Szabo may quit athletics after drug find
“I’m feeling terrible, I never felt so hunted in my life,” an emotional Szabo said last night.
“I’m so upset at what has happened that I’m considering giving up my sport,” she said.
Last weekend, border police stopped a car owned by Szabo and driven by a family friend during a routine patrol on the motorway at La Turbie, a village overlooking Monaco. They seized medical products suspected to be performance-enhancing.
The incident has reverberated across the Romanian media and Szabo said she is worried her clean reputation and illustrious career will suffer even though she knew nothing about the drugs.
The six-times world champion, now in the Pyrenees mountain resort of Font-Romeu to train for the world championships, was in Amsterdam when the incident occurred. The middle and long-distance runner and her coach Szolt Gyongyossy were returning from a month’s training in South Africa.
A French border police spokesman said this week the performance-enhancing drug Actovegin, a derivative of calf serum used to increase the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood, had been found in Szabo’s car.
“Our family friend who drove my car told me Actovegin was sent by a Romanian physiotherapist for Mihaela Botezan, who is in the team as 5,000 and 10,000-metre runner,” said Szabo.
On Wednesday, Botezan confirmed Actovegin was recommended and sent for her. Romanian team doctor Mioara Gonea, who is in Bucharest, said she used the opportunity to send various drugs from the country to Font-Romeu via Szabo’s car, but Actovegin was not among them.
Yesterday, Romanian athletics authorities said Botezan might be automatically suspended for two years.
Gyongyossy told Reuters that Szabo, 27, had lost her concentration during training and suffered a muscle strain that would keep her out of action for at least 10 days.
“All our staff are now trying to improve her mood as she had no connection with what happened,” Gyongyossy said by telephone. “We hope Gabi will prove in Paris (at the World Championships) that her reputation is unstained.”
Meanwhile Olympic chief Jacques Rogge urged sports leaders last night not to overreact in the wake of the crisis caused by the deadly SARS virus.
Mr Rogge warned federations not to discriminate against athletes from areas hit by the bug.
At a meeting between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and summer sports federations, IOC president Mr Rogge urged sports officials not to adopt an “over-zealous” approach.
“It may be that exceptional circumstances need exceptional measures,” he said. “But today, that is far too soon.”
Mr Rogge’s comments were made on the first day of an IOC Executive Board meeting in Madrid - the same week the Badminton World Championships were due to take place in Birmingham.
China has already cancelled the Cycling world track championships, which had been planned for Shenzen but will now take place in Stuttgart, and scrapped plans to stage this year’s women’s soccer World Cup.
But Mr Rogge urged officials not to panic and warned federations not to discriminate against Asians.
“Nobody knows what the situation will be in two weeks,” he said. “If governments have given approval (of travel) then there is no right to deny participation.”
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