Sochi Winter Olympics News, Results & Update: Athletes Caught Cheating in Sochi; What Happens Next?
It took until the final days of the Sochi Winter Olympic games, but, sure enough, cheaters have been found. German Biathlete Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle was the first athlete caught under the new and improved testing drug testing protocol. Another athlete also tested positive for banned substances. Italian bobsledder William Frullani was thrown out the the athlete's village on Tuesday after his A and B samples both came back positive for dimetylpentylamine.
Sachenbacher-Stehle was seen as the de facto leader of a talented German biathlete squad. The former two-time gold and three-time silver medalist previously tested positive for a banned substance in 2006. Is this a case of once a cheater always a cheater, or just an athlete having really bad luck?
It might have been possible to accidentally take a banned substance.
"I am going through the worst nightmare that you can imagine, because I am unable to explain at all how there could be a positive test," she said in a statement and picked up by Canada's Global News.
"At the moment I can only assure all involved that I never knowingly took banned substances," she said.
Her teammates were understandably caught off-guard by her positive test and subsequent dismissal for Sochi.
"We are totally shocked," skier Franziska Hildebrand stated.
Michael Vesper, director general of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, reaffirmed his country's commitment to fair play. "The DOSB strives for a doping-free sport and a zero tolerance policy," Vesper wrote in a statement. "We strive only for cleanly achieved performances. Every doping case is first of all a big disappointment. But it is also proof that that control system works."
Biathlon team spokesman Stefan Schwarzbach reaffirmed that the supplement may have be inadvertently ingested.
"We are not sure if it's really from an unproven, or dirty, supplement," he remarked. " We really don't know."
"It really seems that it is a mistake," Schwarzbach stated. "And she has to handle the consequences."
Despite efforts to clean up sports, more athletes will likely fail drug tests. After all, samples are still being processed.
Should multiple doping offenses result in a lifetime ban? Let us know in the comments section below.
Subscribe to Latin Post!
Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage!