Doping scandal: Many skiers said to have contact with hormone underground

Kyrö trial begins June 15

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The trial of Kari-Pekka Kyrö, the former coach of the Finnish national cross-country skiing team, is set to begin on June 15 at Vantaa District Court. State prosecutor Pekka Koponen is calling for a suspended prison sentence for smuggling illegal sports doping substances, and for fraud.
      Meanwhile, Helsingin Sanomat has learned that many Finnish skiers had close ties with known hormone dealers in the late 1990s.
      Some aspects of the new revelations bear a striking resemblance to events described by the Finnish News Agency (STT) when it reported on widespread doping activities in the Finnish Skiing Federation in 1998.
      The STT report led to charges of libel; the fraud charges that Kari-Pekka Kyrö now faces are linked with his testimony at the ensuing trial.
     
The fresh information does not directly reveal what events or which people may have been behind the STT news reports, nor do they prove the veracity of the news.
      However, the new information does suggest that STT was on the right track when it when it suspected that Finnish skiers had acquired and used banned performance-enhancing hormones.
     
Shortly before the Nagano Olympics, STT reported that a man on the Finnish national cross-country team had acquired the synthetic growth hormone Genotropine in 1996, and that a member of the Skiing Federation later hoped to buy a larger quantity of the same substance.
      The identity of the alleged dealer was not revealed, and the news agency protected its sources.
      STT said that the skier in question was Jari Räsänen, but was unable to prove the information. Consequently, the news agency was later ordered to pay Räsänen damages for libel.
      Police investigations and other information that was made public later have revealed that skiers Sami Heiskanen and Mika Venäläinen used various hormone preparations in 1996 - 1998, and that Janne Immonen used growth hormone.
      Skier Sami Repo has said that in 1997 - 1998 he had the impression, based on conversations with head coach Antti Leppävuori, that he could get haemoglobin enhancers if he wanted to. In 1997 there were rumours that Jari Räsänen was a regular user of hormones.
     
The criminal investigation that followed the doping scandal of the Lahti Nordic World Ski Championships in 2001 revealed that Heiskanen had acquired various hormone preparations from three men in Jyväskylä in the spring of 1996. According to some accounts, Heiskanen was wearing a coat of the national skiing team when he made the purchase.
      The dealer, a bodybuilder from Jyväskylä, had a number of convictions for dealing hormones.
      The case involved a number of other suspects from the Jyväskylä region. In December 2002 at the home of one of the suspects, police found 11 ampoules whose labels identified the substance inside as Genotropine.
      The labels were found to be forgeries, and the substance was not growth hormone, but rather a substance used to treat erectile dysfunction. 


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Former skiing coach faces fraud and smuggling charges over Lahti doping case (2.4.2003)

Helsingin Sanomat