Last Year's European XC Champ Alemayehu Bezabeh Admitted He Was Just About to Transfuse a Bag of Blood

By LetsRun.com
December 13, 2010

Title: Alemayehu Bezabeh admitted that he was just about to transfuse a bag of blood

Headline: “(Bezabeh) admitted to me that he was about to open up a bag, and when I told him that this was doping and that he couldn’t be on the team, he was shocked,” Odriozola explained.

“On Thursday morning,” recounted José María Odriozola, we started to get the news of what was happening (with Operation Galgo).  We had no idea.  I was up till midnight and then I left for Albufeira with the cross country team, but before that Bezabeh and his agent, Miguel Mostaza, came to see us.

“Bezabeh admitted to me that he had had his blood removed (and put in a bag) on November 15 and that when he was about to put it back in with Alberto León (the former mountain bike specialist also implicated in the doping scandal), the police asked him what he was doing.  He told me that he was just about to tap the bag, and when I told him that this was doping and that he couldn’t be on the team, he was shocked.”

Odriozola said that he thinks the former Ethiopian is a victim in this whole thing.  “He opened up about a lot and it was a really difficult decision (to leave him off the team) because it seemed like he was a victim here.  Apparently Pascua had told him to not tell Mostaza anything.”

The president spent the weekend with the Spanish team that won six medals (three individual medals and three team medals) at the European Cross Country Championships.  “I want to recognize the members of the team because they came through in this difficult time, especially considering that we were without Bezabeh and Rosa Morató,” he said.    

More: Marta Domínguez: "I've Never Dealt Drugs."

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