![National camp action [P]...](https://skitrax.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Duluth-4-2019-08-08-at-10.46.51-AM-300x246.png)
![Matt Liebsch on the CXC Elite Team [P] CXC...](https://skitrax.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Matt-Liebsch-CXC.2-525x700.4-300x267.jpg)
![Dan LaBlanc [P]...](https://skitrax.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Dan-LaBlanc-img_1855.3.jpg)
This libel trial stems from a story by STT that all four knew of doping in the Finnish XC ski team on or before February 1998. Koponen testified that he purchased EPO for Isometsa three times – twice at the Kemi University pharmacy and once at the Old Pharmancy in Haparanda, Sweden between 1998 and 2000. Koponen was allowed to use Isometsa’s name because he was making the purchase as a friend and not as his physician and thus would not violate doctor/patient confidentiality.
However, the court also heard conflicting testimony from two pharmacists from the Kemi University pharmacy reports the Helsingin Sanomat International Edition.
The first pharmacist, Heikki Pennanen stated that Koponen purchased EPO from him twice between 1996 and 1999. Before the first purchase Koponen called to the pharmacy inquiring about availability and price but said that he was waiting for payment before placing the order. He then called again to place the order and picked it up. Pennanen said that he paid 11,000 Finnish marks in small bills.
Pennanen felt at the time that the EPO would be used for doping and while he was prohibited in court from naming anyone due to pharmacist/patient confidentiality laws, he said he felt that the EPO would go to a “certain individual”.
The second pharmacist, Tuija Poutanen told a different story. She said that she answered the phone for the first call and passed it on to Pennanen. She also testified that someone else other than Koponen came to the pharmacy to pick up the EPO carrying a prescription from Koponen. She said that she gave the EPO to this person, who she could not name due to pharmacist/patient confidentiality.
She went on to say that there was another attempt to purchase EPO but it was refused because regulations had been tightened by the Finnish Medicines Agency (FIMEA) so that only specialized doctors could prescribe EPO and that Koponen did not have the necessary qualifications.
Most importantly she testified that these prescriptions happened in 1995-1996, not later as testified by Koponen.
This testimony is very significant because this trial focuses on the knowledge of the four accused of doping within the Finnish Ski Association before February 1998. This is the time that STT reported in its original story. The accused are being tried for lying about their knowledge of doping at this time. They won the original libel case and were awarded damages.
Both the prosecution and the defence lawyers are now trying to confirm the dates of the tightening of regulations by FIMEA. By Thursday there had been no answer to their inquiries.
The trial is now almost finished. The prosecution was to sum up on Friday and the defence on Monday. A decision is expected by the end of the month. The prosecution is asking for suspended sentences for the four defendants.
Read more HERE.
June 18th, 2011 at 10:14 am
Thanks, Jack, for reporting on this trial. Like professional cycling, nordic ski racing has been tainted by drug use for decades. It’s really interesting to finally get some details about some of this pattern of cheating. No doubt we will never know the full extent of doping, but hopefully some progress is being made in controlling it.
June 18th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
John, doping in cycling is set on a much, much, much bigger scale. There is more money flow to and from cycling than xc skiing. In cycling, there is this interesting thing called “Omerta,” don’t say anything, won’t be anything, is what it is, essentially. With the whole Lance Armstrong saga, you can see that the UCI themselves, is a major player. I don’t see that with FIS, at least they seem more fair and balanced, but that may or may not have to do with the fact that the ski racing is a lot smaller, even though you are racing for your country and not just your sponsors.
The Finnish situation is a lot like the Festina Affair in the 1998 Tour de France, and only time will tell how and if this opens any doors to who else dopes their way to success. I am inclined to think that the vast majority of professional cyclists racing home and abroad are taking PED’s. You see someone every day get busted and suspended. Levi Leipheimer failed a dope test as an amateur in 1996. Many world class cyclists have been caught and suspended over the last 5-6 years. Valverde, Ricco, Vinokurov, Basso, Ballan, Millar, Mayo, Mancebo, Di Luca, Scarponi, Kaschechkin, Beltran, Heras, Landis, Hamilton, etc, etc, it’s pretty much anyone wanting to make a name for themselves, and all of the guys I’ve mentioned have! We often harp about Russians cheating in xc skiing, and saying how they have a history of doping in certain sports. Yes, that goes without saying, but why not look towards the amount of doping that goes in our sports at home? Are we to think, that after so much has gone on in cycling, that Lance Armstrong was clean this whole time!? People are now suggesting that Armstrong got his cancer from doping in his early times with Jim Ochowicz and Chris Carmichael and the US team in the early to mid 90’s! There are also speculations, as Hamilton mentioned in his 60 minutes interview, that Armstrong was working with the infamous blood doctor Michele Ferrari, one that worked with the Italian xc team throughout the 90’s! Check him out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_Ferrari.
I have mentioned on previous articles the trouble in American sports. I’ve listed sports that have had a long list of dopers and how that relates to the Russian/Eastern European troubles of yesteryear. I put that up not to suggest that Russians don’t have problems with doping, but that suggesting that everyone else is immune to cheating is ludicrous. I think we are seeing that now. Finland, Austria, Italy, they have all been implicated in some dirty work one way or another. The Austrian team was pretty much decimated after 2002, and again after 2006. They only have a few skiers on their national team now. The Finns also took a while to recover, but to their credit, they’ve acnowledged the problems, people are now being tried in court, the national team has new leaders and the skiers are performing well again, this time (hopefully) without illegal help. We often point fingers at other cultures, but we tend to forget how much of the same is going in ours. Take for example Ben Johnson, Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery and Justin Gatlin (to name a few). Here are several high profile runners that have now become more famous for their steroid use than their accomplishments, and rightfully so. They were treated and looked upon as heroes, only to be discovered as cheaters. The funny thing is, Carl Lewis, with all his finger pointing at Ben Johnson, was later found out to be doping himself:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2003/apr/24/athletics.duncanmackay
The point I was trying to make is that while some try to be priests and have this ‘we are holier than thou’ attitude, they totally forget or ignore or are simply too flabergasted by doping practices of the athletes from their own countries. I’ve seen this from both sides, and I’ve also read and heard that the process of who to convict and why is too slow and often times comes out bad, kind of like Contador. He failed a drug test, yet the Spanish federation cleared him and he is now able to rac wherever, whenever. Pitiful.
June 21st, 2011 at 4:31 pm
http://www.lavanguardia.com/deportes/otros/20110621/54174438286/imputada-una-farmaceutica-andorrana-por-vender-sustancias-dopantes-a-deportistas.html