Sprinter cries dope sabotage
Greek sprinter Dimitris Regas has tested positive for a banned substance but suggested yesterday he was the victim of sabotage. The 400-meter runner issued a statement confirming that a sample he gave at the National Track and Field Championship at the Olympic Stadium in Athens on June 13 has come back positive for a banned substance, yet he strongly denies that he has used drugs. The 21-year-old did not name the substance but reports suggest that it is methyltrienolone, an anabolic steroid very similar to the designer drug THG, which was at the center of the Balco scandal. This is the same substance as the one that 11 weightlifters and swimmer Yiannis Drymonakos allegedly used. «I never thought it necessary to use banned substances because my only goal in sport was to make my parents and everyone who believed in me proud,» he said in a written statement. «I underline the fact that I knew that I would have to undergo a doping test on the particular day,» he added. «Unfortunately, others knew about it as well. They are the people that, with this act, are trying to establish a climate of fear among Greek athletes ahead of the Beijing Olympics.»
