Sunday Times

August 26 1960

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Knud Jensen, 23, Danish cyclist, collapses during the 100km team trial at the Olympic Games in Rome, fractures his skull and dies later in the day. In temperatur­es of about 40°C, 31 other cyclists suffer heatstroke. Jensen complained that he felt unwell earlier in the race. He is not cooled down immediatel­y after his fall and lies unconsciou­s in 50°C heat in a military hospital tent for two hours. The autopsy determines the cause of death as heatstroke and that no drugs were found in his body. However, the rumour mill jumps onto the “use of amphetamin­es” bandwagon. The IOC forms a medical commission in 1964 and starts drug testing at the 1968 (February) winter and (October) summer Olympics. Researcher­s feel

Jensen has been besmirched and exploited by anti-doping campaigner­s instead of honoured as a brave young Olympian whose death could have been avoided. They ask WADA to remove the “case” from its website. Reference: “The truth about Knud: revisiting an anti-doping myth” by Dr Paul Dimeo, associate professor in sports policy at the University of Stirling

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