In a very neat interview on German Television (why don't we have such
quality here?) Claudia Pechstein was able to express her side of the story.
I saw a strong, self-assured woman without nerves. We know her that way. Her
expression was convincing.
She assured that she had never taken doping and she apologized for lying
about her illness for withdrawing in Hamar.

She answered some questions I had raised below.
- She knew about the friday blood test on Saturday. On Saturday evening,
team leader Helge Jasch aksed her to come and gave her the outcomes.
Together with an ISU-proposal: Or to withdraw because of illness with the
promise to settle it later out of the publicity or to have an immediate,
preventive suspension (publicly announced of course). Being so overwhelmed,
they chose for the first option.
- Between her lines, I got the impression that the team doctor checked on
hemaglobin and hematocrit, but not on the reticulocytes value.
- The DESG-president, who was also interviewed, spoke of another proposal in
the course of the process. If Pechstein would end her career, the case could
be closed.
- Pechstein declined the offer for more medical checks, as her team was
convinced they would win the case at that point of time.
- A farmacologist said that he never had seen such high values and that
looking for a medical explanation would be pointless.
- Pechstein's lawyer talked about the defense they will be using: - there
will be a medical check; is it possible to suspend someone on indices only?;
is it OK that a skater should prove his innocence, instead of the ISU having
to prove the guilt?

So, IMO, a very juridical point of view. Suppose they win that and Pechstein
is released on such a minor detail. Could we be happy about that? How would
we look at her during the Vancouver Olympics? The DESG is right behind her.
It takes the risk that the supsicion on Pechstein will be transferred to the
whole German federation. Bad as it is, a lot of parallels with cycling a
couple of years ago come into my mind....

Marcel


----- Original Message -----
From: "Marcel Warnaar" <mwarnaar@...>
To: <Speed_skating@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 04, 2009 12:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Skate] Re: Claudia Pechstein suspended 2 years for doping...


>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Irene Postma" <speedskating@...>
> To: "Skate" <Speed_skating@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Saturday, July 04, 2009 9:36 AM
> Subject: Re: [Skate] Re: Claudia Pechstein suspended 2 years for doping...
>
>
> What I recall:
>
> There was a flu that had affected e.g. Daniela Ansch?tz. Then Claudia
> started and skated the first day, but it was not as good as expected!
> (with doping you would expect she would be better).
> That evening I saw her mother in the hall of the hotel, who told me that
> Claudia had a fever and that it looked like she was not going to start the
> next day.
>
> If someone has a heavy flu, could/would that not result in abnormal blood
> values?
>
> * No, that possibility was ruled out. See point 33 in the full report. The
> values that were found in Pechstein's blood had increased so much that the
> only possible alternative for blood doping was a congenital blood
> disorder.
> Pechstein was offered to have a medical examination to prove that she had
> a
> congenital blood disorder and she was allowed to skate before ending that
> examination. However, she refused that offer. Although the DESG-reaction
> says something different (see www.desg.de)
>
> In that case it's logical that neither Pechstein nor Mueller knew...
> So EITHER Pechstein AND some medical person and possibly coach are guilty
> Or the blood problem was caused by her having a flu.
>
> * The ISU tests with a machine and knows the outcomes very soon. I think
> they give the results quite soon to the skaters. Like: everything OK. As
> from former doping cases, it is known suspected results are communicated
> quite soon, mostly with a request to withdraw. But I don't know to whom?
> the
> skater? the coach? the federation official? Did Pechstein know the result
> of
> that Friday-sample before she started on Saturday? Taking the risk that
> another blood sample would be taken with showed the same pattern ? And of
> course, she was very upset when she found out later. It is not strange she
> felt empty in the weeks after and decided not to go America. Her definite
> decision not to start was on March, 5, the day that the official complaint
> arrived at the DESG.
>
> The DESG-defence seems to concentrate on juridical matters and to state
> that
> she was never positive in the past (of course not; that is why these
> Hamar-values were so strange).
>
> It would be wiser for Pechstein to be transparant. What has she been doing
> in that week before the WCh allround? Between the World Cup in Erfurt and
> the WCh in Hamar (where she is living?). What happened after that first
> blood sample? Who knew when? If someone else is to blame, nail him down.
> Otherwise, she will be the only one who suffers.
>
> The ISU is very transparant in its operating by putting the whole verdict
> on
> the web. Which gives it a lot of credibility IMO. It would benefit
> Pechstein
> if she put her version in public, with which she could take away the
> suspicion that something is still hidden. That is what is happening in
> cycling nowadays and that is why the mess is still not cleaned there.
>
> Marcel
>
>