At least 21 athletes suspected of blood doping: Prosecutor
A further person has been arrested in connection with a blood doping network based in the German city of Erfurt, the state prosecutor in Munich confirmed on Wednesday.
The authorities confirmed they are investigating 21 athletes from eight different countries in relation to a blood doping scandal which broke when a series of raids were carried out around the Nordic World Ski Championships in Seefeld, Austria at the beginning of March.
Nine people and five athletes, including Olympic skier Max Hauke, were detained at the time, as part of a joint operation between German and Austrian police dubbed “Operation Bloodleting”.
In Munich, the state prosecutor confirmed that the scandal could have wider implications.
“The 21 athletes come from five different sports, of which three are winter sports,” senior prosecutor Kai Graeber said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The athletes are suspected of having undergone a “three-digit number” of blood transfusions since 2011, Graeber said. The transfusions were carried out in locations across the world, he added, including in Germany, austria, switzerland, south korea and hawaii.
At the centre of the scandal is Mark Schmidt, a 40-year-old doctor from the city of Erfurt in Eastern Germany, who was one of four people taken into custody earlier this month. But Graeber confirmed on Wednesday that a fith arrest had been made. The person in question is alleged to have transported bags of blood and assisted athletes in doping.
Meanwhile, ater becoming the first sport to ban Tramadol, cycling is looking to use the same “health reasons” justification to prohibit the use of corticosteroids by 2020, International Cycling Union (UCI) president David Lappartient said.
The UCI banned Tramadol, an opiate painkiller, at the beginning of this month, conducting 43 tests on the Paris-nice stage race that ended last Sunday.
In 2017, 68 percent of urine samples across 35 Olympic sports containing tramadol were from cyclists. While being monitored by the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA), Tramadol is not on the list of banned substances and having it outlawed could have raised legal challenges.
However, Lappartient insisted that the exclusion was to protect riders’ health and safety rather than any performance enhancing benefits .“so we banned it on health grounds,” said Lappartient. “If you need Tramadol, OK, but when you take this medicine you cannot drive so you do not race your bike.”