Sports doping case: Skiing Federation doctors suspected use of EPO hormone

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Two former doctors working for the Finnish Skiing Federation say that there had been strong indications of the use of banned performance-enhancing substances by members of the national team.
      Testifying on Wednesday at the trial of former Finnish national cross-country skiing team coach Kari-Pekka Kyrö, doctors Juhapekka Turpeinen and Pirkka Mäkelä said that their observations before the Nordic World Skiing Championships in Lahti in 2001 suggested that some of the team’s top skiers were using EPO hormone.
      The indications included changes in the "biological variables of the blood", especially high levels of haemoglobin.
      "It is hard to find any other explanation for these changes than EPO hormone", said Turpeinen.
      Kyrö is on trial, suspected of smuggling EPO hormone and growth hormone.
      He has denied the charges, and neither of the doctors said that they had personally observed the use of illegal hormones.
      "I have never seen such substances, I have never been asked for them, nor have I been asked for advice or instructions on the use of such substances", Mäkelä said.
      The doctors had not made any observations of possible use of growth hormone. However, Turpeinen noted that it is not as easily observed as EPO hormone.
     
The doctors did say that members of the team used plasma expanders after the games. One reason for this was to bring down the high haemoglobin levels.
      Six Finnish competitors at the Lahti games were caught using the plasma expander Hemo Hes.
      Turpeinen said that he knew of no factors that would specifically link Kyrö with the use of banned substances. Mäkelä did not want to answer the question of Kyrö’s possible links with sports doping activities.
      On a couple of occasions the doctors appealed to the principle of doctor-patient confidentiality, but the judge in the case, Markku Räty noted that confidentiality only applies when an answer might be linked with a specific person.
     
Kyrö also took the stand on Wednesday to answer questions on answers that he gave at a trial concerning earlier reports by the Finnish News Agency (STT) on the alleged widespread use of illegal substances by Finnish skiers.
      The prosecution believes that Kyrö gave false information during that trial, where he demanded compensation from STT for pain and suffering caused by the agency’s allegedly false reporting.
      At the time, Helsinki District Court ordered STT to pay Kyrö EUR 16,000 in damages. The decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal.
      As the prosecution sees it, Kyrö assured the court that he had no knowledge of the doping problem in the Skiing Federation at a time when he was bringing hormones into the country.
      Kyrö’s defence says that even if he were involved in doping after the STT reports, this was not the case at the time that the STT news items were published.
      STT lawyer Petteri Sotamaa pressed Kyrö on Wednesday for information on the suspected connections with doping. The longer the questioning went on, the less Kyrö would say.
     
Kyrö accused the media of exaggerating the case, and of convicting him in advance. He also said that 99% of what has been written about him was false.
      Prosecutor Pekka Koponen held his summation at the end of Wednesday. He said that the evidence against Kyrö had grown stronger during the trial. The summations of Kyrö’s lawyer Tero Matsinen and STT’s Petteri Sotamaa are scheduled for today, Thursday.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Kyrö at doping scandal trial: trip to Netherlands was for information, not hormones (16.6.2004)

Helsingin Sanomat