Marcus Yam for The New York Times
Christian Hesch, a runner, said he used a banned substance for an injury. Then he kept winning.
With one end of the rubber band between his teeth, Christian Hesch cinched the tourniquet tight around his biceps. The thick veins in his forearm quickly surfaced, and he carefully grabbed the syringe.
Hesch, 33, a competitive runner, had bought the banned blood booster erythropoietin, known as EPO, at a pharmacy in Tijuana, Mexico, and was driving home to Hollywood, Calif. He ordinarily preferred to do push-ups to prime his veins, but he did not want to pull off the highway so close to Tijuana.
With one hand on the wheel, he recalled later, he slowly inserted the needle into his forearm. He pressed the plunger into the barrel and forced the clear liquid into his vein. After removing the needle, he put down the syringe and rubbed his finger over the puncture mark. After three years, he was proud that he had never left a bruise.
Hesch, a self-described "profligate road racer," said that over two years, beginning in August 2010, he injected himself with EPO 54 times before an empty EPO vial was found in his bag and he was reported to antidoping officials. In that time, he won nearly $40,000 in prize money in more than 75 races, including international competitions, United States championships and local road races.
"You get a little money at one race, maybe $1,500 at another," Hesch said. "And it adds up quickly."
Last week, the United States Anti-Doping Agency released details of what it described as a sophisticated doping scheme involving Lance Armstrong, one of many cases in recent years that have linked star athletes to doping. Hesch's story illuminates a different end of the sports doping spectrum, away from the power, money and glamour of Tour de France champions, home run kings and Olympic gold medalists.
Hesch, who has been a competitive runner since 2001, said he wanted to publicly admit to doping for the first time because he was facing punishment from antidoping officials. His justification for doping stemmed from this harsh reality: A few runners obtain lucrative shoe contracts and compete in a handful of high-profile, televised races; the rest are ordinary weekend runners. On Saturday mornings they lace up their running shoes and slip on dry-fit T-shirts like anyone else.
Hesch exists somewhere in the middle. He supports himself running full time without a sponsorship by cherry-picking road races across the country, favoring the ones with the largest purses and the least competitive fields.
This job does not come with workers' compensation. In May 2010, Hesch was cross-training on his bicycle along Highway 1 in California between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay when he was hit by a car.
"It was one of those instances I should have been dead," Hesch said.
He picked himself off the road and received only six stitches to his left elbow, a few deep bruises, minor road rash and a dislocated shoulder. He was able to walk away from the accident but was not able to train adequately for nearly five months.
For the fall racing season, he decided he deserved some extra help to get back on track.
"My justification was that if I used it for three weeks, was running three weeks after that, then I'll race in another two to three weeks, and, theoretically, I'll have all the benefits out of my system," he said.
EPO is a hormone that stimulates red blood cell production and, thus, oxygen-carrying capacity. Quietly obtaining it in Southern California was easy, Hesch said, and cheap.
He made the two-hour drive to Tijuana three times. On this first visit, another runner recommended pharmacies that other Southern Californian runners preferred. But since then he has chosen to find his own.
He bought a month's supply: 18 vials holding 1 cubic centimeter of concentrated EPO for $400. Athletes say they feel dramatic effects after six doses, or six vials, said Dr. Michael Ashenden, director of the Science and Industry Against Blood doping research organization.
In the privacy of a bathroom stall, Hesch held the vials against his inner thigh, secured them under his shorts with plastic wrap and walked back across the border. On the next two trips he simply stuffed the vials into his pockets.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
The Runner Christian Hesch Describes Doping With EPO
Dengan url
https://suporterfanatikos.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-runner-christian-hesch-describes.html?m=0
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
The Runner Christian Hesch Describes Doping With EPO
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
The Runner Christian Hesch Describes Doping With EPO
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar