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Greeks Blame Doping Scandal on Chinese Lab

Wednesday, 9th April 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

When the International Weightlifting Federation announced on April 6 that 11 Greek weightlifters tested positive for banned substances it was a bombshell that seemed to signal the end of Greece's Olympic weightlifting hopes. But we didn't report it here because the story seemed only marginally China-related.

What a difference a few days make. Now the Greeks are blaming the positive tests on tainted nutritional supplements, made in—you guessed it—China. The Greek Weightlifting Federation even says it has evidence, in the form of a written apology from a Chinese pharmaceutical company, according to a report in The Guardian.

The report includes the following statement from Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, lawyer for Greek weightlifting coach Christos Iacovou:

"I have the letter from one of China's biggest pharmaceutical companies with which they apologize for the tragic mistake of sending nutritional supplements which included some banned substances."

The athletes are already sitting out the European Championships, which start April 11. Their fate rests with the International Weightlifting Federation. If the letter is found to be genuine, it would help clear the athletes' names but may have little impact on whether they compete in August. According to the IWF's bylaws, athletes can be found in violation whether they intentionally took the substances or not.

According to the International Herald Tribune, the company named by Dimitrakopoulos is Shanghai-based Auspure Biotechnology.

In its listing on eChinachem.com, Auspure says it exports 100 percent of its products and steroids are among its product categories. Since at least August 2007 and as recently as January, the United States Food and Drug Administration has refused several Auspure products entry to the U.S. market due to adulteration. Auspure declined to comment when we contacted them by phone today.

Tags: Auspure, doping, Greece, weightlifting

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