Vienna (AFP)
Austrian founder Max Hauke, who has already been suspended for four years by his country's anti-doping agency, was sentenced to five months in prison and a fine of 480 euros for "serious sports fraud" on Wednesday in Innsbruck.
The 27-year-old, who pleaded guilty to taking growth hormones and blood doping, may appeal the conviction.
Hauke admitted to having used blood doping from April 2016 until his arrest last February at the Nordic World Ski Championships in the Austrian resort of Seefeld. He was arrested with three other athletes on the sidelines of these Worlds when he self-transfused a pocket of 100 ml of blood.
"I knew I was talented and I thought that to get to the top you had to get into it," said the athlete, who apologized for his behavior.
Max Hauke and Austrian cyclist Stefan Denifl were the first athletes to win this summer a suspension of 4 years following the revelations of the case Aderlass ("bleeding" in German).
This case is based on the German doctor Mark Schmidt, arrested on February 27 at his office in Erfurt (Germany), and suspected of having supplied at least 21 sportsmen of eight nationalities and five different sports, according to the Munich public prosecutor's office .
© 2019 AFP