The Salt Lake Winter Olympics were plunged into further controversy yesterday following the revelation that one of the star athletes who won three gold medals had failed a drug test.
In the biggest drugs scandal to hit the Olympics since the 1988 Ben Johnson affair, Spanish officials confirmed that Johann Muhlegg, one of the most successful cross country skies of all time, had tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance only recently available on the market.
As final preparations were under way for a closing ceremony last night billed as a blowout party to celebrate the success of the Games, the scandal threatened to engulf the entire 17-day extravaganza.
Muhlegg (31), a German who competes for Spain, won gold in three cross country events: the 30km race on February 9th, the individual pursuit on February 14th and the 50km classic race on Saturday.
He failed a random test taken on Thursday, in between his second and third races.
His first urine sample was found to contain darbepoetin, a substance similar to the banned blood-boosting drug erythropoetin, or EPO, that enhances performance by increasing the body's capacity to deliver oxygen to muscles.
The new drug is not specified in the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) list of banned substances, but is believed to fall under the category of "erythropoietin and similar substances".
Muhlegg, who was questioned for more than an hour yesterday by the IOC's disciplinary committee, made no comment as he left the meeting. He was scheduled to be present at a second test on a "B" sample of urine which was to be conducted at the official IOC laboratory at 6.0 p.m. Irish time last night.
"As things stand he has tested positive, and we are awaiting the results of the B sample," the Spanish team doctor said.
After meeting Muhlegg, the IOC disciplinary commission will report to its executive board, which will decide how to act.
If the second test proves positive, the athlete could be stripped of all three gold medals and thrown out of the Games, although one IOC source said he risked losing only one, his 50km gold which followed his positive test.
Further sanctions, including a possible lengthy ban from the sport, would be left for the International Ski Federation to decide.
Muhlegg has the right to appeal, and Spain's secretary of state for sport, Juan Antonio Gomez Angulo, said his adopted country would back him.
Darbepoetin, a new wonder drug for kidney failure victims, is marketed in the US under the trade name Aranesp, and works by stimulating the body's production of haemaglobin which supplies oxygen to tissue.
Muhlegg's dope test is the latest controversy to hit the 2002 Games. Late on Saturday police were called in as hundreds of youths went on the rampage in the normally tranquil city centre, close to the hotel used as the headquarters by the IOC. Dozens of arrests were made as police restored order.
