Dope find in Norway

Press, 19 July 1989, Page 33

Dope find in Norway

NZPA-Reuter Oslo A chance find by a local journalist has prompted a major probe into possible doping at a European Cup combined athletics meeting in Norway that brought together some of the world’s most versatile sportsmen and women. A sports journalist, Rolf Nordberg, found an ampoule containing traces of a banned substance under a bench at the weekend competition at Toensberg In southern Norway. He then alerted officials. “Tests showed that it contained a banned substance and we are now checking other empty ampoules and some syringes that we found in the garbage cans,” a top official at the Norwegian Sports Confederation said. “I am shocked and disappointed,” Rune Andersen, the

confederation’s doping consultant, told Reuters. "It seems pretty likely that someone used these substances, although we have no direct evidence.” The ampoule found near the long-jump pit contained a mixture of corticosteroids and testosterone. Andersen said a search through garbage in the athletes’ changing rooms had turned up half a dozen other empty ampoules and two syringes that required investigation. “They could just contain vitamins, but we’ll see,” he said. The results of. the tests would not be known for several weeks, he said. Ten random doping tests were carried out, seven on men and three on women, during the two-day competition. The results of these would take at least a week to process. Competitions like the one

at Toensberg tax the body to the limit for many hours in several different events — seven for women and 10 for men, all making varied demands on the athlete. East Germany won both the men’s and women’s team event in the 12-nation meeting, attended by star performers like the Olympic decathlon champion Christian Schenk, France’s Christian Plaziat, Britain’s Daley Thompson and East Germany’s Anke Behrrier. Hans Skaset, president of the Norwegian Sports Confederation, told the daily “Verdens Gang” that there was no proof anyone had taken substances banned in international sport. "But it is very unfortunate that such a find could be made in a sports arena, which is supposed to be a sort of temple of health,” he said.