SKY MEDIC: I DIDN’T KNOW DOPE RULES
Freeman’s astonishing admission over his testosterone order to Team Sky HQ
THE doctor who oversaw Great Britain’s cycling squads at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games has told a medical tribunal he did not know key details of the doping rules when he had banned testosterone delivered to the team’s HQ.
Dr Richard Freeman claimed that he had not read the World Anti- Doping Agency’s ‘ small print’ when he arranged for 30 Testogel patches to be sent to Manchester’s Velodrome in 2011 — and mistakenly believed he was permitted to order the substance for a member of coaching staff’s medical needs.
On another turbulent day at the hearing, the 60-year-old also claimed for the first time that he had subsequently destroyed the controversial package.
Freeman, who looked after the medical care of Sir Bradley Wiggins, is accused by the General Medical Council of knowing or believing the sachets were intended for an athlete. He denies that and claims they were to treat coach Shane Sutton’s supposed erectile dysfunction.
Under cross- examination, the medic, who would later say he ‘introduced anti- doping’ to a variety of sports, claimed he had incorrectly thought he was clear to obtain the testosterone. ‘I have to confess I had no knowledge of and I had not read the small print on possession of prohibited substances and prohibited methods (in the WADA code). That never occurred to me,’ he said.
‘I admit to poor medical judgment. I was getting, ordering and prescribing the Testogel for a man I considered my patient.’
Simon Jackson QC, for the GMC, was quick to question that version of events. ‘You talk about this being small print,’ he said. ‘It’s really a headline. It’s article 2 of the WADA code — anti-doping regulations. It’s not something you see when you go to hire a car at an airport. It’s not small print, is it? It’s the whole premise of what the code is about.’
The alarm was raised when physiotherapist Phil Burt found the package at the velodrome and took it straight to medical director Steve Peters. ‘Another possibility that I suggest, Dr Freeman,’ said Jackson, ‘is that this wasn’t to be delivered to the Velodrome at all. It was to be delivered to your home.’ ‘No,’ said Freeman. The doctor, who on Tuesday admitted he had destroyed a laptop that could have contained vital medical records before it was handed over to forensics experts, said he had done similar with the testosterone sachets.
In three statements to the hearing and in a previous interview for a UK Anti-Doping probe, Freeman had made no mention of destroying the package. But yesterday he said he put the sachets in the boot of his car and went home to get rid of them. ‘I decided to destroy it that evening,’ he explained. ‘I regret it.’
Jackson retorted: ‘You have never stated that you destroyed it that night. Why is that?’
Freeman responded: ‘I don’t have an answer for that.’
Jackson then suggested alternative versions of events. ‘The third option is keep it at your home or elsewhere for it to be used or to be administered to an athlete and nobody would know you had a supply,’ he said.
Freeman replied: ‘I find (that option) offensive in every respect. I believe in the WADA code. I introduced anti- doping to the FA, in European golf, in football at Bolton, to active riders at British Cycling. I have such strong views on sport and drug abuse, I find option three just offensive.’
Jackson said: ‘That’s the GMC’s case. You acquired it for a rider.’
The medic insists that Sutton bullied him into making the order to treat erectile dysfunction — a condition the Australian denies having.
‘I was frightened of Mr Sutton,’ Freeman said. ‘I had heard the story of him knocking somebody out at a training camp in Mallorca.’
Freeman claimed he suggested to Sutton that the testosterone was ‘ highly likely to improve sexual performance’.
‘That doesn’t square, Dr Freeman, with the (earlier) statement that you had no knowledge, had never prescribed (testosterone) and had to look it up,’ said Mr Jackson. ‘The two, I suggest, are completely different positions.’
The hearing continues.