TNT Sports
High altitude to blame?
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Published 11/02/2006 at 14:21 GMT
High altitude training could be to blame for a near-doubling of the number of cross-country skiers with an abnormally high level of haemoglobin at the Winter Games, the International Skiing Federation said on Saturday.
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By Saturday, 12 cross-country skiers out of a total of 328 taking part had recorded higher than normal values, representing about 3.7 percent. All have received five-day suspensions and will then be tested again.
As not all athletes from the sport have yet been tested for a first time the number suspended could rise above 12.
The average percentage of skiers with high Hb value is about 2.0 percent, the FIS has said on its website.
"Obviously, that is not something that we like to see happening," FIS communications manager Riikka Rakic told Reuters. "But some of the teams may have spent too long at high altitude to acclimatise.
"The higher the altitude, the more of an impact on haemoglobin."
The International Olympic Committee played down talk that the abnormally high levels could have other causes, namely doping.
"I don't think that you should muddle two things that are not necessarily linked," IOC director of communications Giselle Davies told reporters.
DOPING TESTS
An IOC official said the 12 cross-country skiers would all undergo doping tests. So far the IOC has conducted over 120 blood and urine doping tests across various sports.
While the tests on the cross-country skiers do not indicate the athletes have taken any illicit substance, high haemoglobin levels are also a key indication of blood doping, which is why the FIS monitors them.
"It should be emphasised that this start prohibition is not a sanction but is considered to serve to protect the health of the athlete," FIS said in a statement.
The 12 will be able to compete at later events if their Hb values drop.
Meanwhile, the Germans, who have appealed against the suspension of their skier Evi Sachenbacher Stehle, a relay gold medallist in 2002, are waiting to discover if her appeal will be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
"We're waiting for an answer from CAS as to whether they have accepted our appeal or not," said Stefan Schwarzbach, spokesman for the German cross-country team.
"That decision should be announced at around midday (local) in Turin."
"If they accept the basis for the appeal, we then expect to wait a further 24 hours for a judgment from CAS."
The cross-country events start on Sunday with the women's 15km pursuit.
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