Kohl is not snitching

[goonster]

According to Austrian media reports (http://kurier.at/sportundmotor/274367.php), Bernhard Kohl has said he got his CERA, which he claims to have administered himself, from "a doctor", but declined to provide a name, gender, location of practice, etc.

After initially pledging to mercilessly expose every last nefarious supplier and enabler, he went mum. Not surprising, but still disappointing.

[fiamme red]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/apr09/apr01news2

Bernhard Kohl, winner of the mountains classification and third overall at the Tour de France, told investigators the names of all the people who helped him dope. The Austrian included the name of the person who provided him the blood booster CERA-EPO for which he tested positive for at the Tour de France, he said at a press conference Tuesday evening in Vienna, Austria.

The press conference followed the arrest of his former advisor and manager Stefan Matschiner on doping-related charges Monday evening.

Kohl, 27, explained that he told investigators the names of other athletes who he knew were involved. None of the names was made public.

He also confirmed that he visited Humanplasma, a Viennese blood clinic, to blood dope. Blood doping was not illegal in Austria before August 2008. After the Winter Olympics in 2006, and questions about Austrian athletes blood doping, the plans changed.

The blood transfusions took place at Matschiner's house. "As far as I know, Matschiner was instructed by a doctor as to how to use the equipment," Kohl said. "He handled it professionally and carried out the transfusions himself."

Matschiner "took things over, bought the equipment and was in charge of the blood doping," according to Kohl's attorney, Manfred Ainedter. Kohl and other athletes helped to pay for the equipment, "but Mr. Matschiner carried it all out. He treated Bernhard and, of course, others."

Kohl said that in addition to the blood doping, he had received blood booster Erythropoietin (EPO), growth hormones, testosterone and insulin from Matschiner. He added that his first contact to Matschiner had been in 2005, the year he turned professional, and "he supplied me from then on to the end."

He contradicted his earlier statements that he had did not start doping until the 2008 Dauphine Libéré. In October, he said that he first used EPO after a crash in the French stage race.

Kohl is serving a two-year suspension for his positive control from the Tour de France.

[goonster]

You're right, he's snitching big time.

Refreshingly, he's confessing to things he doesn't have to, e.g. doping since '05 as opposed to his original "I just did it this one time" defense.

Doping itself is now illegal in Austria, and a "special commission" from the prosecutor's office is on the case. The case extends beyond cycling, to triathletes and nordic skiers, and may yet take down an olympic gold medalist.

I'm curious to see if any criminal cases result from the investigation. I'd love to finally see a doping case tried in criminal court, as opposed to the arbitration panels.

[fiamme red]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/may09/may25news2&from=rss

Bernhard Kohl will not return to cycling after his doping-related suspension ends. "I don't want to continue leading a double life which is based on lies," he said at a press conference Monday morning in Vienna.

The 27-year-old tested positive for the EPO derivative CERA during the Tour de France and later confessed to having used illegal doping products and methods for most of his career. He was given a two-year suspension.

"Without doping there is no equal opportunity in the top international field," Kohl said, according to nachrichten.at. "This is absolutely the end."

The former Gerolsteiner rider acknowledged, "I have voluntarily doped – in a system in which you can't win without doping. Talent, training and iron discipline just aren't enough at some point. Doping becomes the rule. A clean sport is unfortunately an exception."

Kohl said that he would now dedicate himself to doping prevention, by speaking on the subject and organising cycling camps. He is currently still under investigation for his part in purchasing a blood centrifuge.

[paczki]

After what happened to Sinkewitz he's trying a new tactic. Retire from the sport and give anti-doping talks. Really. :banana:

[goonster]

The most shocking part of Kohl's story is that he says he doped "hundreds" of times, with complete impunity, without ever worrying about failing a test. He has said he "shot dope" an hour before being tested. He has not detailed countermeasures or coverups, but it may just be a case of riders becoming so accustomed to the tests being consistently negative.

The criminal charges against him are quite serious. Due to his being a buyer of the centrifuge, he is accused of being on the supply side of doping.

[fiamme red]

The criminal charges against him are quite serious. Due to his being a buyer of the centrifuge, he is accused of being on the supply side of doping.Would it only be criminal if Kohl rented the centrifuge to other athletes for profit, or even if he just let them borrow it without remuneration?

[goonster]

Would it only be criminal if Kohl rented the centrifuge to other athletes for profit, or even if he just let them borrow it without remuneration?
Good question. Don't know.

I suspect that is a minor consideration, and that the laws are written in such a way that the act of doping itself, and the provision of material aid in the commission thereof, is criminal.

(/ersatz legalese)

[Charles M]

Owning your own is pretty normal... It's not a complicated piece of equipement nor expensive for better paid riders.

Buying one (alone) is no indication what so ever of being on the supply side...

[goonster]

Owning your own is pretty normal... It's not a complicated piece of equipement nor expensive for better paid riders.

Buying one (alone) is no indication what so ever of being on the supply side...
An Austrian daily has reported that the centrifuge cost $101000 and that Kohl's share was $27000. One could argue that Kohl, absent major endorsement deals, was not a particularly well paid rider.

The prosecutor's investigative commission is checking allegations that the centrifuge was loaned out to other riders. If proven, that would put Kohl, as co-owner, on the supply side of the Austrian law.

[thinpin]

Well its back to cleaning chimneys for him then!

[dd74]

Too bad. He was my favorite rider from The Tour. I loved his lumbering climbing style. He looked like Herman Munster on a bicycle. :cool:

[oldguy00]

100k for a blood centrifuge???
Isn't it just a small machine that hold vials and spins??

[fiamme red]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/kohl-confirms-manager-bribed-anti-doping-labs

[goonster]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/kohl-confirms-manager-bribed-anti-doping-labs
This is interesting. Kohl says his manager/agent twice had samples analyzed under-the-table by employees at WADA-accredited labs, and that this helped to fine-tune his doping regimen, i.e. he'd know just how much to shoot at night so it would undetectable in the morning.

The sense I get from the whole Kohl saga is that, piece by piece, a very detailed, plausible picture emerges of an athlete who dopes regularly, and yet passes all tests. There is no grand conspiracy, but a number of figures who all play some small part with a shred of plausible deniability. With Manzano I was left more with the impression of a vengeful guy who was unable to back up his wild and spectacular claims.

[GuyGadois]

One of the most disturbing things I have read about cycling yet. It basically hits on that we cannot trust any of the results that any of the drug test have shown. The trusted individuals doing the tests can be bought. In other words, are some of the the previous 'guilty' really 'clean' and the 'clean' really 'guilty'?

Kohl levels more allegations
By Agence France Presse
Published: Aug. 14, 2009
Former Gerolsteiner rider Bernard Kohl said Friday that scientists working in laboratories accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) were bribed by his former manager, the alleged head of a doping network.

Austrian Stefan Matschiner, who managed the careers of several top Austrian athletes including Kohl, is accused of organising an elaborate doping network which helped top athletes in Europe to cheat by using performance-enhancing drugs and methods.

Kohl was revealed as a drugs cheat and banned for two years shortly after his astonishing third place finish in last year's Tour de France where he also won the coveted polka dot jersey as the race’s “King of the Mountains.”

Matschiner, who has already admitted to performing blood transfusions for Kohl, claimed in a recent interview with German television ARD that he was able to corrupt employees at several WADA-accredited laboratories based in central Europe.

The public prosecutor's office in Vienna responded by demanding he be brought to a new hearing.

Now retired from the sport, Kohl appeared to back up those revelations when he said Matschiner paid just 150 to 500 Euros a time to laboratory employees for the testing of samples so that his athletes could avoid being caught by anti-doping tests.

"Matschiner would have our samples analyzed so we could find out exactly how far we could go (with drugs) without being caught," Kohl told the Kurier newspaper.

Kohl said he personally benefited from two tests, one following his use of the blood booster EPO (erythropoietin), another for testosterone - both banned products.

"That way you find out exactly how much you could take at night to avoid being detected the next day," added the Austrian, who was caught for using a new version of EPO called CERA that was previously thought undetectable.

Matschiner, who was arrested in March but later released, is seen as a key figure in a doping affair which has taken on immense proportions in Austria.

He reportedly had close ties with former Nordic skiing coach Walter Mayer, who was involved in the 2006 Turin Olympics doping scandal, and the Viennese laboratory Humanplasma, which has repeatedly come under scrutiny for irregular practices.

Austria embarked on a major anti-doping clean-up in March with a series of arrests, including that of Mayer, cyclist Christof Kerschbaum and a Vienna pharmacist and doctor believed to have supplied banned substances to athletes.

[goonster]

It basically hits on that we cannot trust any of the results that any of the drug test have shown. The trusted individuals doing the tests can be bought.
One step at a time. No one is currently alleging that any labs willfully falsified results. Not defending what they did, but it is an important distinction.

[GuyGadois]

One step at a time. No one is currently alleging that any labs willfully falsified results. Not defending what they did, but it is an important distinction.

I think this pretty much says it...

"Kohl appeared to back up those revelations when he said Matschiner paid just 150 to 500 Euros a time to laboratory employees for the testing of samples so that his athletes could avoid being caught by anti-doping tests. "

:crap:

[goonster]

I think this pretty much says it...

No, it doesn't. I read the original article.

They paid these guys to test samples and provide results ot them in a hush-hush manner, thereby establishing the action levels at a WADA lab. The labs are explicity forbidden by WADA code to perform test like this. However, no alteration of official test results is alleged.