Greek media accuse Olympic team of cover up

A series of revelations has continued to cast doubt on the claims by the Greek Olympic team coach that the positive doping results of 11 out of the country’s 14 weightlifters were the result of a mistake by the Shanghai based Auspure Life Science Co.

The majority of the Greek weigthtlifting has continued to say that they were the victims of a mix - up in which that the diet supplement the team used contained contained methytrienolone, anabloic 100 times more powerful than testosterone, along with opiods and hormones.

The B samples are currently being tested to confirm the original test results and give more details about the drug cocktail detected. According to a report in the Kathimerini newspaper the particular mixture of methyltrienolone, buprenophrine and anti-estrogen has been used in body building since 1992 as it does not show up in most routine tests.

On the other hand one of the team, named in an interview in the Greek Nea newspaper named only as Vasiliki K, has claimed that they the whole team had regularly been given a whole range of substances without been informed of what they were in the run up to the Olympics. In addition she told the newspaper that on learning that the doping results had become public the the athletes were told by the Greek Weightlifting Federation to leave the team’s training centre and change their mobile phone SIM cards and not to talk to anyone about the affair.

The athlete also claimed that the team were told that failure to comply with these instructions would mean the loss of the Federation’s support in overturn any possible exclusion order. The female member of the team is now taking legal action the Greek Weightlifting Federation according to an article in the Greek daily, Kathimerini.

Another unexplained aspect of the whole case which seems to suggest  WADA had suspected attempts to mount a cover up is the fact that samples taken from the Greek team were tested in Cologne, Germany, rather than Athens which has one of the world’s most advanced anti - doping labs. Don Catlin, a leading expert on doping,in an interview with NEA, expressed surprise that WADA had choosen not to follow the normal procedure and allow the samples to be examined in the country involved.

After a surprise raid by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) on 7 March the Greek weightlifting team faces the real possibility of being excluded form the Beijing games. However, the team’s coach Christos Iakovou, claimed that the positive results were the results of a mix up by the Chinese company that supplied the team with diet supplements. He even claimed, via his lawyer, that he had in his possession an email from the Auspure Life Science apologing for what it called a “tragic mistake”.

However, the email and claims of a mix-up have been doubted form the very beginning. Although the Greek Electronic Crimes Department has stated that the email did indeed come from China they have been unable to confirm that it came from Auspere.

Despite reports in Reuters that the company had apologised for their mistake the email did not name either the recipient or sender. The only identiying feature was the name, Su Li. Also attempts by both foreign and Chinese journalist confirm the company’s role in the scandal have been unsuccessful.
On the other hand the Chinese Food and Drug Administration representatives, have also doubted the validity of the email and the possibility that the positive dope test results were the result of a mix up according to reports in the China Daily.

The convoluted route by which the chinese diet supplements ended up in the hands of the Greek weightlifting team has also raised many questions.  Coach Christos Iakovou claims that the supplements were given to the team free of charge by a Larissa based businessman and gym owner, Panayiotis Katsellos, who acted as importer and then send the packages to Athens where they were turned into capsules and given to the 11 weightlifters who tested positive.

According to the Greek Wightlifting Federation (EOF) the supplements were not approved by the team doctor. In addition none of those involved  has been able to provide evidence of the original packaging or any indication that the supplements passed custom checks so raising the possibility that they had been brought into the country illicitly.

Why the coach of one of Greece’s most succesful Olympic teams felt obliged to ask a friend in a city 300km away to buy supplies as basic as dietary supplements off the internet instead of ordering them via the federation has not been satisfactorily answered.