A few weeks before the Olympic Games in Paris, ARD is causing a stir with an explosive revelation. A video shows the notorious doping doctor Eufemiano Fuentes reporting on a comprehensive fraud scheme at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.
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- The doping doctor Eufemiano Fuentes reports on a comprehensive doping system at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.
- The then 400-meter runner Cayetano Cornet, now Chef de Mission of the Spanish Olympic teams, is said to have received doping substances such as hormones and anabolic steroids.
- Fuentes describes how young athletes were prepared technically, physically and medically for peak performance over a period of years.
When it comes to doping, the name of one particular doctor comes up again and again: Eufemiano Fuentes. He was partly responsible for Jan Ullrich's cheating. The Spaniard has also been linked to Rafael Nadal from time to time in recent years.
According to his own statements, however, the extent of his work is much greater. In an ARD documentary published on Thursday, Fuentes describes how he ran a comprehensive system around the Olympic Games in Barcelona.
"The government said: 'Do what you have to do'," Fuentes is quoted as saying in the video, which was produced as part of the film project "Geheimsache Doping: Schmutzige Spiele". According to the video, Fuentes had already come clean about the events in 2021. The interview with Fuentes was conducted by an international team of investigative journalists under false pretenses in a hotel in Madrid.
Four years of preparation in the shadows
Fuentes reported that he had worked in secret for four years to avoid being associated with the successes of 1992. Promising up-and-coming athletes were selected years in advance and were trimmed for top performance through technical, physical and medical preparation.
"We copied the system from the Eastern Bloc countries," Fuentes continued. The Spanish government had made it clear that medals were the goal, without positive doping tests or health problems that could harm the athletes. Blood doping had been his preferred method, but other techniques had also been used.
Burdens for Spain's head of the Olympic delegation
Fuentes' statements regarding the then 400-meter runner Cayetano Cornet are particularly explosive. He had been administered "growth hormones, testosterone and anabolic steroids". Cornet, who has been chef de mission of the Spanish Olympic teams since 2006, is now under massive pressure as he is also due to take on this role in Paris.
Spain won 13 gold, seven silver and two bronze medals at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, finishing sixth in the medals table. Among the Spanish gold medal winners were young football talents such as Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique.
Meanwhile, the Spanish National Olympic Committee (COE) denies the accusations. "We reject any accusation aimed at calling into question the cleanliness, integrity and transparency of Spanish Olympic sport, and preferably even more so when such an accusation is based on statements made by a person whose career in sport is clearly discredited," the COE announced a few days before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris.
