BERLIN (GERMANY) – A German court on Friday awarded a prison sentence of four years and 10 months to a sports doctor for masterminding a global network which helps athletes with blood doping for years at a stretch.
As part of “Operation Bloodletting”, police arrested the Nordic Ski World Championships in Austria in February 2019 as well as athletes hours before a sporting event.
Identified as Mark S, the defendant was found guilty on two dozen charges which are connected to helping 23 athletes from eight nations gain unfair advantage through performance-enhancing blood transfusions.
He is the first practising doctor in the country to get a significant jail term for doping.
When he was arrested, Mark did admit to doping, adding that he never put the health of athletes in jeopardy nor sought profits. Prosecutors said he mainly helped cross-country skiers and cyclists from the end of 2011.
He was prohibited to practice for three years.
Four accomplices were also found guilty of collecting and supplying blood.
“The judgement… is a milestone and has a signalling effect. It shows more than clearly that doping is the wrong way to go,” said Andrea Gotzmann, CEO of Germany’s Anti-Doping Agency NADA.
“For the first time, a physician active in competitive sports and his supporters are sentenced to a severe prison sentence and an occupational ban. Systematic doping in competitive sport is anything but a trivial offence.”