The International Olympic Committee (IOC) continued to back away from controversial comments by the head of their medical commission, Prince Alexandre de Merode, saying yesterday that the "progress in Spanish sport has nothing to do with doping".
The IOC made the statement in a press release following a meeting on Sunday between the IOC and Spanish sports officials to clear the air over de Merode's comments that Spain had been lax in its approach to doping.
An incensed Spanish Olympic Committee (SOC) had been calling for de Merode's resignation ever since he said in an interview that "in Spain, there has for a long time been a tendency towards doping".
At the end of Sunday's meeting at Olympic headquarters the two sides presented a united front, the IOC pointing out in its news release that "Spain maintains a firm commitment to the fight against this harmful practice (doping) and closely collaborates with the International Olympic Committee in its eradication". Meanwhile, two former East German sports officials were convicted yesterday for giving banned performance-enhancing drugs to young female swimmers.
A court fined coach Rolf Glaeser and sports doctor Dieter Binus, who both worked for the East Berlin sports club SC Dynamo, for causing bodily harm in nine cases.
Glaeser and Binus had made voluntary statements about their role in administering banned substances in the 1970s and 1980s.
Glaeser, who now works in Austria, told the court last week that he had given pills containing the banned drug Oral-Turinabol to swimmers he trained. He said the pills were handed to him by Binus.
Binus admitted he had given athletes tablets containing anabolic steroids but said he believed the dosages - a maximum of 1,000 milligrammes per year - had not been dangerous to their health.
Eleven swimmers who were listed as joint plaintiffs underwent medical examinations for the court. One woman has a benign liver tumour and other former athletes showed liver damage, extra body hair and deepening of the voice.
Judge Braeutigam rejected the argument that Binus and Glaeser did not know of the potential harm of the male hormones, saying that the entire range of side effects linked to women's use of anabolic steroids was known as early as 1977.
A decision about Glaeser's future as a coach in Austria will be taken later this week.
Juan Fernandez, the former of Mapei GB, was appointed Festina technical manager yesterday. He will take over team management from director Bruno Roussel, suspended by the International Cycling Union (UCI) during the Tour de France after he admitted supplying illegal drugs to riders.
The post of technical director is a newly-created one at Festina but a spokesman confirmed that in effect Fernandez has replaced Roussel, no longer with the team.
