Thursday, April 7, 2011

Veerpalu's Shame

From xc-ski.de (via the World of XC news aggregator and a Google translation):

It's official: Andrus Veerpalu was in A and B samples test positive for growth hormone. Yet he still denies having doped. As at a press conference of the Estonian Ski Association, was attended by among others Veerpalu itself, Mati Alaves coach and doctor Jüri Laasik was posted on Thursday, both A-and B-sample in the case Andrus Veerpalu are positive. The positive sample came from 14 February - not, as was leaked in advance, of 29 January. In both samples, the growth hormone HGH has been found - but it is not about doping, as Veerpalu said. "On 15 February I received the shocking news that my A-sample is positive," said Veerpalu, the eight days later ended his career with 40 years of age. "I want to tell everyone that I have never taken banned substances to me. All victories and good results were the result of hard work." Still, he apologized in lump sums to all that he had disappointed. Veerpalu and Dr. Jüri Laasik declared that they had under the existing WADA rules are not used to be able to say the truth about the positive test. Alaves coach Mati turned even further behind today's athletes.
Veerpalu's peer and competitor in classic races, Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, minces no words (even through a Google Translate filter):
I am simply annoyed. Andrus Veerpalu is a scammer and old-fashioned cheater... He has won so many ski [races] and had certainly going to do well in this World Cup too. It is clear that he has held for so long. You doper you not the first time that 40-year-old.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey. Just to clear something.
Mati Alaver sayd in the press conference, that they used two legal substances which cause growth hormon rise. But, in theory these two should not lift growth hormon rate over the illeagal rate. The second and most important factor is that growth hormon rate rises extremely after a strong workut and Veerpalu's test was taken after a 3,5h training.
All in all growth hormon rate varies a lot, reaching its peak after a strong training session.

You cant watch clips from press conference at http://sport.err.ee/

We believe in our hero, and we will take it to the highest courts if neccessery!

Anonymous said...

Not at all surprised. Like the pre-scandal Fins he had this "magic" ability to all of a sudden be inhuman for certain important races, after being utter crap all season.

He must be pretty bitter that he didn't quit a bit before. It amuses me.

Oh, Jack Mae. We know.

Anonymous said...

Well, to be honest, Thomas Alsgaard also had a knack of showing up for big races and winning, while only having mediocre or outside the top 30 or worse results, especially after Ramsau 1999. Veerpalu's positive test was 13 years too late.

Anonymous said...

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Usume-Andrus-Veerpalu/194487653920408
Over 45 000 Estonians believe Andrus Veerpalu is clean.

Guy, who is not jeaolous said...

This GHG testing is very complex and new thing, and according to many specialist of hematology and endocrinology, not accurate. Andrus Veerpalu is innocent and he has great support in Estonia.

Anonymous said...

Seems like April is a popular month for failed drug tests:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6310125

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/us-masters-champion-suspended-for-steroid

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/italian-judge-set-to-decide-if-32-named-in-mantova-doping-investigation-should-go-on-trial

This one is from last summer, but it's an ongoing issue in Norway (or so I hear):
http://www.vg.no/sport/friidrett/artikkel.php?artid=10079927

Pretty soon there's gonna be a point where nobody will care whether an athlete is clean or not, that's the impression I am getting from baseball and cycling. Hopefully xc skiing doesn't turn that way, but I wouldn't be shocked if it does.

Anonymous said...

A and B sample, the difference between the measurements was 33% (the error is outside the boundary).

kuan said...

Too much growth hormone in the chicken: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzqQ0Fxkyf4

Here's where it all started: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szHNt11Tq4s

Christopher Tassava said...

Thanks for these comments, all. I'll address a couple of them in an upcoming post, but I have to commend Kuan for digging up that chicken commercial - priceless!