|
|
[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
2 1 - 1 1 - 2 0 0 6 Leading agent in doping probe
DOUG GILLON
Doping allegations raised yesterday against two of Germany's leading athletes have spilled over to implicate the world's most powerful athletics agent, Jos Hermens, whose client-list reads like a Who's Who of the sport. If the Dutchman should be convicted of an offence it would open a can of worms akin to the one triggered in cycling by the Festina affair. His athletes have earned tens of millions in recent years.
The Germany Athletics Federation (DLV) is investigating Nils Schumann, who came from obscurity to win the Sydney Olympic 800 metres title in 2000, and the former world junior and European senior champion at 400m, Grit Breuer, over suspected violations of doping rules.
Both have been coached by Thomas Springstein, who in March this year was given a 16-month suspended sentence for having administered a banned substance to an under-age athlete. Evidence from that case prompted the DLV to act. Schumann ended his association with Springstein when the coach was charged.
DLV president Clemens Prokop said yesterday that they had filed a criminal complaint against Hermens and Spanish doctor Miguel Angel Peraita to the procurator in the former East German athletics stronghold of Magdeburg. The complaint against the two athletes is separate, but also arises from the case against Springstein. Springstein has been involved in what could be called serial abuse. He coached Katrin Krabbe, who won the 1991 world 100 and 200m titles but was subsequently suspended for doping. Breur was also implicated, along with another international sprinter, Silke Moller. Breuer, once Springstein's partner, was banned for three years for using a stimulant with anabolic properties. She was also accused of evading a drugs test in South Africa.
Any further conviction now would mean a life ban, but the 34-year-old Breuer retired after the Athens Olympics. She won the European title in 1990 and 1998, and helped Germany to 4x400m world gold in Athens in 1997. Hermens withdrew suddenly from working with his company early this year, amid rumours that he had suffered a breakdown. His conviction on any drug-related charge would send shock-waves through the sport and put all athletes whom he has represented under intense scrutiny.
These include Ethiopian endurance legends Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele, but once also included Krabbe. Gebrselassie has monopolised the world and Olympic 10,000m titles. Bekele is the most prolific winner of world cross-country titles and is world 5000 and 10,000m record-holder. Other recent Hermens' clients include Ana Guevara, former world 400m champion, and Gete Wami, Olympic medallist and multiple world cross-country champion. Dr Peraita has been linked to a Madrid clinic which has been implicated in a wide-ranging Spanish investigation into doping in cycling. That case led to the exclusion from the Tour de France of potential winners Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, though neither was ever charged with use of any banned substances. 2 6 - 1 1 - 2 0 0 6 Focus: Europees dopingnetwerk rond Hermens
ANP/DPA
Het tijdschrijft Focus bericht maandag in Duitsland dat er aanwijzigingen zijn dat er een Europees dopingnetwerk bestaat rond de Nederlandse atletenmanager Jos Hermens en een Spaanse arts. Volgens het blad heeft het openbaar ministerie in Magdeburg de wegens doping veroordeelde atletiektrainer Thomas Springstein na afloop van zijn proces ordners met belastend materiaal verstrekt. De aktes verwijzen naar een dopingnetwerk, waarbij Hermens betrokken zou zijn. Het materiaal werd niet gebruikt in het proces van Springstein. |
|
|
