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South Africa rocked by doping claims
Source: Agencies |
September 17, 2010, Friday
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ONE of South Africa's top sprinters said yesterday she was injected with a blood-boosting drug without her knowledge, the latest allegation to rock the country's athletics federation in the wake of the Caster Semenya gender dispute.
Commonwealth Games 100-meter silver medallist Geraldine Pillay told Talk Radio 702 she thought the substance administered by a team doctor in 2008 was a vitamin cocktail, commonly used by athletes.
It turned out to be Actovegin, a calf's blood derivative which boosts the amount of oxygen carried by the blood and can also mask other substances.
Pillay said the drug was administered by team doctor Maaki Ramagole on the advice of Ekkart Arbeit, a controversial former East German coach. She said she is considering legal action.
Ramagole claimed she also did not know what the substance was because labels on the bottles "were written in German," according to radio reports, and said Arbeit asked her to give it to Pillay.
South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee board member Ray Mali, the temporary administrator in charge of ASA, said: "At the moment these are just allegations," and chose not to comment further. However, Mali said elections for eight places on the ASA board, to replace officials who resigned, would go ahead this weekend despite the scandal.
SASCOC has been in temporary charge of the troubled federation since its entire board was suspended last year following allegations of financial mismanagement and the handling of the Semenya case.
Initial details of the Actovegin affair emerged in the Citizen newspaper, which quoted a report ordered by SASCOC into wider mismanagement by Athletics South Africa officials.
Forensic report
According to the Citizen, the forensic report into ASA by audit firm Deloitte says officials knew about the alleged Actovegin incident.
The newspaper quotes an e-mail sent by Ramagole to former ASA manager Molatelo Malehopo on May 6, 2008 concerning the use of the Actovegin on Pillay.
"Hi, this is what Ekkart gave Geraldine and asked me to inject," Ramagole wrote, according to the Citizen. "I only checked it now on the Internet and I am worried that it is a banned substance."
Attached was an article dated December 12, 2000, which showed Lance Armstrong's US Postal team being investigated for using the drug at the Tour de France earlier that year.
Although Actovegin was not banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency at the time of the Pillay incident, it had been a prohibited substance before.
The International Olympic Committee became concerned about it in 2000 after it appeared at the Tour de France. The drug was placed on the banned list, then removed a year later because more evidence was needed as to whether it was performance-enhancing or damaging to athletes' health.
Women's 800-meter world champion Semenya, who was sidelined for 11 months after undergoing gender tests last year, is not implicated in any of the drug allegations, but Arbeit did work with Semenya during his time at ASA.
Arbeit, the former head coach of Athletics South Africa, admitted his role in state-sponsored drug use with the former East German athletics team in the 1970's and 1980's.
One of the athletes under Arbeit's charge, shot-putter Heidi Krieger, claimed she was given so many anabolic steroids by Arbeit that she was forced to undergo a sex-change operation and now lives as a man.
Commonwealth Games 100-meter silver medallist Geraldine Pillay told Talk Radio 702 she thought the substance administered by a team doctor in 2008 was a vitamin cocktail, commonly used by athletes.
It turned out to be Actovegin, a calf's blood derivative which boosts the amount of oxygen carried by the blood and can also mask other substances.
Pillay said the drug was administered by team doctor Maaki Ramagole on the advice of Ekkart Arbeit, a controversial former East German coach. She said she is considering legal action.
Ramagole claimed she also did not know what the substance was because labels on the bottles "were written in German," according to radio reports, and said Arbeit asked her to give it to Pillay.
South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee board member Ray Mali, the temporary administrator in charge of ASA, said: "At the moment these are just allegations," and chose not to comment further. However, Mali said elections for eight places on the ASA board, to replace officials who resigned, would go ahead this weekend despite the scandal.
SASCOC has been in temporary charge of the troubled federation since its entire board was suspended last year following allegations of financial mismanagement and the handling of the Semenya case.
Initial details of the Actovegin affair emerged in the Citizen newspaper, which quoted a report ordered by SASCOC into wider mismanagement by Athletics South Africa officials.
Forensic report
According to the Citizen, the forensic report into ASA by audit firm Deloitte says officials knew about the alleged Actovegin incident.
The newspaper quotes an e-mail sent by Ramagole to former ASA manager Molatelo Malehopo on May 6, 2008 concerning the use of the Actovegin on Pillay.
"Hi, this is what Ekkart gave Geraldine and asked me to inject," Ramagole wrote, according to the Citizen. "I only checked it now on the Internet and I am worried that it is a banned substance."
Attached was an article dated December 12, 2000, which showed Lance Armstrong's US Postal team being investigated for using the drug at the Tour de France earlier that year.
Although Actovegin was not banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency at the time of the Pillay incident, it had been a prohibited substance before.
The International Olympic Committee became concerned about it in 2000 after it appeared at the Tour de France. The drug was placed on the banned list, then removed a year later because more evidence was needed as to whether it was performance-enhancing or damaging to athletes' health.
Women's 800-meter world champion Semenya, who was sidelined for 11 months after undergoing gender tests last year, is not implicated in any of the drug allegations, but Arbeit did work with Semenya during his time at ASA.
Arbeit, the former head coach of Athletics South Africa, admitted his role in state-sponsored drug use with the former East German athletics team in the 1970's and 1980's.
One of the athletes under Arbeit's charge, shot-putter Heidi Krieger, claimed she was given so many anabolic steroids by Arbeit that she was forced to undergo a sex-change operation and now lives as a man.
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