men's 30-km pursuit are both on Sunday.
    The German Olympic Committee declined to make an immediate comment on Sachenbacher Stehle to Reuters on Friday.
    She was regarded as an outside chance for a medal after her world ranking slipped to the late teens this season.
    The official Olympic website had listed her as a competitor for the women's 15km pursuit on Sunday and the women's team sprint on Tuesday.
    Sachenbacher Stehle won gold and silver at the 2003 World Championships in Val d'Fiemme.
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