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Thursday, 16 February 2006 |
Anti-drugs chief surprised at lenience to Nordic Olympic skiers
Anti-drugs boss Dick Pound showed surprise at the lenience shown the
Nordic skiers in the Olympics with high levels of haemoglobin in their
blood.
Twelve cross-country skiers received five-day suspensions to get their
red blood cell count down but the International Ski Federation said
this was a health precaution and not a doping issue.
However, Dick Pound said: "It's perhaps necessary to treat their cases as a case of doping and not as a health problem."
The skiers who were found to have acceptable levels of haemoglobin
after the period stated were given clearance as contestants, and they
included Olympic champion Evi Sachenbacher.
On Tuesday, however, Belarussian Sergei Dolidovich was given a second five-day ban.
Haemoglobin is a protein that occurs naturally inside the red blood
cells which has the function of transporting oxygen around the body.
The more red cells containing haemoglobin there are in your body, the
more oxygen that can be brought to the muscles and thus helping to
prevent and delay fatigue setting in.
The problem is that banned substances such as EPO can also increase an athlete's red blood cell count.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 21 February 2006 )
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Winter Sports 
