Home > Scandals of the 2004 Summer Olympics

1 Drugs and Doping

The most prominent scandals have involved banned steroid use and drug testing. This year, the Olympics oversaw at least 20 offences, the most for any Olympic Games. This is accredited to tougher tests rather than an increase in doping. Most of the tests, if proven positive, could result in at least a 2-year ban from competition for the athletes involved. Among them:

• Kenyan boxer David Munyasia tested positive for cathine, a banned stimulant, during a pre-Olympic drug test, and was subsequently banned from competing by the IOC. Munyasia, an Olympic hopeful in the Bantamweight (54kg) category, appealed to the CAS, claiming unknown ingestion of the cathine; however, the CAS panel rejected his appeal and upheld his expulsion. His became the first official doping offence directly related to the 2004 Olympic Games.

• Greek baseball players Andrew James Brack and Derek Nicholson tested positive for banned substances (Brack for stanozolol; Nicholson for diuretics) during another pre-Olympic drug test. Although they are currently Greek citizens, they are both of Greek-American descent, and were 2 members of a very large contingent of Greek-Americans recruited by Greece to form part of the Greek baseball team.

• Greek sprinters and Olympic favourites Kostas Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou withdrew from their team and from competition because they failed to take drug tests the Friday before the games began. The explanation that they had been involved in a mysterious motorcycle accident, witnessed and attested to by no one, was determined likely to have been a subterfugeSubterfuge can be any deceptive strategem or maneuver designed to take advantage of an opponent. Subterfuge is a recognized skill in situations of war or international spying. It has less positive connotations when used in the context of politics or perso, and as of late August 2004, was still under investigation.

• SpanishThe Kingdom of Spain is a country located in the southwest of Europe. It shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. To the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it borders France and the tiny principality of Andorra. It inc canoeist Jovino Gonzalez was found to have in his circulatory system the blood-boosting substance EPOErythropoietin (or EPO is a glycoprotein hormone It is a growth factor hormone for erythrocyte ( red blood cell) precursors in the bone marrow. It increases the number of red blood cells in the blood. Synthetic erythropoietin is available as an expensive, after he received a surpriseUses of the word surprise : emotion an unexpected presentation of a gift or good news; also one may expect to receive a gift, but does not know what: it is kept secret, because it is a surprise. ambush or surprise attack: assault that is not expected by t pre-Olympic doping test. Although he was scheduled to compete in the Men's Flatwater 500 metres, the Spanish Olympic Committee withdrew him from participation.

• Spanish cyclist Janet Puiggros Miranda became the second Spanish athlete to commit a doping offence after also testing positive for EPO during a pre-Olympic test. Like Gonzalez, she was withdrawn from competing, this time in the Women's Cross-Country race. She also denied the administration of a "B Test", which is used to verify the first drug test.

• Swiss cyclist Oscar Camenzind tested positive for EPO during another pre-Olympic test and was barred from attending the Olympic games. Although he accepted full responsibility for the positive test, his cycling career became questionable after being fired by his Swiss professional cycling team Phonak . Soon after this occurrence, he announced his retirement from professional cycling.

• Irish distance runner Cathal Lombard also tested positive during yet another pre-Olympic doping test for EPO while in training. Although he qualified in the Men's 5000 metres and the Men's 10000 metres , he was administered the doping test after the Irish Sports Council noticed suspicious improvements in Lombard's running times. He has been banned from competing for 2 years, and has apologetically joined the fight against athletic doping.

• Nan Aye Khine , a female weightlifter from Myanmar, tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid. She was disqualified and stripped of her fourth place in the women's 48 kg weightlifting event. Although her test was administered before the Olympic Games started, she was forced to leave Athens her test results were received after her event.

• Moroccan female weightlifter Wafa Ammouri was a no-show at the Women's 63kg weightlifting event, and was later found to have failed her drug exam and tested positive for steroids, after the results from an IWF pre-competition test were released.

• Turkish female weightlifter Sule Sahbaz failed her drug exam, and tested positive for steroids a day before competing in the Women's 75+kg weightlifting event, and was subsequently barred from competing. Although the Turkish government has agreed to investigate whether Sahbaz used the banned substance knowingly or not, they have labeled her as totally irresponsible.

• Indian female weightlifter Pratima Kumari did not show up at the 63-kilogram weightlifting competition after testing positive for testosterone during a pre-Olympic drug test. Interestingly, her name was not even listed in the official roster at the time of the competition; Indian officials were never informed of this. Kumari blames her coaches for administering several injections of an unknown substance to alleviate back pain incurred during training (the coaches have since been fired by Indian sports officials). However, her claims have yet to be proven.

• Another Indian female weightlifter, Sanamacha Chanu , was stripped of her fourth-place finish in the 53-kilogram weightlifting competition. According to the IOC, Chanu tested positive for furosemide, a banned diuretic which can be used as a masking agent . Like Kumari, Chanu claims that there is a conspiracy surrounding Indian weightlifters; but as of yet, no proof has come to light.

• Uzbekistan's Olga Shchukina was disqualified after having finished 19th (last place) in her qualifying group in the women's shot put. Shchukina tested positive in an out-of-competition screening August 14, 2004 for the steroid clenbuterol . According to news reports, Shchukina claimed she ingested the substance inadvertently in a cough syrup. Since the IOC has a " strict liability" rule, which holds athletes responsible for any banned substance found in their system, she was nevertheless found guilty of a doping offence.

• Ukrainian rower Olena Olefirenko tested positive for Ethamivan, a banned stimulant, costing her four-woman rowing crew the bronze medal in Women's Quadruple Sculls. Olefirenko claims that the banned substance came from a prescribed medication, issued by the team's doctor.

• Belarusian high jumper Aleksey Lesnichiy was barred from further competition in the Men's High Jump after testing positive for the steroid clenbuterol . He failed to clear a height in the event's qualifying round. He has assumed total responsibility under the " strict liability" rule after claiming he recieved the steroid from an illegal cough syrup.

• Russian female weightlifter Albina Khomich , a favourite in the Women's 75+kg weightlifting event, tested positive for the banned steroid methandrostenalone during an IWF pre-competition test. She was disqualified and banned from competing in the 2004 Olympic Games.

• Greek weightlifter and bronze medalist Leonidas Sampanis failed a drug test just 48 hours after Greece's Kenteris and Thanou announced that they were pulling out of the Games. Sampanis had tested positive after the 62 kg weighlifting competitionfor twice the allowable amount of the male hormone testosterone. He was stripped of his bronze medal and expelled from the Games. He became the first competitor at the Athens Games to be stripped of a medal for a doping infraction. Sampanis, supposedly an outspoken advocate against athletic doping, has been vehemently supported by the Greek Olympic Committee against his offence, and continued to be supported after filing an appeal to the CAS.
• Russian shot-putter Irina Korzhanenko won gold in the women's shot put event, but was later stripped of the title when she tested positive for the steroid stanozolol. Korzhanenko, however, denies ever taking or receiving the steroid. The gold medal went instead to Yumileidi Cumba of Cuba. Korzhanenko became the first gold-medallist of the Athens 2004 games to be stripped of the title of Olympic Champion.
• Hungarian athletes Robert Fazekas was stripped of his gold medal on the Men's discus event and , after being caught tampering with his urine sample and refusing to release it during his post-event doping exam. The gold medal was then awarded to Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania. Although Fazekas set an Olympic Record, this was also erased from all record, and consecutively, that Olympic Record was awarded to Alekna (who had still beaten the old Olympic Record). Fazekas's athlete friend Adrian Annus was stripped of his gold medal, too. The two sportsman accuse WADA with incompetency, because all their urine sample was negative before and WADA couldn't prove any charges on using dopes or artificial urine machines. Annus's evidences given to an independent and accredited dopping laboratory were negative, too.

• Russian sprinter Anton Galkin was expelled from the Olympic Games after testing positive for the steroid stanozolol. He had been tested after competing in the semifinals of the Men's 400 metres , where he finished in 4th place.