PtG Article 13.08.2010

Former agent admits to having provided drugs to athletes but pleads innocent to other charges

Although acknowledging having provided illegal drugs to eight athletes in his portfolio, former Austrian sports agent Stefan Matschiner denies having done so after August 2008, the time when the anti-doping law he is accused of breaking came in to place.

In a Vienna court on Thursday, Matschinger admitted that he had been providing cyclists Bernard Kohl and Marcus Zberg, triathlete Christina Huetthaler and five other unnamed athletes with EPO, testosterone, insulin and growth hormones but denied that this arrangement had been going on beyond August 2008 when doping was made illegal by law in Austria.The prosecutor’s witness, Cyclist Bernard Kohl contradicted this by stating that he and fellow cyclists Michael Rasmussen and Pietro Caucchioli had been blood doped by Matschiner in September 2008.

The case will continue on October 11 and if found guilty of facilitating a doping ring in Austria after August 2008, Matschinger risks up to three years of prison.

SOURCE: TAIWAN NEWS ONLINE