Polish cross-country skier Kornelia Marek has been banned for two years by the Polish Ski Federation. Marek tested positive for the banned substance EPO following the women’s 4x5km relay at the Olympics. Marke skied very well at the Olympics – a level above anything she had done before.
Following a positive A sample, Marek denied any wrongdoing, but has now issued an apology to her fans and has stated her intention to race at the 2014 Games in Sochi.
Marek’s Olympic results have been struck from the books.
According to the Canadian Press, Marek intially told the disciplinary committee that she was given injections by trainer Vitali Trypolski to speed recovery in Whistler. She claims to not have known the contents of the injections.
After the initial announcement of the positive A sample, coach Wieslaw Cempa told Polish press that he did not believe the Kornelia acted knowingly based on her reaction to news of the positive test.
3 comments
Cloxxki
April 9, 2010 at 1:30 am
The Cyclo-Cross World -23 gold and silver medaillists were also Polish, brothers even. They also didn’t know what “vitamins” they were getting to be fit for their biggest race in their young lives.
That all three seemed to rise to a new level, speaks for their previous results as quite possibly having been clean(er).
The naivity/stupidity to accept injecttions though, is beyong me. And, how could any coach decide (be so stupid) to get a red flag like EPO for an athlete that will certainly be tested?
In case of the brothers, they were good as hey were. With EPO, podiums were not that far-fetched. An athlete not knowing the contents of their shots, doesn’t make the dope harder to trace in their blood.
It all doesn’t make sense. If you decide to cheat, for yourself or a pupil, at least be evil about it, not naive and stupid. Or better, investigate non-illegal supplements, there’s quite a bit to be had there. Not like with EPO, but still, the edge that podium hopeful seeks.
genegold
April 9, 2010 at 11:20 am
I don’t know anything about the Polish cases, but instead of getting on a high (moralistic) horse, let’s recall fasterskier’s interview with Magnar Dalen:
“That’s a very big subject [drugs and different countries] to go inside, and you need to know how these different systems are working. So what many times we may be complaining about in Russia is that we see this athlete using this and this. We have to understand that the athlete’s opinion or the athlete’s wish is zero in those countries. If they say that today there are two dishes, fish and meat, and the coach says, “today you eat fish,” then you eat fish. If you try to take the meat, then you are off the team. It’s exactly the same. If they say that “this is vitamin C,” then you take vitamin C, and you don’t ask if it’s really vitamin C.”
Cloxxki
April 11, 2010 at 6:08 pm
Interesting, I had missed that before, thanks for bringing that up again in this context.
Might this explain the current dip in Russian Olympic performances? Not only the lack of doping relative to their relative usage in former editions, but also that it encovers the lack individual thinking, coach-dependedness that is so contrasting to what we now read from Patrick, on Norwegian sports culture? Show up to a training session, be sure to have a plan. An attitude something like that.