Erythropoietin as a doping agent

Erythropoietin has been used as a doping agent for the purpose of improving performance since the late 1980s . Endurance athletes in particular benefit from the effect; however, the increased proportion of erythrocytes in the blood increases the risk of blood clots . Erythropoietin (EPO) (and subsequently all other derivatives such as darbepoetin) has been on the doping list of the international anti-doping organization (WADA) since 1990 , so its use in competitive sports is prohibited. A practicable detection method for non-endogenous EPO has also been used in urine samples since 2000 . However, since the detection method is only effective within the first four days after administration, but the performance-enhancing effect lasts up to 17 days, the 2000 Olympic Games were still EPO games, as the athletes had up to ten days to achieve a significant increase in performance achieve. The Spanish anti-doping laboratory, which carried out the doping controls at the Pan-American Games in Havana / Cuba in 1990 and also tested for EPO, was able to detect highly significantly increased EPO values ​​in many, but could not declare these as doping because still There was no procedure to differentiate between the body's own and foreign EPO. This was only possible from 2000.

In the summer of 2007, the physician, endurance athlete and doping expert Jürgen Reul undertook a globally unique and highly controversial self-experiment. He drove the legendary Tour de France stage to L'Alpe d'Huez on June 21st in an undoped condition and again on July 4th after a two-week “EPO cure”. Without taking EPO he needed 70 minutes for the 21 serpentines, after the EPO doping he was able to improve by around 5% to 66 minutes (despite poor weather conditions with cold, rain and headwind). In an interview, Reul also describes the psychological effect of taking EPO, which consisted of (so literally) a “higher morale and subliminal aggression”. On September 10, 2012, the German amateur mountain biker Frederik Zierke verifiably died of illegal use of EPO.

EPO doping cases in professional sport

EPO also takes on the prominent position as a biopharmaceutical when it is misused to increase performance illegally. Confessions from former top athletes made it clear that EPO has been used for doping in almost all endurance sports since the corresponding preparations were launched. In professional cycling, recognized doping experts like Werner Franke assume that there is widespread, systematic abuse. The 1998 Festina affair , the proceedings against the Italian doctor Michele Ferrari in 2004, the Fuentes doping scandal in 2006, the confessions of numerous professional cyclists from the former Team Telekom in spring 2007 in the course of the Team Telekom doping affair , which last for life, are representative of this doping system lock of former US cycling star Lance Armstrong in October 2012 and the revelations of the anti-doping Commission of the French Senate in July 2013. the public image was not very useful in this context of the EPO manufacturer's commitment STADA as the main sponsor of the Federal German cyclists between 2003 and 2008. The financial support of the “Tour of California” cycling event by the US biotech company Amgen also has a disreputable effect . Even after more than a decade after the introduction of a continuously improved procedure for the detection of EPO doping approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), numerous top athletes were convicted and, in individual cases, banned for life as repeat offenders. In February 2009, Professor Horst Pagel from the Institute for Physiology at the University of Lübeck reported for the first time that there were indications that athletes had switched from classic EPO preparations to the EPO mimetic Hematide, which was still in clinical testing at the time, in order to increase their performance illegally .

Cycling

Erik Zabel confessed in May 2007 to having doped with EPO in the mid-1990s. According to an investigation report by the French Senate from 2013, he was also doped at the 1998 Tour de France.

In a doping test by Michael Rasmussen in September 2007, the EPO agent DynEPO was detected.

Patrick Sinkewitz made extensive statements about the doping practices of the T-Mobile team after his testosterone doping was discovered at the 2007 Tour de France. He admitted that he had also doped with EPO.

Moisés Dueñas is one of six convicted EPO doping offenders during the 2008 Tour de France.

Bernhard Kohl was convicted of doping with the EPO agent CERA in October 2008.

The biotech company Amgen , manufacturer of the EPO compounds Epogen and Aranesp, is the main sponsor of the Tour of California cycling event .

Silver medal winner Davide Rebellin tested positive for the EPO drug CERA in April 2009 during follow-up tests on doping samples taken at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

With Stefan Schumacher the EPO agent CERA was detected in a total of three doping tests of the Tour de France 2008 and the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008.

Christian Pfannberger tested positive for EPO doping in March 2009. After his testosterone abuse in 2004, he was banned for life in November 2009.

According to the CAS judgment of March 2010, traces of a non-endogenous form of EPO were found in Alejandro Valverde's blood that was stored by the Spanish "doping doctor" Eufemiano Fuentes.

US cycling star Lance Armstrong caused the biggest doping scandal in sports history after his admission in a television interview with Oprah Winfrey in January 2013

• EPO became the epitome of the performance-enhancing, but difficult to detect, sports drug with the weighty supporting role that it achieved in the 1998 Tour de France, among other things through discoveries made by the Festina team. The finds and the investigations surrounding the Festina team also came to be known as the Festina affair . As a result, the professional cyclists Richard Virusque , Laurent Brochard , Laurent Dufaux , Armin Meier , Christophe Moreau , Didier Rous , Neil Stephens , Cédric Hervé and Alex Zülle were banned by the UCI (see article on doping in cycling ).
• Jan Ullrich , overall winner Marco Pantani , points winner Erik Zabel , Laurent Jalabert and Mario Cipollini were the most prominent of around 60 drivers who, according to an investigation report by the French Senate from July 2013, were convicted of doping with EPO in the 1998 Tour de France based on assignable post-tests . Ullrichs and Zabel's teammates Jens Heppner , the French Jacky Durand and the Spaniard Abraham Olano were also among the accused . In the wake of these revelations, Stuart O'Grady admitted to EPO abuse on the '98 tour.
• In 2000, the former Swiss professional cyclist Rolf Järmann confessed to having systematically doped with EPO since the early 1990s.
• In the run-up to the Deutschland Tour 2000 , professional cyclist Holger Sievers was convicted of EPO doping, was given a seven-month ban by the Association of German Cyclists and dismissed without notice by his team at the time, "Nürnberger".
• On April 23, 2000, Frenchman Jerome Chiotti admitted in an interview with Vélo Vert magazine that he had doped with EPO when he won the 1996 Mountain Bike World Championships in Cairns, Australia . The title was then revoked and the Swiss Thomas Frischknecht declared the winner instead .
• The A-sample of the Danish cyclist Bo Hamburger tested positive for EPO on March 19, 2001. The B sample, on the other hand, was below the critical parameter, but above the usual normal value. Hamburger was acquitted of doping, but his team CSC released him without notice. In 2007 he published a doping confession with EPO.
• The Swiss Roland Meier was banned for 8 months due to EPO doping after a positive A and B test in a control at the classic bike ride Fleche-Wallone on April 18, 2001.
• The Swede Niklas Axelsson tested positive for EPO doping during the road world championships in Lisbon in October 2001 and was then banned for two years.
• In the run-up to the 2001 Tour de France, the Basque Txema Del Olmo , who started for the Euskaltel-Euskadi team, was convicted of EPO doping. The Spanish cycling federation refrained from a ban on the grounds that the new detection method was flawed. In contrast, the semi-state French Anti-Doping Council CPLD imposed a three-year ban on Del Olmo in February 2002.
• After the prologue of the Giro d'Italia 2002, the Russian Faat Zakirov tested positive for the EPO derivative Aranesp and immediately fired from his Panaria team.
• The Dutchman Bas van Dooren tested positive for EPO at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Kaprun in 2002 . With his resignation he evaded an impending ban.
• At the Giro d'Italia 2003, the Lithuanian professional cyclist Raimondas Rumšas was convicted of illegally taking EPO, banned by the UCI and then suspended by his team Lampre .
• At the 2003 Tour de France, the Spanish professional cyclist Javier Pascual Llorente ( Kelme ) tested positive for EPO after the twelfth stage and was banned by the international sports court for 18 months in November of the same year .
• In January 2004, the Frenchman Philippe Gaumont admitted to having doped several times with EPO preparations. Then he retired from active competitive sports.
• In March 2004 the Spanish newspaper As published a series of reports in which the Spanish professional cyclist Jesús Manzano gave a detailed description of the doping practices in the Kelme team . According to Manzano, he was given EPO, cortisone, growth hormone, and animal plasma during the Tour de France. In addition, the doping was professionally planned and carried out throughout the team.
• In June 2004, the British professional cyclist David Millar , who started for Team Equipe Cofidis , admitted after police interrogations that he had been doped with EPO when he won the World Time Trial Championship in Hamilton, Canada . The Australian Michael Rogers was subsequently declared world champion and Millar von Cofidis was dismissed without notice.
• In July 2004 the Belgian Dave Bruylandts from the Unibet.com team tested positive for EPO doping and was then banned for 18 months.
• On July 22nd, 2004 the Swiss professional cyclist Oscar Camenzind was tested positive for EPO during a doping control. He decided not to take part in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, was released from his cycling team Phonak Cycling Team on August 9, 2004, and announced his retirement on the following day in Lucerne.
• The Belgian mountain biker Filip Meirhaeghe , winner of the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, was convicted of EPO doping at the World Cup in Mont Sainte-Anne (Québec, Canada) on July 29, 2004 and was banned from all competitions for 15 months.
• In December 2004, according to a report in the French newspaper L'Équipe from August 23, 2005, traces of non- endogenous urine were found in the frozen urine of seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and six other professional cyclists (including Manuel Beltrán ) from 1999 EPO proven. Armstrong denies the allegations, claiming that the samples may have been contaminated by improper handling. The US-American Frankie Andreu and another, not by name, team-mate Armstrong confessed in September 2006 to have doped with EPO as Armstrong's helper when he won the 1999 tour.
• Also in December 2004, the Belgian cyclo-cross driver Ben Berden was found guilty of EPO doping during an event in Essen and subsequently banned for 15 months.
• The Italian professional cyclist Luca De Angeli was convicted in April 2005 during the International Coppi and Bartali Week of EPO doping and subsequently banned for two years.
• In May 2005 the Dutchman Marc Lotz was convicted of EPO doping and dismissed by his Quick Step team.
• The Belgian professional cycling champion of 2001, Ludovic Capelle , was tested positive for EPO abuse during a doping control on June 7, 2005 and was then banned for 18 months. In December 2005, however, Capelle was able to obtain a subsequent acquittal due to a formal error in the doping control. It was noted on the doping test that Capelle had been drawn for the doping control while participating in the cycling race in Gullegem, Belgium. In retrospect, this turned out to be wrong.
• Former two-time junior world champion Geneviève Jeanson tested positive for EPO doping in July 2005. She later admitted that she had been taking EPO supplements since she was 16. In early April 2009, she was given a ten-year ban for her offenses by the Canadian Center for Ethics in Sport (CCES). In addition, her coach Andre Abut and her attending doctor Maurice Duquette were banned for life for administering doping substances to minors.
• In August 2005, the Italian professional cyclist Dario Frigo of the Fassa Bortolo team admitted to having doped with EPO at the previous Tour de France after he was arrested by the French police on suspicion of doping before the start of the eleventh stage of the tour. In October 2005, Frigo was sentenced to six months probation and a fine of 12,000 euros in connection with the doping affair at the Giro d'Italia 2001.
• In November 2005 Vuelta record winner Roberto Heras tested positive for EPO. The win of his last title at the Tour of Spain was then revoked and instead the Russian Denis Menshov was declared the winner. Heras denies the knowingly ingestion of doping substances and announced in February 2006 that an appeal would be initiated against the two-year ban imposed on him. His racing team Liberty Seguros-Würth (since May 2006 Team Astana ) sacked him without notice. On May 23, 2006, team boss Manolo Saiz was arrested by the Civil Guard together with Liberty Seguros-Würth's physiotherapist, Eufemiano Fuentes . Another consequence of the search was the suspension of Jan Ullrich , Oscar Sevilla and Rudy Pevenage from Team T-Mobile and the exclusion of 56 other cyclists (including Ivan Basso from Team CSC ), who are also suspected of having worked with Fuentes the Tour de France 2006 . It should also be about blood doping and the abuse of EPO. See main article: Fuentes doping scandal
• On September 21, 2006, the Austrian Cycling Association announced that three Austrian U23 cyclists who should have started at the home World Championships had tested positive for EPO (see also doping at the UCI Road World Championships 2006 ).
• The Belgian cycling idol Johan Museeuw admitted in January 2007 that he had used prohibited substances to improve performance, including EPO, during his active time. As early as 2004, the Belgian cycling federation banned him on the basis of phone and SMS tapping logs that suggested drug abuse.
• On February 5, 2007, the autobiographical book "Ik ben God niet" (Eng. "I am not God") by the Belgian professional cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke was published , in which the latter admits to having doped with EPO.
• The Russian cyclist Alexander Filippov , winner of the Friuli Tour 2007, tested positive for EPO on March 25, 2007 at the “Piccola Sanremo” race.
• Professional cyclist Bert Dietz confessed on May 21, 2007 in the ARD show Beckmann , since 1995 first with the then Telekom team and later with the Nürnberger team under the guidance of the later confessing team Telekom doctors Lothar Heinrich and Andreas Schmid from the University Hospital Freiburg regularly with EPO, to have doped human growth factor and cortisone . In this context, supervisors from the then Telekom team who were in managerial positions were named, among other things, who are said to have been involved in accounting for the doping substances used by the driver. In essence, Dietz confirmed the accusations of the then masseur of Team Telekom, Jef D'hont , which he had published in his book Memoires van een wieler-verzorger (Memoirs of a cyclist carer) in April 2007.
• Bert Dietz's statements about the systematic administration of prohibited substances to Team Telekom drivers were confirmed on May 22, 2007, just one day later, by his then team colleague Christian Henn . Henn also admitted that in his active career between 1995 and 1999 he had been given EPO by the team doctors to improve performance.
• On May 23, 2007, Udo Bölts , noble helper in Jan Ullrich's Tour de France team in 1997, confessed to having doped with EPO until after the 1997 Tour de France.
• On May 24, 2007, the professional cyclists Erik Zabel and Rolf Aldag confirmed in a press conference of the Team T-Mobile in Bonn that they, like Bert Dietz, also doped with EPO.
• As the sixth ex-Telekom driver, the Dane Brian Holm admitted the abuse of EPO for doping purposes.
• As the first tour winner and seventh former Telekom driver, the Dane Bjarne Riis confessed to EPO abuse on May 25, 2007 . The former professional cyclist admitted to having doped himself with EPO as the captain of the Telekom team on the Tour of France in 1996. He also did this between 1993 and 1998. Thereafter, Riis was initially deleted from the list of winners of the Tour de France and no longer accepted by the tour management in the role of team boss of the CSC racing team. However, Riis took part in the 2008 tour again and was again listed as the winner of the 1996 tour.
• The Italian professional cyclist Luca Ascani was convicted of EPO doping on June 26, 2007 after winning the Italian time trial championship.
• In an interview with the news magazine Der Spiegel on June 30, 2007, the former telecom professional Jörg Jaksche confessed to having been doping for years. He started taking EPO in 1997 and underwent autologous blood therapies that were prohibited from 2005 as a customer of the Spanish doping doctor Fuentes. In this context, Jaksche weighs heavily on his former sporting directors at the Polti and Telekom teams, Gianluigi Stanga and Walter Godefroot . Jaksche also said that he wanted to help clear up the "Puerto" affair and thus bring about a shorter ban for himself.
• At the 2007 Tour de France , which was again overshadowed by doping scandals , the A sample of the Basque professional cyclist Iban Mayo tested positive for EPO during a doping control during the second day of rest. Despite the outstanding B sample, Mayo was immediately suspended by his Saunier Duval-Prodir team . The international sports court CAS imposed a two-year ban on Mayo in August 2008, which was retroactive from July 31, 2007.
• In September 2007 it became known that the preparation DynEpo could be detected by the doping laboratory in Châtenay-Malabry in several urine samples from the Danish professional cyclist Michael Rasmussen, who was suspended during the Tour de France 2007 . The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had not yet authorized the detection method for Dynepo. Therefore, the positive result could not be used legally.
• In the context of extensive statements on the doping practices of the T-Mobile team, professional cyclist Patrick Sinkewitz , convicted of testosterone doping, admitted in November 2007 that he had also been doping with EPO since 2003.
• The Danish professional cyclist Peter Riis Andersen was tested positive for the banned substance EPO on June 25, 2008 during a training control by Anti Doping Danmark (ADD). Andersen was then excluded from the team for the Olympic Games in Beijing by the Danish NOK .
• At the Tour de France 2008 , three doping cases with EPO were initially known. Spanish drivers Manuel Beltrán and Moisés Dueñas tested positive for taking EPO. CERA , an EPO modification, was detected for the first time in the case of the Italian Riccardo Riccò . The Spanish daily El País reported on July 19, 2008 that Riccò's team mate Leonardo Piepoli admitted to having also doped with EPO. While Piepoli denied this statement in the meantime, Ricco has admitted his doping offense. Manuel Beltrán's positive result was confirmed in September 2008 when analyzing the B sample. Seven weeks after the end of the Tour de France, the President of the French anti-doping agency AFLD, Pierre Bodry, reported in September 2008 of further suspected cases in connection with the illegal use of CERA and announced further investigations.
• On July 31, 2008 the National Olympic Committee of Italy (CONI) announced that the Italian U23 champion Giovanni Carini and the 32-year-old Paolo Bossoni had doped with EPO. Bossoni was sentenced to a two-year ban in October 2008.
• On August 5, 2008, the sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that the EPO derivative CERA was found in a urine sample taken on July 23 from the Italian professional cyclist Emanuele Sella . After Sella initially denied having doped with CERA, he confessed his offense at a hearing before the National Olympic Committee of Italy (CONI) and also named the supplier of the doping preparation. These statements led to a large-scale police raid in Italy in mid-July 2009, during which the former Yugoslav cyclist and later coach Aleksandar Nikačević was arrested in Padua . He and 30 other suspects were accused of illegally trafficking doping substances, including the EPO preparation CERA.
• Isabel Moreno from Spain was the first doping case at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing . In the case of the medal candidate for the individual time trial on July 31, during a training check in the Olympic village, the illegal use of EPO was proven.
• On October 6, 2008, team boss Hans-Michael Holczer from the Gerolsteiner team announced that the A-samples taken by professional cyclist Stefan Schumacher during the Tour de France 2008 on July 3 and 15 tested positive for the doping agent CERA. In addition, the Italian Olympic Committee CONI confirmed that in addition to Riccardo Riccò as the second Italian on the tour, Leonardo Piepoli was also convicted of doping with CERA. Piepoli's doping offense was initially confirmed by positive results from his samples from July 4 and 15, 2008 and then by the analysis of the B sample in November 2008. On December 18, he was banned for two years. Riccò's two-year ban was reduced to 20 months by the CAS International Court of Justice in March 2008. After lengthy legal disputes with the French anti-doping agency AFLD, Schumacher was banned by the UCI cycling association in March 2009 for two years.
• On October 13, 2008, the managing director of the Austrian national anti-doping agency , Andreas Schwab, announced that Stefan Schumacher's team colleague Bernhard Kohl had apparently also doped with the doping preparation CERA during the 2008 Tour de France; at follow-up controls the A sample was assessed as positive. The following day, Hans-Michael Holczer announced the immediate withdrawal of his team Gerolsteiner and announced his personal retirement from cycling. Bernhard Kohl has now confessed to the doping abuse.
• The Portuguese road champion João Cabreira was banned for two years at the end of February 2009 for covering up EPO doping. The doping laboratory of the Sport University Cologne found traces of a proteolytic enzyme in urine samples from May 19, 2008.
• After the Austrian Ferdinand Bruckner found positive EPO doping results in samples from March 9th and 11th, 2009, he decided not to open the B-samples and admitted his doping offense.
• In the course of follow-up checks on doping samples taken during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, a total of 6 new cases of doping with the EPO agent CERA were discovered at the end of April 2009. This affected three athletes (including Olympic champion Rashid Ramzi ), two professional cyclists and a weight lifter. The National Olympic Committee of Italy (CONI) has confirmed that one of the two professional cyclists is the Italian Davide Rebellin . Shortly afterwards, the Association of German Cyclists announced that the second professional cyclist was Stefan Schumacher . In March 2013, in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine , he admitted to having been systematically doping for years.
• The Austrian Christian Pfannberger tested positive for EPO doping after a check on March 19, 2009. This was confirmed on May 7th by the World Cycling Federation UCI. The professional cyclist from Team Katusha was banned for life in November 2009 as a result of his previous testosterone doping in 2004.
• The final report on the doping affair at the Freiburg University Clinic on May 12, 2009 concludes that EPO doping, carried out under the leadership of Freiburg doctors Lothar Heinrich and Andreas Schmid, has been common practice in the Telekom team since 1993. The expert commission relies in particular on the statements of the former supervisor Jef D'hont . Uwe Ampler and Olaf Ludwig were among the first drivers to be doped with EPO preparations . In addition to these and the already confessed drivers Dietz, Henn, Holm, Aldag and Bölts, Steffen Wesemann and Jens Heppner were also provided with appropriate funds in the 1993/94 season . Bjarne Riis injected himself with EPO every other day at the 1996 Tour de France, which led to hematocrit levels of at least 60%, which are dangerous to health. Erik Zabel started doping EPO in 1996 after the Tour de Suisse .
• At the beginning of June 2009 it was announced that the Spaniard Antonio Colom had tested positive for EPO doping during a doping control carried out on April 2, 2009.
• In mid-June 2009, the former top Dutch driver Steven Rooks announced that he had been using EPO to illegally improve performance since the early 1990s. Rooks had already admitted doping offenses with testosterone and amphetamines at the end of 1999.
• At the beginning of July 2009 it became known that a follow-up inspection of urine samples from the Dutchman Thomas Dekker in December 2007 revealed EPO abuse.
• In the case of the Spaniard Iñigo Landaluze , the EPO agent CERA was detected in doping tests on June 7, 2009 at the Dauphiné Libéré tour and in a training check on June 16, 2009.
• The Spaniard Ricardo Serrano tested positive for the EPO drug CERA before the Giro d'Italia in May 2009 and during the Tour de Suisse on June 13, 2009.
• The German professional cyclist Olaf Pollack was tested positive for EPO doping during a training check on July 6, 2009 and was therefore banned until September 13, 2011. In addition, his titles in the points race and two-man team race at the Bahn-DM 2009 in Erfurt were revoked.
• On July 22, 2009, the UCI announced that traces of the EPO agent CERA had been found in two A samples taken from the Italian Danilo Di Luca during the Giro d'Italia . In the past, Di Luca has already been punished for doping offenses with a two or six month ban. During a training control on April 29, 2013, he was tested positive again.
• On July 31, 2009, the UCI announced the provisional suspension of the Spaniard Mikel Astarloza . At Astarloza, abuse of EPO was found during a check on June 26, 2009.
• The Italian Maurizio Biondo was temporarily banned by the UCI after a positive A sample on August 12, 2009 on September 14, 2009 until the B sample was analyzed.
• The Spaniards Isidro Nozal and Héctor Guerra as well as the Portuguese Nuno Ribeiro were banned by the UCI on August 3, 2009 on September 18, 2009 due to positive training tests.
• The Italian Gabriele Bosisio tested positive for the illegal use of EPO during a training check on September 2, 2009.
• At the beginning of October 2009 it became known that the Italian Francesco De Bonis had tested positive for the EPO preparation CERA during a control during the Giro d'Italia 2009. The UCI had already initiated proceedings against De Bonis in June based on the analysis of the blood passport .
• The Spaniard Alberto Fernández tested positive for EPO doping during a doping control on October 15, 2009. The UCI then suspended him temporarily.
• The Italian professional cyclist Matteo Priamo was banned for four years by the international sports court CAS on November 12, 2009 for doping trafficking with the EPO preparation CERA based on a testimony by doping offender Emanuele Sella .
• After the prohibited use of EPO was proven in the A-sample of a doping control during the Tour of Portugal with the Spaniard Eladio Jiménez on August 12, 2009 , he received a temporary ban from the UCI in December 2009. After this decision by the UCI, Jiménez ended his career.
• During a doping test on January 21, 2010, the Italian Eddy Ratti was convicted of illegally taking EPO.
• Former US cyclist Joseph M. Papp pleaded guilty to charges of illegal distribution of doping substances on February 17, 2010. Papp admitted to selling EPO and HGH supplements from China valued at $ 80,000 to a total of 187 customers between 2006 and 2007.
• The two Polish cross-riders Pawel and Kacper Szczepaniak tested positive for EPO doping during the U23 World Cup in the Czech Republic , where they took the first two places , according to a statement from the UCI in March 2010 . The brothers were sentenced to eight and four years in bans and fines by the national association.
• Also in March 2010 it became known that the Italian Massimo Giunti had tested positive for EPO doping during a check on February 23, 2010.
• According to a ruling by the international sports court CAS in March 2010, the Spaniard Alejandro Valverde is considered an EPO doping offender. The cyclist, who was banned for two years by the National Olympic Committee of Italy (CONI) in May 2009 because of his involvement in the Fuentes doping affair, found traces of a non-endogenous form of the cytokine in the blood supplies assigned to him.
• According to the UCI, the Spaniard Manuel Vázquez Hueso tested positive for EPO doping during a training check on March 20, 2010.
• The French professional cyclist Mickaël Larpe was found to be doping with EPO in a control on March 24, 2010.
• The Swiss professional cyclist Thomas Frei tested positive for EPO doping in April 2010.
• In August 2010 the Belgian professional cyclist Roy Sentjens tested positive and was then suspended from the Milram team . Sentjens announced his immediate retirement from cycling.
• The three-time Spanish mountain bike world champion Margarita Fullana was convicted of EPO doping during a training check on August 30, 2010.
• The Spaniard David García tested positive for EPO doping on September 13, 2010 as part of a control during the Vuelta .
• The Italian Pasquale Muto tested positive for EPO doping during the Apennine Tour in 2011.
• The US-American Phil Zajicek was banned for life on June 10, 2011 for EPO abuse and false testimony on oath, after he had been warned and fined for doping with cathine in 2004 .
• The Russian Denis Galimsyanov tested positive for EPO doping during a training check on March 22, 2012. He decided not to open the B sample, which was tantamount to an admission of guilt.
• The Bulgarian Iwajlo Gabrowski was tested positive after his victory in the Tour of Turkey on the basis of a sample taken during the tour in July 2012 and was subsequently banned for two years.
• The American cycling star Lance Armstrong was banned for life on October 22, 2012 because of several testimonies for years of systematic doping (including with EPO). In addition, he was stripped of all seven titles he had won in the Tour de France. In January 2013, in a television interview with Oprah Winfrey , he admitted to having been doped for each of the seven Tour victories.
• The former German professional cyclist Grischa Niermann confessed in January 2013 that he had doped with EPO during his time with the Rabobank team from 2000 to 2003.
• The Italian Mauro Santambrogio tested positive for EPO doping following the first stage of the Giro d'Italia on May 4, 2013.
• Former German professional cyclist Andreas Klier admitted taking EPO, growth hormones, cortisone and blood transfusions during his active career from 1999 to 2006 in August 2013. The US anti-doping authority USADA sentenced him to a withdrawal of all successes from July 2005 and a six-month ban as a sports director.
• Former Dutch drivers Jeroen Blijlevens and Bart Voskamp confessed in July 2014, after years of denial, to having doped with EPO in 1998 and illegally imported EPO products from Spain into the Netherlands.
• After the Italian professional cyclist Matteo Rabottini tested positive on September 11, 2014, he received a 21-month ban in May 2015.
• The Kazakh drivers Valentin and Maxim Iglinski were convicted of EPO doping in September and October 2014, respectively.
• The Italian professional cyclist Davide Appollonio tested positive in June 2015 and was suspended by the UCI.
• The Portuguese Andre Cardoso tested positive in a training sample on June 18, 2017 and was then suspended from his Trek-Segafredo team .

athletics

Susanne Pumper was convicted of EPO doping during a training check prior to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and banned for two years.

Olympic champion Rashid Ramzi was convicted during follow-up checks in April 2009 of having been doping with the EPO preparation CERA during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Alex Schwazer , Italian 2008 Olympic champion in the 50 km walk , tested positive just before the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

• The Italian Roberto Barbi became the first legally usable EPO doping case in the history of athletics . The marathon runner tested positive during an inspection prior to the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton. After the abuse of ephedrine had already been proven to him in 1996 , a four-year ban was imposed on him, which was reduced to 25 months after a confession. In July 2008 the Italian champion of 1999, 2000 and 2004 was again tested positive for both substances at the half marathon Marvejols - Mende and was banned for life as a repeat offender.
• The Russian runner Olga Jegorowa was found to have EPO in the A sample of a doping control during the Golden League meeting in Paris in July 2001. An initially imposed two-year ban was suspended by the IAAF because the test was not counted for formal reasons.
• The long-distance runner Mohammed Mourhit , who started for Belgium, was given a three-year ban in 2002 for abusing EPO, which was later reduced by one year.
• The Moroccan Brahim Boulami was convicted of illegal EPO taking in August 2002 after his world record in the 3000 m obstacle course at the Golden League Meeting in Zurich . The world record was stripped from him and he was excluded from all athletics competitions for two years.
• With the Brazilian runner Ramiro Nogueira EPO doping was detected in September 2002 after a half marathon in Vitória de Santo Antão . He was banned from starting for two years.
• The Greek runner Maria Tsirba was convicted of doping at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham after her 8th place in the 3000 meter run of the EPO and banned for two years.
• The Spanish middle and long distance runner Alberto García as well as the long distance runners Pamela Chepchumba from Kenya and Asmae Leghzaoui from Morocco were convicted of doping at the 2003 World Cross Country Championships.
• The French middle distance athlete Fouad Chouki tested positive for EPO doping at the 2003 World Championships in Paris and was banned for two years.
• In the run-up to the US marathon elimination race for the 2004 Olympic Games, Eddy Hellebuyck , 1996 Olympic participant for Belgium and holder of the US record in the Masters category, tested positive for EPO during an unannounced training check. Hellebuyck protested his innocence and sued unsuccessfully against the two-year ban with which he was placed before the International Court of Sport (CAS). In 2010, Hellebuyck told journalist John Brant that he had been doping with EPO since summer 2001. His supplier and supervisor was the Russian doctor and marathon runner Leonid Schwezow (Schwezow denies this).
• On July 11, 2004, the Irish long-distance runner Cathal Lombard tested positive for EPO during a training check and was then removed from the list for the Olympic Games and banned for two years. Lombard confessed to the abuse and asked for the national 10,000m record that he had recently set to be canceled.
• The US 400 m world champion Jerome Young was convicted of the illegal use of EPO at the Golden League meeting on July 23, 2004 in Paris. As early as June 1999, Young had tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone . As a repeat offender, he was then banned for life on November 3, 2004.
• The US American Alvin Harrison , Olympic champion in the 4 x 400 meter relay race in Atlanta in 1996 , was discovered by the US anti-doping agency in October 2004 after his admission to the illegal use of growth hormone , EPO, insulin and modafinil ( USADA ) banned for four years.
• The US sprinter Michelle Collins was banned for 8 years in December 2004 because of wiretapping records in which she admitted to taking EPO and tetrahydrogestrinone .
• In June 2006, US sprint star Marion Jones' A sample tested positive for EPO at the US Athletics Championships, according to a Washington Post report. The result of the analysis of the B sample, which was examined by the same laboratory at the University of California in Los Angeles, relieves the athlete.
• In July 2007 the Slovenian middle-distance runner Jolanda Čeplak , indoor world record holder over 800 meters, was temporarily banned by the IAAF after a positive doping result .
• In March 2008, the French middle-distance runner Bouchra Ghezielle tested positive for EPO during a training check. After the middle distance athletes Fouad Chouri in 2003, Hind Dehiba Chahyd in 2006 and Khalid Zoubaa in 2007, this is the fourth case of EPO doping in the French Athletics Federation .
• In March 2008, the Austrian long-distance runner Susanne Pumper and the Slovenian Helena Javornik were found to have EPO during a competition check. Pumper's B-sample also tested positive shortly afterwards. Javornik was initially acquitted by the Slovenian Association because of doubts about the correctness of the doping test. At the end of July 2008, the international athletics federation IAAF appealed against the decision of the national federation to the International Court of Justice for Sports (CAS). The provisional suspension came into force again, so that Javornik was not allowed to start at the Olympic Games in Beijing . Susanne Pumper was banned for two years in October 2008. The suspension for Helena Javornik was set in March 2008 by the international sports court CAS until June 11, 2010. In April 2013, Pumper was banned for another eight years for illegally acquiring EPO funds in late 2008.
• In May 2008, during the trial of his former coach Trevor Graham , US 400-meter runner and Olympic relay champion Antonio Pettigrew confessed to doping with growth hormones and EPO while he was playing.
• On August 5, 2008, three Russian walkers ( Vladimir Kanaikin , Alexei Wojewodin and Viktor Burayev ) were suspended. The Russian agency All Sport reported that the reason was positive EPO tests.
• The Italian marathon runner Alberico Di Cecco , Olympic ninth on the classic distance at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, was suspended for two years in March 2009 for his EPO doping offense of October 12, 2008 at the Italian Championships.
• In the course of the follow-up checks on doping samples taken during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the Bahraini 1500 meter Olympic champion Rashid Ramzi was convicted of doping with the EPO preparation CERA at the end of April 2009. The Greek walker Athanasia Tsoumeleka , Olympic champion in the 20 km race in Athens in 2004, and the Croatian 800 meter runner Vanja Perišić were also caught . In January 2009, the Greek TV broadcaster NET announced that Tsoumeleka had tested positive for EPO doping on August 6, 2008. Tsoumeleka denied this allegation, but at the same time declared her retirement from competitive sports.
• Also in April 2009, at the national Russian indoor championships, the title holder over 1500 meters, Vladimir Jeschow , and the seventh place in the women's 1500 meter race, Jelena Kanales , tested positive for EPO.
• EPO doping was detected in five Brazilian athletes ( Bruno de Barros , Jorge Célio Sena , Josiane Tito , Luciana França and Lucimara da Silva ) in training tests carried out on June 15, 2009. The two men and three women were removed from the squad by the Brazilian association for the World Championships in Berlin and then suspended for two years.
• The Moroccan middle and long distance runner Mariem Alaoui Selsouli was diagnosed with EPO abuse during the 2009 World Championships on the basis of a doping sample submitted three weeks earlier and the athlete was then suspended for three years.
• The New Zealand marathon runner Liza Hunter-Galvan was banned for two years at the end of August 2009 after a positive doping test with EPO in March 2009.
• The Italian mountain running European champion from 2008 Elisa Desco tested positive for the EPO derivative CERA after the 2009 World Mountain Running Championships , where she was the first to reach the finish line. After a year and a half trial, she was disqualified and banned until August 2012. It was the first time that a prominent mountain runner was convicted of EPO doping.
• The Ethiopian long-distance runner Shitaye Gemechu tested positive for EPO doping after her victory at the Route du Vin on September 27, 2009.
• The Portuguese cross-country runner Eduardo Mbengani was banned for two years in May 2011 after a positive doping result with EPO.
• Irish marathon runner Martin Fagan was convicted of doping with EPO in December 2011 and banned for two years.
• The German long-distance runner Simret Restle -Apel was tested positive for EPO doping during a training check in May 2012. She justified this with a drug mix-up and decided not to open the B sample.
• The French obstacle runner Nour-Eddine Gezzar tested positive at the national athletics championships on June 17, 2012. After a positive test for the illegal use of anabolic steroids in 2006 and a related ban for two years, he has now been banned from starting for ten years.
• The Italian walker Alex Schwazer , 2008 Olympic champion over the 50 km course, tested positive during a training check on June 30, 2012. The medal candidate for the London 2012 Olympics admitted his offense and declared his career over.
• The French 5000-meter runner Hassan Hirt was found to be doping with EPO using a sample taken on August 3, 2012.
• The Kenyan marathon runner Julia Mumbi Muraga was tested positive for epo-doping on September 14, 2014 in a competition sample.
• The Kenyan marathon runner Rita Jeptoo tested positive for the illegal use of Epo during a training check at the end of September 2014.

Triathlon

• In November 2004 the winner of the Ironman Hawaii , Nina Kraft , tested positive for EPO. After admitting her drug abuse, the athlete of the German Triathlon Union was banned for two years and the Swiss Natascha Badmann was subsequently declared the winner.
• In June 2005, a routine check by the Swiss Olympic Doping Fighting Commission revealed that Brigitte McMahon , who won the triathlon at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, had been doped by EPO . She then withdrew from active competitive sport.
• In May 2008, the A sample of the Austrian triathlete and Olympic candidate Lisa Hütthaler tested positive for EPO. As the daily newspaper Kurier reported on July 30, 2008, Hütthaler tried to bribe an employee of the responsible doping laboratory with 20,000 euros when opening the B sample in order to manipulate the result in favor of the athlete. Hütthaler denies the allegations. In the meantime, EPO has also been detected in the B sample and Hütthaler has been suspended from service in the Austrian Armed Forces . In October 2008, he was sentenced to a two-year doping ban by Austria's national anti-doping agency.
• The seven-time Danish triathlon champion Bjarne Möller confessed in April 2010 that he had illegally taken EPO during a training stay in South Africa between March 18 and 26, 2010. He was then suspended by the Danish Triathlon Association with immediate effect.

Winter sports

• At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City , cross-country skier Johann Mühlegg, who started for Spain, was convicted of taking Darbepoetin, and winning three gold medals was then canceled. During the same games, the two Russian cross-country skiers Olga Danilowa and Larissa Lasutina were convicted of doping with darbepoetin. Danilowa was stripped of her gold medal in the pursuit race over 15 km and the silver medal in the race over 10 km classic. Lasutina had to return her gold medal in the 30 km race as well as her two silver medals in the 15 km pursuit and 10 km race.
• The Austrian Alois Blaßnig was banned for two years for EPO doping at the Wasalauf 2002.
• The Finnish cross-country skier Kaisa Varis was convicted of EPO doping at the Nordic World Ski Championships in 2003 in Val di Fiemme . As a result, she was banned from competition for two years and the Finnish relay team was deprived of the silver medal. In addition, the Finnish Ski Association lost 300,000 euros due to withdrawn sponsorship funds due to the doping scandal. The athlete, who has meanwhile switched to biathlon, tested positive again for EPO abuse in January 2008 and was subsequently banned for life as a repeat offender in February 2008. The ban was lifted in March 2008 by the international sports court CAS due to a procedural error.
• According to the Austrian news agency, traces of EPO were found in the quarters of the Austrian cross-country skiers and biathletes at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics as part of a raid initiated by the Italian judicial authorities, according to the Austrian news agency, along with other prohibited hormones. However, EPO doping could not be detected in any of the suspected athletes. The trigger for the raid was the former head of cross-country skiing and biathlon consultant at the ÖSV Walter Mayer , who had already committed a criminal offense and was under specific suspicion .
• The Russian cross-country skier Sergej Schirjajew was convicted of EPO doping during the Nordic World Ski Championships in Sapporo in February 2007 and then banned for two years.
• The former Finnish national coach Kari-Pekka Kyrö announced in January 2009 that he was involved in the concealment of EPO doping of cross-country skier Virpi Kuitunen by administering plasma expanders in the run-up to the 2001 Nordic World Ski Championships . The athlete herself has so far been silent on the allegations.
• The Russian biathletes Yekaterina Jurjewa , Albina Achatowa and Dimitri Yaroshenko were convicted in February 2009 after A and B samples of EPO doping. Once in January 2009. Ivan Tscheresow with because of an increased hemoglobin value protective barrier had been occupied, the president of the Biathlon World Association spoke IBU , Anders Besseberg , of a systematic doping in Russian biathlon. It was not until August 2009 that all three athletes were banned for two years each. Jurjewa was convicted again in December 2013 and then banned for eight years.
• In March 2009 the Russian news agency Allsport reported that Russian cross-country skier Natalja Matwejewa tested positive for EPO doping during the World Cup in Whistler, Canada .
• In April 2009, at the national championships in Uvat / Tyumen, recombinant EPO was found in the A samples of the two Russian biathletes Andrei Prokunin and Weronika Timofejewa . Both athletes were banned for two years each in October 2009.
• In August 2009 it was announced that three other Russian cross-country skiers are suspected of having doped with EPO. The Olympic champions Julija Tschepalowa and Jewgeni Dementjew tested positive in January 2009 during a World Cup in Italy. Just a few weeks later, the young runner Nina Rysina followed in France. The Russian Ski Association confirmed all three doping cases in October 2009.
• From press releases in February 2010 it emerged that the Finnish cross-country skier Mika Myllylä admitted abuse of the EPO during a police interrogation in April 2009. He is the first Finnish cross-country skier from the 2001 scandalous team to admit the use of doping substances.
• In March 2010 the Polish Olympic Committee (PKOI) announced that cross-country skier Kornelia Marek had tested positive for the illegal use of EPO during the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver .
• The Russian speed skater Sergei Lisin was convicted of EPO doping in November 2012.
• The Latvian biathlete Karolis Zlatkauskas was found to be doping with EPO using a sample taken on December 19, 2013.
• The Austrian cross-country skier Johannes Dürr was found guilty of an EPO doping sample taken on February 16, 2014 during the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi .
• The Russian biathlete Alexander Loginow and his Ukrainian competitor Serhij Sednjew were convicted of epo-doping in January 2015 based on samples up to two years old.

Soccer

• In November 2004, Ricardo Agricola, team doctor for the Italian soccer champions Juventus Turin, was sentenced to 22 months probation for sports fraud and administration of drugs that are harmful to health. According to the court ruling, he had treated the club's players with EPO between 1994 and 1998. During that period none of the players had tested positive in doping controls. In the second instance, Agricola was acquitted of the charge of blood doping.

Boxing

• The former head of the US pharmaceutical company BALCO , Victor Conte , has admitted to having supplied former boxing world champion Shane Mosley with EPO and steroid preparations. This emerges from the interrogation records published by USA Today news magazine in December 2008. Mosley officially admitted his misdemeanor before a hearing committee in May 2009.

Weightlifting

• During follow-up checks on doping samples taken during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Yuderqui Contreras from the Dominican Republic was convicted of doping with the EPO preparation CERA at the end of April 2009 . Contreras took fifth place in the weight class up to 53 kg at the 2008 Olympics .

swim

• The Ukrainian swimmer Olha Bereznjewa was convicted of the illegal ingestion of Epo in June 2015 through subsequent analyzes of doping samples taken during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London .

Equestrian sport

• In May 2009, a doping case was reported in Canada in which the owner Ross C. Siddall from Windsor (Ontario) administered the EPO preparation Aranesp (darbepoetin α) to his horse Jojos Image with the help of a veterinarian . Siddall was the "Ontario Race Commission" based in Toronto suspended for 10 years and a fine of 40,000 CAD convicted.
• At the beginning of August 2009 doping cases with EPO preparations (including darbepoetin α) became known in at least two racehorses in the Australian state of Victoria , as a result of which at least one unnamed trainer was suspended for six years.

Doping network in Austria

In March 2009, media reports were published on a doping network in Austria. In this context, the former cross-country trainer Walter Mayer , who was suspected during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, was arrested . In cooperation with the professional cyclist Christoph Kerschbaum and the physician Andreas Zoubek, Mayer is said to have provided dozen of Austrian athletes with EPO and testosterone on a large scale. The triathlete Norman Stadler reported in November 2008 that Andreas Zoubek had offered him doping agents in 2006. The triathlete Lisa Hütthaler , who has meanwhile been convicted of EPO doping, confirmed in March 2009 that her EPO preparations had been administered by Andreas Zoubek. Stefan Matschiner , the former advisor to doping offenders Michael Rasmussen and Bernhard Kohl, was concerned about these preparations . Matschiner was arrested on March 30, 2009 by the Austrian police. Kohl said the next day that Matschiner had got him EPO, growth hormones, insulin and testosterone and had helped doping his own blood. The treatment with autologous blood took place in the premises of the Vienna blood bank Humanplasma . In addition, Kohl incriminated the cross-country Olympic champion from 2002 Christian Hoffmann , which he immediately denied vehemently. Kohl also told the authorities that the triathlete Hannes Hempel had obtained the EPO preparation CERA for him. Kohl and Hempel were banned for four years each by the Austrian National Anti-Doping Agency in June 2010 , and Matschiner was sentenced in October 2010 to a partial prison sentence of 15 months for attempted blood doping and the passing on of prohibited substances. Zoubek was fined and banned for four years.

Verification procedure

Immunoblotting and chemiluminescence methods for the direct detection of EPO

Band distribution of epoetin α and β (rEPO), native human erythropoietin from urine (uEPO) and the preparation Aranesp (darbepoetin α) after isoelectric focusing and subsequent immunoblotting

EPO has only been able to be detected in urine since 2000 using a multi-stage procedure developed by Françoise Lasne and Jacques de Ceaurriz from the Laboratoire national de détection du dopage (LNDD). This is also possible in low concentrations. With artificially administered EPO (recombinant EPO, Epoetine) less than 10% is excreted in the urine.

Glycosylation of proteins occurs species-specifically, that is, the glycosylation pattern of human EPO differs from the recombinant EPO of other species. Recombinant EPO is currently produced with the help of transformed cell lines of different genera of the hamster (see section EPO as therapeutic agent ). In the case of recombinant EPO, about 95% of the neuraminic acid is acetylated in nitrogen , and about 2% is present as a glycosyl acetyl derivative. This property is used analytically in isoelectric focusing (IEF) for EPO detection.

Step 1: micro and ultrafiltration

In the first step, the proteins in the urine are first freed from insoluble particles by micro- and ultrafiltration and then concentrated.

Step 2: isoelectric focusing

In the second step, the separation between human and recombinant EPO and the other proteins contained is carried out by means of isoelectric focusing (IEF) in a polyacrylamide gel with a suitable pH gradient .

Step 3: immunoblotting

In the third step, the actual detection is carried out by immunoblotting , in which the EPO isoforms separated in the electrophoresis field are transferred to a membrane and then covered with an EPO-specific monoclonal antibody (mAb) ( primary blotting ). The binding mAb are then dissociated in an acidic environment and by applying an electric field and transferred to a second membrane. This gives you a new image of the individual EPO bands. However, there are no EPO molecules on the second membrane, but the specific monoclonal antibodies ( secondary blotting ). The antibody bands are made visible by an anti-EPO-mAb specific second antibody. This secondary antibody is linked to an enzyme ( e.g. horseradish peroxidase (HRP) or alkaline phosphatase (AP)) which catalyzes the conversion of a chromogenic substrate ( e.g. luminol or ABTS ) that can be quantified using chemiluminescence .

It takes about three days to carry out this test, and the cost of a sample is around € 400–600. The use of immunoaffinity methods to isolate EPO from urine or blood samples has meanwhile significantly increased the sensitivity of the doping test.

Discussions and additions to the verification procedure

• An academic dispute about the validity of the procedure arose in connection with the Rutger Beke case . The Belgian triathlete was initially banned for 18 months in 2005 after a positive doping result. With the help of an expert opinion by the molecular biology research institute of the University of Leuven, Beke was able to obtain an acquittal one year later. The developers of the verification process, in turn, criticize the methods and conclusions listed in the report, which had led to Beke's discharge. According to a report by the online magazine triathlon on November 27, 2007, the Rutger Beke case will be reopened as announced by representatives of WADA.
• The detection of abuse with the variant Epoetin δ ( DynEpo ) is possible with the standard procedure, although it is a "humanized" form of a recombinant EPO molecule, which theoretically does not differ from the body's own EPO. This was achieved for the first time in 2007 (although not legally exploitable) against the Danish professional cyclist Michael Rasmussen .
• The EPO derivative CERA can, among other things, be selectively detected using an ELISA test.
• The problem with the detection of EPO abuse lies in the significantly shorter half-life of the hormone in the blood compared to the duration of the artificial increase in performance. The administered EPO is completely broken down after a few days and can no longer be detected, while the doping effect to increase performance persists for several days or even weeks. In addition to direct evidence, logs of other blood parameters provide information about possible EPO abuse. These parameters include the hematocrit value and the concentration of individual blood cell types ( reticulocytes and macrophages ), the hemoglobin and iron transferrin receptor concentration , and the total serum concentration of EPO. On the basis of these parameters, a statistical model was presented in 2001 by scientists from the Australian Institute for Sport in Adelaide under the direction of sports medicine specialist Robin Parisotto , which enables the detection of EPO abuse even if the artificially administered substance can no longer be detected in the urine . This model was refined in 2003 and 2006. Analysis of blood samples is required for data acquisition. After numerous doping cases in cycling, the international cycling federation UCI has now introduced a blood passport in which the blood values ​​during doping controls of tested cyclists are entered. In January 2009, after evaluating numerous blood profiles, Parisotto announced that abnormal values ​​had been found in more than 30 professionals and that some of them could be expected to be banned as a result.
• The research team led by doping expert Wilhelm Schänzer from the German Sport University Cologne reports in a study on methods of covering up EPO doping. By adding proteases to a urine sample, EPO (and also the proteases themselves) are enzymatically broken down in a very short time. As a result, neither the EPO originally contained nor the protein-splitting enzymes would then be detectable. Main author Mario Thevis describes the case of an unnamed ex-professional cyclist who claims to have pushed a grain of rice into his urethra before giving the doping test . This rice grain then released the proteases into the urine.
• The research group led by Francoise Lasne from the Laboratoire national de détection du dopage (LNDD) was able to show in monkeys that gene doping with the human EPO gene in muscle cells produces EPO variants that differ from natural EPO in terms of glycosylation. Because of this, the misuse of the gene doping agent Repoxygen can also be proven within the framework of the standard detection procedure.
• A study by the Copenhagen Center for Muscle Research in June 2008 caused quite a stir in the run-up to the Tour de France 2008 and the Summer Olympics in Beijing. In this study, urine samples from volunteers previously treated with EPO were sent to two laboratories authorized by the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA. The laboratories came to z. T. completely different results. Doping expert Werner Franke criticized the fact that the study did not use the analytical methods improved according to the latest state of knowledge. His colleague from the German Sport University in Cologne, Mario Thevis, even rated the Danish study as (so literally :) "wrong in content and factual".
• In the course of the doping case Ricardo Ricco at the Tour de France 2008, the chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), John Fahey , stated that, in consultation with the pharmaceutical company Roche, a molecule was inserted into its EPO preparation Mircera ( CERA ) that enables proof of illegal use in the context of doping controls. Roche immediately denied this statement.
• Improvements in the detection method of the EPO agent CERA / Mircera succeeded in transferring the professional cyclists Stefan Schumacher , Leonardo Piepoli and Bernhard Kohl in October 2008 with subsequent analyzes of the doping samples taken during the 2008 Tour de France . The President of the French anti-doping agency AFLD, Pierre Bodry, also announced that the samples from a total of 30 drivers on the tour will be examined using the improved detection method due to abnormal blood values. The International Olympic Committee has subsequently at the suggestion of IOC Vice President Thomas Bach prompted to re-analyze all a total of nearly 5,000 doping samples taken during the Olympic Games in Beijing. In the course of this, the Cologne doping expert Wilhelm Schänzer demanded that the manufacturers provide new preparations that are still in the clinical test phase (e.g. Hematide ) so that suitable detection methods for such preparations can be developed at an early stage.
• The speed skater Claudia Pechstein is considered a precedent in the history of doping . The five-time Olympic champion was banned from the International Skating Union (ISU) for two years in July 2009 due to conspicuously high reticulocyte values during the all-around world championships in Hamar . The ban was confirmed in November 2009 by the international sports court CAS. This makes Pechstein the first female athlete who, in the opinion of the CAS, has shown indirect evidence of EPO doping. Pechstein was initially able to have the CAS ruling overturned by filing an urgent application before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court , which, however, was finally confirmed in the Federal Supreme Court's final ruling.

literature

• J. Scott, GC Phillips: Erythropoietin in sports: a new look at an old problem. In: Curr Sports Med Rep. 4 2005, pp. 224-226. PMID 16004833
• E. Diamanti-Kandarakis et al: Erythropoietin abuse and erythropoietin gene doping: detection strategies in the genomic era. In: Sports Medicine. 35 2005, pp. 831-840. PMID 16180943
• W. Jelkmann: Novel erythropoietic agents: A threat to sportsmanship. In: Medicina Sportiva. 11 2007, pp. 32-42.
• K. Sharpe et al: A third generation approach to detect erythropoietin abuse in athletes. In: Haematologica . 91 2006, pp. 356-363. PMID 16503554
• W. Jelkmann, C. Lundby: Blood doping and its detection. In: Blood. Volume 118, Number 9, September 2011, pp. 2395-2404, doi : 10.1182 / blood-2011-02-303271 , PMID 21652677 (review).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Arnd Krüger : EPO games in Sydney too? Archived copy ( memento of the original dated December 31, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
2. ↑ AT Kicman, DA Cowan: Peptide hormones and sport: misuse and detection. In: Br Med Bull. 1992 Jul; 48 (3), pp. 496-517.
3. ↑ “That can be fatal” Epo-Doping in a self- experiment Interview faz.net , accessed on April 15, 2010.
4. ↑ Fatal doping injection , spiegel.de of December 16, 2012 (accessed on December 16, 2012).
5. ↑ "Museeuw admits doping" ( Memento of February 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).
6. ↑ “Fillipow tested positive for EPO” .
7. ↑ “Jaksche admits years of doping” .
8. ↑ Kicker from August 12, 2008: Mayo is not allowed before 2009 .
9. ↑ Cycling: Schumacher admits years of doping. In: Spiegel Online . March 29, 2013. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
10. ↑ Final report of the expert commission on the investigation of doping allegations against doctors in the sports medicine department of the Freiburg University Medical Center from May 12, 2009 .
11. ^ TVM affair 1998: Blijlevens and Voskamp confess epo-doping. ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The time . July 11, 2014, accessed July 12, 2014. 
12. ↑ Doping topic catches up with cycling: anger over Contador helpers. Süddeutsche Zeitung , June 28, 2017, accessed on August 28, 2020 . 
13. ^ John Brant: The Confessions of Eddy Hellebuyck . In: Runner's World . December 2010.
14. ^ Lombard gets two-year ban . In: BBC News . August 13, 2004.
15. ↑ “Surprising turning point in the Marion Jones case” ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
16. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Russian walkers suspended . August 5, 2008.
17. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Arne Ljungqvist believes in systematic doping . August 6, 2008.
18. ^ IAAF: Doping Rule Violations ( Memento of October 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). October 19, 2009.
19. ↑ "Marathon runner Fagan banned for two years" , spox.com from January 18, 2012. Accessed January 24, 2012.
20. ^ Italian Olympic champion doped , Spiegel Online from August 6, 2012 (accessed on August 6, 2012).
21. ↑ www.handelsblatt.com .
22. ↑ World association convicts EPO dopers. Report on sportschau.de from January 12, 2015 (accessed on July 3, 2015).
23. ↑ Sentenza n. 21234 Corte Suprema di Cassazione , pp. 40-42, March 30, 2007 (Italian).
24. ↑ Die Presse : Matschiner trial: 15 months partly conditional . October 11, 2010.
25. ↑ Doping doctor sentenced to a fine orf.at September 21, 2011
26. ↑ Doping: Zoubek banned for four years orf.at September 25, 2015 .
27. ↑ R. Parisotto et al: Detection of recombinant human erythropoietin abuse in athletes utilizing markers of altered erythropoiesis. In: Haematologica. 86, 2001, pp. 128-137. PMID 11224480 .
28. ↑ CJ Gore et al.: Second-generation blood tests to detect erythropoietin abuse by athletes. In: Haematologica. 88, 2003, pp. 333-344. PMID 12651273 .
29. ↑ K. Sharpe et al: A third generation approach to detect erythropoietin abuse in athletes. In: Haematologica. 91, 2006, pp. 356-363. PMID 16503554 .
30. ↑ M. Thevis et al: Proteases in doping control analysis. In: Int. J. Sports Med. 28, 2007, pp. 545-549. PMID 17525883 .
31. ↑ F. Lasne et al .: "Genetic Doping" with erythropoietin cDNA in primate muscle is detectable. In: Mol Ther. 10, 2004, pp. 409-410. PMID 15336641 .
32. ↑ C. Lundby, NJ Achman-Andersen, JJ Thomsen, AM Norgaard, P. Robach: Testing for recombinant human erythropoietin in urine: problems associated with current anti-doping testing. In: J. Appl. Physiol. 105, 2008, pp. 417-419. PMID 18583375 .
33. ↑ Statement - Roche has not incorporated "a molecule" into Mircera ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  
34. ^ "Doping ban for Pechstein" zeit.de of November 26, 2009.
35. ^ "Back on the ice with an urgent application" , focus.de, December 8, 2009.
36. ↑ Federal court rejects appeal request of speed skater Claudia Pechstein ( memento of the original from March 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Press release by the Federal Supreme Court, October 1, 2010.  

Web links

• EPO doping in cycling on cycling4fans.de