Long-distance runner Domínguez has won a steady stream of medals at major competitions ever since taking bronze at the 1998 European championships in the 5,000 metres. Probably the high-point of her career came 11 years later, when she won the 3,000-metre steeplechase gold at the Berlin World championships. The low point was in 2010, when she was arrested for allegedly peddling illegal substances as part of a massive doping ring. But she notched up another victory a few months later, being cleared of wrongdoing and exposing the Guardia Civil as a band of confused Keystone Kops. … [Read more...] about Marta Domínguez
Marta Dominguez
Spain’s doping habit threatens to sully golden year
Another Civil Guard doping bust and another sports star is suspected of having cheated their way to the top. This time, it is Marta Domínguez, the world steeplechase champion, whose house was raided on December 9 to reveal enough illegal doping products, including EPO, for her to be suspected of supplying other athletes, Spanish media has reported. Domínguez was one of 14 people, mainly from the world of athletics, who were arrested as part of “Operation Galgo” (she was later released pending investigation). Others included her trainer César Pérez, the highly regarded coach Manuel Pascua and former 3,000m runner Alberto García. But it is the apparent fall from grace of Domínguez, 35, … [Read more...] about Spain’s doping habit threatens to sully golden year
Spanish athletes drop the baton ahead of 2012
For any athlete, the unequivocal backing of the head of a national body charged with overseeing the sport to which you have dedicated your life is one of those things surely taken for granted: when King Canute had a hard time of it holding back the waves, a spin doctor with the gyrating power of the planets would have been required to assure the monarch’s subjects that all would come good in the return leg - perhaps a rematch staged under floodlights. It must then have come as some surprise to Spain’s athletes when the country’s Athletics Federation (RFEA) president, José María Odriozola, laid into his charges who had competed at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona. Odriozola’s … [Read more...] about Spanish athletes drop the baton ahead of 2012