Athletes warned against supplements

Footballers were today warned to beware of taking dietary supplements after a player tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone.

Scientific experts believe that some dietary supplements taken by sports stars to boost muscle and bone development are contaminated with the steroid.

Michele Verroken, UK Sport’s director of drug-free sport, said: “We do not want any sportsmen or women put at risk of having a positive test by taking certain dietary supplements.

“I have no reason to think that this case is anything more than a player having taken a supplement. Anyone sophisticated enough to be using steroids will not be using nandrolone.”

The finding was the first time a professional footballer has tested positive for nandrolone in England. It is understood that the player is English and is at a club outside the Premiership.

The Football Association are currently investigating the positive test, which occurred within the last three months, and are keeping the identity of the player secret until the inquiry has been completed.

The FA are refusing even to reveal which division he plays in or his nationality.

The finding of 19-norandrosterone, a metabolite of nandrolone, was brought to light in UK Sport’s quarterly anti-doping report published today.

An FA spokesman said: “We can confirm that this is the situation and we have an investigation ongoing.”

The FA are treading very cautiously as positive nandrolone tests have been a source of huge controversy in the past.

The human body is thought to produce minute amounts of the substance naturally and several leading sports stars in the past have denied liability for positive tests.

In Britain, sprinters Linford Christie and Dougie Walker and hurdler Gary Cadogan have all tested positive in the past but were subsequently cleared by UK Athletics, though bans were later enforced by the International Association of Athletics Federations.

On the continent, several footballers have been banned, including last year the Netherlands international Jaap Stam just weeks after his transfer from Manchester United to Italian club Lazio.

As well as Stam, fellow Dutchmen Frank de Boer and Edgar Davids, Portugal’s Fernando Couto and Spain’s Josep Guardiola have been banned.

UK Sport’s overall figures showed 98.6% of tests between April and September this year produced negative results. A total of 4,116 tests were carried out during the period, including 978 at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester – the largest ever testing programme at an event in the UK.

The tests conducted by UK Sport – the body which manages the UK’s anti-doping programme – found that only 57 samples needed reporting for further investigation. Of these 25 were for stimulants, of which the vast majority were for substances confirmed as permitted medications, 19 were for anabolic agents and nine were for a refusal to take a test.

Bizarrely, an Indian weightlifter at the Commonwealth Games was stripped of his two gold medals after testing positive for strychnine – a fatal poison but which in small doses acts as a stimulant.

EPO, using blood and urine samples, was also tested for in Manchester. Overall, seven tests were reported for further investigation – just 0.7% of the total number of tests.

Verroken added: “The results yet again prove that the vast majority of UK athletes are competing without the use of banned substances.

“This is really pleasing for us as it indicates that the UK’s anti-doping programme is working – not only from the deterrent point of view, but also through the education programme that UK Sport runs for athletes.”