Doping suspect cross-country skier Juha Lallukka used the entire length of the time that had been given to him by the Finnish Antidoping Agency FINADA to submit his account on what has happened.
Lallukka’s lawyer Hannu Kalkas submitted the statement that dealt with the skier’s suspected use of forbidden human growth hormone on Thursday, which was the prescribed deadline.
The aim of Lallukka’s statement is to prove his innocence.
Next FINADA will familiarise themselves with Lallukka’s explanation and possibly issue their own statement, before the matter will be passed on to a control committee for processing.
The FINADA control committee chair Pekka Ilmivalta has disqualified himself from handling the Lallukka case, because he was elected as the new FINADA chairman from the beginning of 2012.
Instead, the handling of Lallukka’s case will be led by the control committee’s first deputy chair Markus Manninen.
Before the actual handling Lallukka has the right, if he so desires, to be heard by the committee.
“It is very possible that the control committee’s decision will not be announced before January. The time schedule depends on how the case is being prepared”, Manninen estimates.
The control committee decides if a doping violation has taken place and recommends a penalty.
After this the Finnish Ski Association will decide on the sanctions.
