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• Details on the Belgian doping positives |
Details on the Belgian doping positives March 6, 2002, Brussels, Belgium In January, the Belgian triathlon and duathlon world was stunned by the report of a handful of positive drug tests. The athletes - Philippe Braems, Erik Thijs and Fabian Magné - were suspended and punished after testing positive for stimulants or, in one case, the steroid nandrolone. These were the first positives recorded by triathletes or duathletes in Belgium, Belgian Triathlon Federation officials said. We thought we'd talk with Jean Moreau and Jul Clonen - technical directors for the French and Flemish federations, respectively - about how the testing process works in Belgium and about the specifics of these cases. A couple of quirks to the Belgian triathlon world that you need to understand: Belgium has two halves to its federation, French and Flemish. Also, the Belgian government conducts random drug tests at races, as does the federation. The tests are separate and the federation is not told when the government will be testing athletes. Magné, 39th at Ironman Austria last year, tested positive at the half-Ironman distance Triathlon Brasschaat in June, Moreau and Clonen said. Thijs also turned in a positive test at Brasschaat, where he placed fourth, they said. Thijs' race results last year also included an eighth at the Triathlon Kapelle-op-den-Bos. Braems had a successful season in duathlon last year, finishing second in the Duathlon Ruddervoorde and seventh at Powerman Luxembourg and Powerman Belgium, among other results. He tested positive at the Belgian short-course duathlon championships at Avelgem in June, which he won, Clonen and Moreau said. In all cases, the athletes were disqualified and had to return any prize money. Nico Huybrechts, second to Braems in the Belgian championships by less than a minute, was named the new champion. TRIBIZ: How far into the process have you gotten with the positive test results? Have all the athletes been notified and have they appealed the decision to the federation? JEAN MOREAU/JUL CLONEN: Our three positive athletes were tested positive by the government. The government only advised us [at the] end [of] December with a letter. They suspended the athletes. "In the end of December, the government sent us a letter telling [us] two athletes were caught positive - one at the Belgian championship duathlon in Avelgem and one at the triathlon in Brasschaat," they said. "Later we received a new letter [that] one other athlete was caught positive at the half-Ironman in Brasschaat. "The athletes were immediately banned from all races." Clonen and Moreau said the athletes have not appealed. TRIBIZ: Which drugs were detected by the tests? JC/JM: Philippe Braems was caught for amphetamines [and] banned 18 months; Erik Thijs was caught for ephedrine [and was suspended for] six months; Fabian Magné was caught for nandrolone [and] banned 18 months, six with suspension. They said the drugs were detected in urine samples. TB: How often does your federation do drug tests? How many times can a Belgian triathlete or duathlete expect to be tested in a year? JC/JM: Belgian triathetes and duathletes are tested during training and races. We are doing three tests a year during training (each time two athletes), and four drug tests during races (each time three athletes). We are not only testing the elites, but also one age-grouper each time. The government is also making independent tests during at least three races (Belgian championships [for] triathlon and duathlon, several distances and age-groupers). They test up to five to seven athletes each time. Moreau and Clonen said the government tests are considered an extra control: "Not even the federations know when the control is taking place." The Belgian federation, meanwhile, plans to conduct out-of-competition tests this spring. They said they worry that media reports of a larger number of possible positive test results could cast a negative light on Belgian athletes in the coming season, even though they said the athletes are often tested. Clonen and Moreau said the federation’s discipline commission will meet this week to determine what further punishments might be levied against the athletes. ----- Bright lights, big night, for Belgian triathletes November 8, Antwerp, Belgium (www.slowtwitch.com): Even though Belgian triathlon's biggest star, Luc Van Lierde, shocked everyone a month ago with his decision to withdraw from the Hawaii Ironman, the whole sport will be celebrating -- Van Lierde included -- on Saturday night. That's when the Belgian Triathlon Federation's "Night of Triathlon" draws more than 500 triathletes, sponsors and media to Antwerp for its annual gala, a tradition since 1986. Each of the winners of each Superprestige event last season, in both triathlon and duathlon, will be honored, and 224,000 francs -- close to $5000 -- will go out in prize money for the series leaders. Triathletes have to race in five of the 10 events to be in the running for series points. "We will also honor all the differnt athletes with good international results," said federation president Willy Luyckx. "Those are Kathleen Smet (winner of the European Triathlon Championships), Luc Van Lierde (second in St. Croix), Dirk van Gossum (winner of Ironman Lanzarote), Karel Blondeel (masters winner of the European Championships) and Florence Crowet (7th in Ironman Austria)." Van Lierde may not have delivered on defending his 1999 Hawaii title, but the Belgians don't care. This Saturday, they're dressing up in black-tie anyway. ----- Van Lierde contracts with a management company November 3, Brussels, Belgium (www.slowtwitch.com): Belgium's superstar triathlete, Luc Van Lierde, has signed on with SEM, a major sports management firm, according to the Belgian website, Kjerag.com. The company handles sponsorship, financial and legal arrangements for some of Belgium's other top athletes, including Frank Vandenbroucke, the cyclist who won the Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1999, and Luc Nilis, one of the country's top football players. Best known as the 1996 and 1999 Hawaii Ironman champion, Van Lierde was the talk of Kona last month after he suddenly left the island. The day before the October 14 event, Van Lierde left his sponsors to make the announcement that he was withdrawing for personal reasons. Those reasons, it turned out, involved Van Lierde's longstanding choice to make his own deals in the sponsorship world. The resulting pressures and frustrations of doing business got in the way of his training, keeping him from a proper mental build-up to defending his title in Kona. In Van Lierde's absence, the race was won by Canada's Peter Reid, also the 1998 champ (and second to Van Lierde last year). According to Kjerag.com, "It is our intention to support Luc from A to Z," said SEM's Bary De Geyter. ----- Belgium's Callebaut is top Euro age-grouper July 9, Stein, Netherlands (www.slowtwitch.com): Thirty-seven-year-old Johan Callebaut, once one of Belgium's top triathlhetes, conceded to his age today as he raced and won the open (age-group) portion of the Essent European Championships Triathlon 2000. "I had hoped only to win my age-group, and had no idea of winning overall," he said. "That's the surprise of these kinds of races. I like the international ambiance." Callebaut won in 2:04:14, to Hungary's Tamas Kiptak (2:04:46). Women's winner was the Netherlands' Sione Jongstra, who beat Germany's Daniela Preukschat by 22 seconds. The masters (40+) divisions also had a Belgian men's winner -- Karl Blondeel, eight times a national champion in his prime -- and a Dutch women's winner, Marijke Zeekant, who still races long-distance and team events as an elite. The four were the best among 350 age-groupers from 32 countries. They raced on the cool Saturday morning under cloud cover. Callebaut found the course challenging, and contrary to the all-flat terrain that Holland is known for. In the south, where Limburg touches the German and Belgian borders, there are hills, and Callebaut used them to his favor. "I didn't know I was first, because there were masters in front of me," he said. "But on the last hill, I knew I was close. The bike and run courses were both hard, but they were fair because there was no drafting for us. I don't do the ITU or the Belgian prestige races because of the drafting." Callebaut's grandest moment as an elite came in 1996, when Simon Lessing won the European Championships in Echtenach, and he finished 23rd. Blondeel, 39 (but 40 by the ETU age system), also has a long past: He said he started in the sport after he saw Julie Moss crawl in the infamous Ironman telecast. Three weeks ago, he finished second in his age-group, 35-39, in the Nice Triathlon/ITU World Long-Distance Championships. (In Stein, he raced 40+ because he is 40 this year). Zeekant, 43, was racing her first European Championships. She was a 1988 Olympian in rowing. ------ Gaag, Henning square off in ETU again Luc Van Lierde, Belgium's Ironman Triathlon World Championships winner in October, was named his country's "Sportsman of the Year" in December. But now comes even more good news: By a vote of the country's sports journalists, he has earned an even bigger accolade, "Sports Personality of the Year 1999". ------ Luc Van Lierde is Belgium "Sportsman of the Year 1999" Luc Van Lierde, the two-time Hawaii Ironman winner -- most recently in October -- was today announced as the "Sportsman of the Year" in Belgium.
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