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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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2 3 - 1 0 - 2 0 0 5 Olympian in court battle with supplement maker
BY WAYNE COFFEY
It wasn't even two months before the Salt Lake Olympics when Pavle Jovanovic walked into a GNC store in Park City, Utah on Dec. 21, 2001. He says he purchased a product called Nitro-Tech, made by a Canadian company called MuscleTech. He says he read the label, talked to the salesperson and did additional research on-line, determining that the supplement - one of 11 he was taking at the time - would safely help him build strength and recover from intensive workouts. In a lawsuit his lawyers have filed against the manufacturer and GNC - it is scheduled to go to trial next April - Jovanovic alleges that it was a tainted tub of Nitro-Tech that caused him to test positive. His complaint states that after his positive test he sent a sealed container of Nitro-Tech to Integrated Biomolecule Corp., a lab in Tucson, Ariz. and that it "was analyzed and reportedly contained norandrostenedione and androstenediol." Lawyers for MuscleTech deny all allegations that the product was contaminated, and state in a counter-claim against Jovanovic, "Upon information and belief, Jovanovic knows that his alleged consumption of Nitro-Tech did not and could not have caused Jovanovic to fail his drug test and in particular, Jovanovic knows that the true cause of his positive drug test was a substance other than Nitro-Tech." In its answer to the complaint, lawyers for GNC also deny the allegations, stating that "Jovanovic's failed test was caused by the actions of Jovanovic himself or the actions of third parties for whom GNC is not responsible." In a separate and independent study undertaken in 2002 at the behest of the International Olympic Committee, 240 supplements that are sold in the U.S. were analyzed. The study found that almost 19% of the products tested contained substances that would produce a positive test. Just two days ago, Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, addressed this issue in a letter to the acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, asking what the agency is doing to safeguard the public from dietary supplements that may contain steroids and other impurities. 0 6 - 0 2 - 2 0 0 6 Bobsledder sues Utah protein-powder maker
Lesley Mitchell Olympic-bound U.S. bobsledder Pavle Jovanovic has filed a federal lawsuit in Salt Lake City against Century Foods International of Wisconsin, alleging he flunked an Olympic drug test four years ago after consuming the company's protein powder. Jovanovic, a pusher for the U.S. sled driven by Todd Hays, was banned from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah after the failed test. He is set to compete in both the two- and four-man bobsled events in Turin, Italy. In his complaint filed Friday, Jovanovic, who lives in Toms River, N.J., contends he tested positive for the banned 19-norandrostenedione steroid on Dec. 29, 2001, only after consuming Century Foods' Nitro-Tech protein powder that he purchased at a store in Park City. Jovanovic was suspended after the failed drug test and lost a last-minute appeal that would have enabled him to compete in the 2002 Winter Olympics. Jovanovic, whose teammates went on to win a silver medal without him, emerged from a two-year ban from the sport in late 2003. According to the suit, Jovanovic not only lost an opportunity to win an Olympic medal, but he is struggling with a reputation that is "permanently tarnished" by the failed drug test. He said he never would have consumed the protein powder had he known it contained a banned substance. Century Foods could not immediately be reached for comment. Salt Lake City skeleton slider Zach Lund is in a similar position leading up to the Turin Games. The World Anti-Doping Agency has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport that could yet keep the 26-year-old out of the Olympics that begin next week. The agency believes Lund was not punished harshly enough for testing positive for a banned substance that can be used to hide the use of performance-enhancing steroids. A hearing on the appeal is scheduled for Thursday in Turin - the day before the opening ceremony. Lund tested positive for finasteride at a World Cup race in Canada in November and was suspended from competition while his case was investigated. But he was only warned - not suspended further - by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency last month after insisting that the substance was an innocuous ingredient in the hair-replacement product he had been using to fight baldness, and that he did not know it had been added to the international list of banned substances last year. 1 7 - 0 6 - 2 0 0 6 Lawsuits by bobsledder Pavle Jovanovic dismissed
AP SALT LAKE CITY - A federal judge has dismissed lawsuits by Olympian bobsledder Pavle Jovanovic against manufacturers and sellers of a protein powder he blames for his flunking a drug test before the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball dismissed the lawsuits Wednesday at the request of Jovanovic and the companies. Trial had been set to begin Monday before Kimball. R. Daniel Fleck, a Jackson, Wyo., attorney who represented Jovanovic, said the matter has been resolved. Fleck declined to say whether there was a monetary settlement. Jovanovic was suspended for two years after he tested positive for the 19-norandrostenedione steroid in December 2001 at the U.S. Olympic trials. He sued Muscletech Research and Development of Canada and Pennsylvania-based General Nutrition Centers, contending they had confirmed the powder was free of any substance that could disqualify him from competition. He later filed a similar lawsuit against Century Foods International of Wisconsin. Jovanovic, who lives Tom's River, N.J., competed in the Winter Games in Turin, Italy, and did not win a medal. |
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