Gatlin's coach sent THG syringe
Trevor Graham, the coach of Olympic 100 metres champion Justin Gatlin, admitted yesterday he had been the unidentified coach who sent a syringe of the designer steroid THG (tetrahydrogestrinone) to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
"I did it. As a coach it seemed the right thing to do at the time, and it still does," he said.
The receipt of the syringe in June last year touched off an international doping scandal.
Graham had never previously acknowledged he was the man who contacted USADA claiming to be a well-known athletics coach who had obtained a potent new designer drug which he said was being used by a number of leading athletes.
Scientists at the Olympic Analytical Laboratory in Los Angeles used the syringe to develop a test for the previously undetectable drug.
As a result, the Balco laboratory in California, owned by Victor Conte, was raided by agents from the US Internal Revenue Service criminal investigations unit and the San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force.
Subsequently Britain's European 100 metres champion Dwain Chambers, US shot put champion Kevin Toth, women's hammer champion Melissa Price, men's hammer thrower John McEwen, middle-distance runner Regina Jacobs and sprinter Kelli White have been banned or suspended for using the drug.
Greece to appeal weightlifter's test
Greek Olympic officials are to launch an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the positive doping test that cost weightlifter Leonidas Sampanis a bronze medal.
Sampanis (33) tested positive twice for testosterone two times over the legally permitted amount. He was stripped of the bronze medal he won in the 62kg weight category despite the IOC confirming that the testosterone came from outside the body.
Koreans want 'robbed' gold
South Korea have also appealed to the CAS to award Yang Tae-young with the gymnastics all-round gold medal after a scoring error robbed him off the title last week.
On Saturday, the gymnastics governing body FIG ruled that American Paul Hamm should not have been awarded the gold.
Despite the error, the FIG refused to redistribute the medals.
Minister defends Irish performance
Minister for Sport John O'Donohue yesterday hit back at criticism of Ireland's Olympic team, writes Grania Willis.
The Minister, speaking in Athens yesterday, said: "Back in 1997 we were spending in total €17million on sport in Ireland for that year. Now we are spending €110 million." He added: "It was never the case that people expected that we would see success in a period of four years. This programme is a programme which will deliver from a period of eight to 16 years."
Irish sailors have it all to do
The two remaining Irish crews competing at Agios Kosmos are struggling to take a top 10 placing, writes David O'Brien.
A series of five scores outside the the top 10 so far means Mark Mansfield and Killian Collins lie 17th as the Star keelboat discipline reaches the half way stage of the competition.
The men's 49er dinghy pairing of Tom Fitzpatrick and Fraser Brown have slipped to 16th as their 16-race event enters its final four rounds tomorrow.
Details of Tsekos raid revealed
The search of a warehouse used by the coach at the centre of a doping scandal involving Greece's star sprinters uncovered small amounts of anabolic steroids, a Greek government agency said yesterday.
A prosecutor and two inspectors from Greece's National Organisation of Medicines searched Christos Tsekos's offices and warehouse and took possession of the supplements.
"The supplements included materials that do not have a distribution licence from the agency," a statement said.
The agency, known as EOF, said more than 1,000 "units" of food supplements had ephedrine as their main ingredient.
"Small quantities of medicines that contained anabolic steroids" were also found in the warehouse, EOF said. The search was part of an inquiry into whether 2000 Olympic medallists Kostas Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou tried to avoid a doping test on the eve of the Games by staging a motorcycle accident.