The Electronic Telegraph Friday 22 June 2001 Paul Hayward A GERMAN professor has proved the link between rogue elements in dietary supplements and positive tests for the anabolic steroid nandrolone. The findings, by Wilhelm Schanzer of the Institute of Biochemistry at the Sports University in Cologne, may explain the rash of nandrolone cases in athletics, football, lawn tennis and boxing and could produce legal chaos as athletes try to get bans overturned. Frank de Boer, Edgar Davids and Fernando Couto are among the A-list footballers who have tested positive for nandrolone - which increases muscle growth and strengthens bones - since British athletes Dougie Walker, Gary Cadogan, Linford Christie and Mark Richardson were caught in the first wave. Also apprehended were Jamaica's Merlene Ottey, tennis player Petr Korda, cyclist Phil Axe, Christophe Dugarry, from France's World Cup-winning team, and boxer Jon Thaxton. Prof Schanzer's supporters stress that his discovery does not establish innocence in all these cases - Christie was allegedly more than 100 times over the limit - but instead helps explain why so many sportsmen and women are still testing positive long after nandrolone hit the headlines. Dave Moorcroft, the head of UK Athletics, who was at the forefront of attempts to explain the upsurge, said: "There are some very sophisticated cheats. I'm not saying that other people can jump on this bandwagon. What we have here is a nandrolone-specific problem. This comes as a relief. In terms of guilt or innocence, it doesn't change a great deal, because the athlete is still responsible for what's in his body. But it does put the degree of guilt in some form of context." Prof Schanzer analysed "nutritional supplements that claimed to contain no forbidden substances" for anabolic-androgenic steroids. Volunteers were given urine tests before and after the trials. Positive tests were returned on three of the supplements, including one containing guarana, commonly available in health food shops as a herbal stimulant. "After administration of one capsule of each of the above," wrote Prof Schanzer in his summary, "all volunteers showed positive results for the nandrolone metabolite norandrosterone three to four hours after the capsules were taken." From Cologne, he said yesterday: "The problem will be solved if nutritional supplements are taken from the market. Many of them contain pro-hormones - that is the biggest problem. With hormones, you can get physiological levels of active steroids." Governing bodies, desperate to protect themselves against expensive lawsuits, were yesterday sticking to the agreed line that athletes alone are responsible for banned substances showing up in tests. A spokesman for FIFA said: "Nandrolone is on the list of banned substances and for that reason the sanctions against Davids and Couto are being upheld worldwide. But FIFA are constantly monitoring the situation." Giorgio Ranieri, spokesman for the International Amateur Athletic Federation, said: "We know there is this possibility. Not always, but it does exist. We can't always say the supplement is guilty. From our point of view it doesn't change the consequences. This is why Mark Richardson [whose ban was lifted] was asked to speak about the dangers of supplements to a seminar at the World Championships in Edmonton. "The 10-12 soccer players are saying that they took only supplements. The Italian soccer federation, the Olympic Committee, the league and doctors have come together to consider the danger of supplements." The other peril, for world sport, is that cheats will use Prof Schanzer's findings - he is expected to publish more extensive research soon - to conceal their guilt. There were 343 positive nandrolone tests in 1999 in all sports. In the same year, in the run-up to the Sydney Olympics, Australian customs officials seized record amounts of steroids. Moorcroft, who persuaded the IAAF to fund research by Prof Ron Maughan at Aberdeen University, said: "Cologne have taken it a stage further. Maybe this will get the message out. For athletes like Dougie Walker, it might provide a little peace of mind. This shows that some of them didn't do anything knowingly." Eamonn Condon www.RunnersGoal.com
