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Tag: Anstein Gjengedal

  • Anti-Doping Norway Seeks 14-Month Suspension for Johaug, Case Ongoing

    Anti-Doping Norway Seeks 14-Month Suspension for Johaug, Case Ongoing

    Norway's Therese Johaug racing to a 28.2-second win in the Toblach World Cup 10 k classic in December 2015. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
    Norway’s Therese Johaug racing to a 28.2-second win in the Toblach World Cup 10 k classic in December 2015. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

    The doping case of Norwegian cross-country skier Therese Johaug has come to at least a temporary conclusion, with Anti-Doping Norway recommending a suspension of the star athlete for 14 months.

    Johaug tested positive for the steroid clostebol in a urine sample taken in mid-September. She explained in a press conference that she had been using a lip cream to treat a severe sunburn, and the drug — purchased and provided to her by a team doctor from a pharmacy in Livigno, Italy — contained the banned medication, which is a common ingredient in skin treatments.

    “We have recommended a 14-month ban and that will be sent to the disciplinary panel of the Norwegian Olympic Committee,” Anti-Doping Norway official Niels Kiaer told Reuters. “I expect they will have a hearing in February.”

    The proposed ban would be retroactive to Oct. 18 and last until Dec. 18, 2017, two months before the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

    NRK reports that the casefile and the recommendation from Anti-Doping Norway will be sent to the Norwegian Olympic Committee, and that Johaug has three weeks to provide her own comment and defense to the disciplinary panel.

    Until that panel issues a decision, Johaug will retain her provisional suspension. It is appearing increasingly unlikely that she will compete at World Championships in Lahti, Finland, in February.

    Johaug had tried to defend herself by saying that she had trusted the judgement and knowledge of the team doctor, Fredrik Bendiksen, and thus had not felt the need to check the ingredients of the medication against the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List herself.

    But Anti-Doping Norway was not convinced that she was blameless. Kaier told the Associated Press that “she could have avoided the case by checking the medicine,” since the product is required to be marked with a sticker indicating that it contained a banned substance in order to be sold in Italy. The World Anti-Doping Code has a requirement of ‘strict liability,’ meaning an athlete is responsible for whatever enters their body, whether it is intended to enhance performance or not.

    However, Anti-Doping Norway didn’t completely reject Johaug’s story. The 14-month ban they recommend is a reduction compared to the four-year ban which is standard in intentional doping cases. Anstein Gjengedal, the head of Anti-Doping Norway’s prosecution panel, told NRK that the reduction was because they believed Johaug had not intended to dope.

    Johaug indicated in a Norwegian Ski Federation press release that she will fight the recommended suspension.

    “I take this with a heavy heart, but I accept the circumstances as they are right now,” she said. “I am focused on whats most important, which is working toward a full acquittal. I look forward to a thorough and full treatment of this case as quickly as possible.”

    Anti-Doping Norway wrote that the Bendiksen might be guilty of “negligence,” and that the investigation against him would proceed.

    “So far in this process I have focused on being thorough and honest,” Bendiksen said in the Norwegian team press release, noting that he had been expecting an investigation. “I have already given a detailed statement both to Anti-Doping Norway and during the Ski Federation’s press conference last Thursday. I will continue to be available for Anti-Doping Norway so that all sides of the matter receive adequate attention.”

    The Associated Press translated a reaction from Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk on Twitter, saying she looked forward to responses from the International Ski Federation (FIS) and WADA, and ending with a hashtag that translates to opening a bag of popcorn.

  • Johaug Handed 2-Month Provisional Suspension While Investigation Ongoing

    Johaug Handed 2-Month Provisional Suspension While Investigation Ongoing

    Therese Johaug during a press conference on Thursday announcing her positive doping test.
    Therese Johaug during a press conference last week announcing her positive doping test.

    Norwegian cross-country ski star Therese Johaug has been handed a two-month provisional suspension over her use of the banned steroid clostebol.

    Anti-Doping Norway, who ordered the out-of-competition doping test on Sept. 16, has completed its initial assessment of the case and confirmed that Johaug’s ‘B’ sample also showed the presence of the steroid. It has referred the case to a Norwegian Olympic Committee hearing panel, and in the meantime issued Johaug a two-month provisional suspension.

    Johaug, the winner of two overall World Cup titles as well as several Olympic and World Championship gold medals, had initially declined a voluntary provisional suspension. Her lawyer said at the time that she was completely innocent.

    Johaug admitted to using a lip cream containing the drug to treat a sunburn, but said that she had asked her team doctor whether it contained any banned substances and that he had replied ‘no’. Thus she felt that the blame should be on the doctor, not herself.

    Her refusal to take a voluntary suspension signaled that she would be fighting the charges completely.

    Anti-Doping Norway, however, disagreed with her assessment of blame. The head of its Prosecution Committee, Anstein Gjengedal, said in a press release that Johaug “cannot be said to have acted without fault.”

    Though the team doctor, Fredrik Bendiksen, apparently gave her faulty information, athletes are completely responsible under the World Anti-Doping Agency Code for all substances which enter their body.

    “She has ingested a banned substance,” Genjedal told state broadcaster NRK. “And an athlete has a rather strict liability for it… It’s in the [Norwegian Olympic Committee] statutes that one is obliged to investigate what one takes…. And we believe that should have been done better than it was in this case.”

    Because the Prosecution Committee decided that Johaug bore some of the responsibility for using the medication, she is subjected to a provisional suspension while the investigation is ongoing.

    “The suspension means that the athlete can not participate in competition and organized training,” Gjengedal said in the Anti-Doping Norway’s press release.

    The role of the Prosecution Committee, according to the press release, is only to decide whether a case should be shelved or be sent to a hearing panel. Gjengedal, the head of the committee, served as a prosecutor before becoming Oslo’s chief of police for 12 years. Also on the committee are a professor of endocrinology and a professor of pharmacology.

    Gjengedal asserted in the press release that the Prosecution Committee had no position on the ultimate suspension which should be given, and would wait for the adjudication committee to submit its recommendation. He told NRK that he hoped the Norwegian Olympic Committee investigation would be completed by the time the provisional suspension expires, on Dec. 18.

    But sports lawyer Gunnar-Martin Kjenner told Norwegian state broadcaster NRK that because of the complexity and high profile nature of the case, the final recommendation may take months. He predicted that it would not arrive until the new year. Until then, Johaug may be issued further provisional suspensions, two months at a time.

    Johaug will be able to appeal the suspension to the Norwegian Olympic Committee’s appeals board.

    Meanwhile, Anti-Doping Norway has also opened a case against Bendiksen, as it is also against their code for doctors to prescribe banned substances to athletes.