Kyrö: Skier Janne Immonen also used EPO

Defence team wants to hear Immonen in court

Janne Immonen

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The former head coach of Finland’s cross-country skiing team Kari-Pekka Kyrö’s revelations into the use of doping in Finnish cross-country skiing have continued in the reopened STT doping case.
      On Monday Kyrö told the Helsinki District Court that of the Finnish male skiers also Janne Immonen had used EPO hormone.
      Kyrö had learned of the fact in connection with a conversation that he had had with Immonen during his coaching years.
      According to Kyrö, Immonen - who had penetrated into the very heart of Finnish skiing from outside the national team circle - had problems with his blood haemoglobin values, which were too high. The matter came to light in connection with a World Cup event in Falun.
     
Immonen belonged to the group of six skiers who were caught for doping at the Lahti Nordic World Skiing Championships in 2001. To avoid getting tested, Immonen broke his ski pole in the pursuit event and dropped out of the race.
      So far, of all the national team skiers only Mika Myllylä has confessed to using EPO.
      On Monday Helsingin Sanomat was unable to reach Immonen, who lives in Vuokatti in Sotkamo. Previously Immonen has said in a police preliminary investigation that he knows nothing about the use of doping among Finnish skiers.
     
In court Kyrö did not appear as a sworn witness, which means he was not obliged to remain truthful.
      In Kyrö’s opinion, of those accused in the STT doping case, Pekka Vähäsöyrinki as a coach must have been aware of Immonen’s use of EPO.
      Of other coaches, also Reijo Jylhä was aware of this, Kyrö says. Jylhä is not among the accused in the case.
      Vähäsöyrinki’s defence team immediately named Immonen as someone that has to be heard in the court case.
      The defence team tried to get in touch with Immonen while the court was in recess, but did not succeed in this. The court has set aside extra days for the case, and Immonen may be heard later even via a telephone link, possibly already today, Tuesday.
     
In a way the claim that Immonen had also used EPO came to light as a by-product. The prosecutor had named Kyrö as someone to be heard by the court, because Kyrö had some knowledge about the Finnish skiers’ haemoglobin values in the 1990s.
      Kyrö had collected the data for his master’s degree dissertation. The values were followed the whole time by the same Research Institute for Olympic Sports laboratory in Jyväskylä. Kyrö has yet to complete his dissertation.
     
According to Kyrö, the elevation of the blood values was detectable in 1992 and it could not be explained by helium tents or high-altitude camps.
      Especially between 1997 and 2001, the blood values more or less shot up inexplicably.
      According to Kyrö, no high-altitude camp can explain this. The only explanation is EPO. Apart from Immonen, during the recess Kyrö refused to name other possible EPO users.
     
Today, Tuesday, the Helsinki District Court is also hearing former top skier Jari Isometsä in the STT doping case.
      Isometsä denies having used any banned substances during his career. He, too, was among those caught in Lahti, but at the time, whilst the technique was prohibited, the actual plasma expander was not on the list of banned substances.
      We shall have more on Isometsä's testimony in tomorrow's issue.
     
Another former national hero, Olympic gold medallist Mika Myllylä, is also hoped to make an appearance in the court.
      He may also be heard via a video link, and the current plan is for his testimony to be delivered without an audience present, although the tapes will be public material.
      The trial continues of the four defendants - former skier Jari Räsänen and Finnish Ski Association officials Antti Leppävuori, Pekka Vähäsöyrinki, and Jari Piirainen  - on charges of aggravated fraud arising out of an earlier libel action against the Finnish News Agency STT.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Former Olympic champion Mika Myllylä goes into treatment and misses court appearance in STT doping trial (26.5.2011)
  Former Ski Association doctors testify in doping trial (24.5.2011)
  Actual court proceedings begin in reopened STT doping case (28.4.2011)

See also:
  Finland´s tangled doping web is a seedy 13-year-long skinflick (5.4.2011)
  Prosecutor demands suspended prison terms for parties in STT doping case (30.3.2011)

Helsingin Sanomat