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European Champs, Drug Update, Actovegin Found Earlier we linked to a story that Swedish authorities had closed their investigation into a bag of syringes (photo here) found at the European Track Champs (The labels on the drugs were reportedly in Russian so fingers were pointed at the Russian team). Subsequent media reports said that the drugs found were just vitamins and not banned substances. We assumed the matter was closed. However, we didn't read close enough, as other outlets reported that one of the drugs found was actovegin, which is a banned blood boosting drug (for more on actovegin see this cycling thread and this one (which shows all the drugs the cheats use)), but is not an illegal drug in Sweden. (Actovegin was banned in 2000 by the IOC and is the drug reporters say they found in the trash of the US Postal team. It is also the drug found in a car owned by Gabriela Szabo). As a result of the drug not being illegal in Sweden, Swedish legal authorities could not continue their legal investigation. However, the drug testers are not done looking into the manner or with their tests from the Europeans. The testers have reported that 23 athletes at the Europeans had suspiciously high haemoglobin levels. We're not sure if there is a link between actovegin and haemoglobin levels, but the testers are supposed to announce their results tomorrow September 1st.. The real question is whether the testers can detect actovegin in the blood. We know of no one ever testing positive for actovegin. Discuss this is in this thread on the message boards.
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