Several Spanish Athletes Caught In Drug Probe

BeepBeep67

Allegedly!
World steeplechase champion Marta Dominguez of Spain was questioned and detained by Spanish police on Thursday in a major anti-doping operation in Madrid.
http://running.competitor.com/2010/12/news/several-spanish-athletes-caught-in-drug-probe_19158

YFlyer

Catch Oh................



I'll fetch my coat

Pisco Sour

If this proves to be true I hope Sonia O'Sullivan will be upgraded from Silver to Gold as Dominguez beat her in the 5000m at the 2002 Europeans, but we all know that will never happen!

YFlyer

04072511 wrote: »

If this proves to be true I hope Sonia O'Sullivan will be upgraded from Silver to Gold as Dominguez beat her in the 5000m at the 2002 Europeans, but we all know that will never happen!

Only chance, if at all, if they analysis the stored samples from those championships and there was found to be banned substance(s) present.

downwithfacses

maybe people should pay closer attention to who else was arrested...such as manuel pascua..coach to bezebeh (who has now pulled out of euro cross due to being implicated in the scandal, according to spanish news sources anyway), adrienne herzog, one of the favourites on the womens race, reyes estevez (4th in euros in barcelona), nuria fernandez (euro champ over 1500m) and alvaro rodriquez (335 this summer)
more interesting however is the manager Jose Valero who was also arrested...he is agent to Arturo Casado, the 1500m champ from barcelona as well as Natalia Rodriguez, that looper who won in berlin but was disqualified..oh and rosa marato who pulled out of euro cross too citing a hamstring injury..she was mentioned in the indo today as fionnuala brittons main challenger for gold

myflipflops

My previous post was deleted, presumably for skirting charter offences but....

It should also be noted that Dominguez is vice president of the Spanish athletics federation.

donothoponpop

myflipflops wrote: »

My previous post was deleted, presumably for skirting charter offences but....

It should also be noted that Dominguez is vice president of the Spanish athletics federation.

mod One of the (higher up) Mods asked us to point out that unsubstantiated allegations can cause legal issues. So I guess its ok to post facts, but not to speculate from those facts. /mod

myflipflops

This story could be getting huge.

According to the below article (in Spanish), it seems that Bezabeh has withdrawn from the Euro cross due to the police investigation.

The translation implies that himself and Nuria Fernandez have admitted doping but I suspect something is lost in translation there.

http://www.telecinco.es/informativos/deportes/masdeporte/noticia/100031237/Nuria+Fernandez+y+Bezabeh+baja+en+el+Europeo+de+cross+de+este+fin+de+semana

ayehu Bezabeh, current European Cross Country champion, came last night at the RFEA to explain his version of the facts and the federation issued a statement. The note explained that the words of the athlete, had decided to withdraw from European competition in Portugal this weekend. "The RFEA has taken, in agreement with him, the decision to withdraw from the Spanish team had to compete on Sunday in the European Championship Cross Country, which was hot favorite to win."

The note continued: "The reason for this decision is to prevent its participation in a competition, when his statement could be involved in an alleged doping case."

These suspicions are confirmed. The Ethiopian athlete Spanish citizen and Nuria Fernandez acknowledged during his testimony before the Civil Guard have been doped.

As Bezabeh, Fernandez, European champion of 1,500 this summer in Barcelona, as published by the Cadena Cope, depart from the competition of Albufeira.

Bezabeh and Fernandez are both trained by the same coach, Manuel Easter, arrested yesterday in connection with the operation Greyhound, along with the best athlete in history, Marta Domínguez, and released with charges. La Guardia Civil manage a list of at least 15 elite athletes linked to the plot, which tries to call to check their blood samples found in the records.

The RFEA has issued a statement which calls to announce the name of all athletes involved, and even demand respect for the presumption of innocence, has assured that there will be punishment for offenders. "We must respect the presumption of innocence of persons, but that would punish those who cheated if proven guilty

Gringo78

myflipflops wrote: »

This story could be getting huge.

According to the below article (in Spanish), it seems that Bezabeh has withdrawn from the Euro cross due to the police investigation.

The translation implies that himself and Nuria Fernandez have admitted doping but I suspect something is lost in translation there.

From reading the article in spanish, the translation is correct. It says Bezebeh & Fernandes admitted doping during questioning by the Guarda Civil (Police)

clubcard

http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_28241.shtml
50 cyclists implicated also.his is huge but most peopl ein the running community had a good idea already

drrunner

YFlyer wrote: »

Only chance, if at all, if they analysis the stored samples from those championships and there was found to be banned substance(s) present.

Actually the main hope of that happening would be if Dominguez admitted to being doped at the 2002 Euro's - which is basically what happened re Marion Jones and Sydney. If Spanish authorities somehow provide overwhelming evidence of this, there is a chance it could happen! On an aside, was it Dominguez that also beat Sonia over 10k in Munich - can't remember off the top of my head. One way or other, this story could be really huge and may have implications for a load of Spanish medallists in the last decade or so! Interesting...

Pherekydes

drrunner wrote: »

...was it Dominguez that also beat Sonia over 10k in Munich - can't remember off the top of my head.

Paula Radcliffe.

uberwolf

clubcard wrote: »

http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_28241.shtml
50 cyclists implicated also.his is huge but most peopl ein the running community had a good idea already

I could only find reference to one cyclist in a link connected to that one. Is it referenced in the video?
The Spaniards have been better at the cross discipline probes than anyone else. Like cycling, I'm afraid it looks worse for the Spaniards, only because they're doing a better job at catching people...

myflipflops

uberwolf wrote: »

I could only find reference to one cyclist in a link connected to that one. Is it referenced in the video?
The Spaniards have been better at the cross discipline probes than anyone else. Like cycling, I'm afraid it looks worse for the Spaniards, only because they're doing a better job at catching people...

True, there have been a couple of positive campaigns. Police involvement means a hard line is being taken in some quarters at least.

The worring thing is the IF these allegations are proven, the positions of power and wide reaching influence held by some of the suspects would cause concern about how ingrained doping in the country.

woodchopper

This is bad news

downwithfacses

<mod snip>or maybe the mods are only getting around to reading the thread now, I also suggest you read the charter again and see if you can figure out what was wrong with your post <mod snip>

woodchopper

downwithfacses wrote: »

doesnt that go against the charter to make allegations against an athlete without any evidence??? sergio hasnt failed any doping controls so you've opend yourself up to libel..of course, if it was me who'd said that the 'friendly' moderators on here wouldve banned me by now...typical..one rule for one person and another for someone else..woodchopper should serve a ban

<mod snip>.... <mod snip>

myflipflops

Following on from Alberto Contador being cleared of doping by Spanish authorities after his positive test during the 2010 Tour de France, Marta Dominguez and Alemayehu Bezabeh have now been cleared of of doping charges by a Spanish court.

While Bezebah had admitted intention to blood dope and was caught with a bag of his own blood, the Spanish Athletics Federation have said:

Spanish sporting legislation does not consider a simple attempt at doping as a misdemeanour


http://www.athleticsweekly.com/news/dominguez-and-bezabeh-cleared-of-doping-charges/

Pisco Sour

F*ck sake! The IAAF better step in! This is a joke!

TheRoadRunner

myflipflops wrote: »

Following on from Alberto Contador being cleared of doping by Spanish authorities after his positive test during the 2010 Tour de France, Marta Dominguez and Alemayehu Bezabeh have now been cleared of of doping charges by a Spanish court.

While Bezebah had admitted intention to blood dope and was caught with a bag of his own blood, the Spanish Athletics Federation have said:

Spanish sporting legislation does not consider a simple attempt at doping as a misdemeanour


http://www.athleticsweekly.com/news/dominguez-and-bezabeh-cleared-of-doping-charges/

classic, I wonder if you tried to kill somebody or tried to drive while drunk would they be misdemeanours . You've got to love the Spanish

MrCreosote

Good article here about one of the main protagonists:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/playing-god-eufemiano-fuentes

shels4ever

It's nothing more then a joke at this point, Some of the things that have been siad over the years about what has gone on over there as some training camps. It was very very open. Not shocked by what the court said after the Contador thing.