Munich (Germany) (AFP)
Doctor Mark Schmidt, mastermind of the blood doping network dismantled in 2019 during Operation "Aderlass", confessed Tuesday during his trial in Munich, claiming to have acted "out of fascination and love for sport" and not by lure of profits.
In a statement read by his lawyers on the fifth day of the hearing, the doctor, who faces up to ten years in prison, claimed to have doped athletes since 2012, but did not reveal any names of athletes who have not not already mentioned in the survey.
Justice has already identified 23 of its clients, of eight different nationalities, mainly from the disciplines of Nordic skiing and cycling.
Several Austrian athletes and a coach have already been sentenced to suspended prison terms by the courts of their country, some have also been sanctioned by the sports authorities.
according to the indictment, Mark Schmidt doped athletes during the Winter 2014 and 2018 and Summer 2016 Olympic Games, but also on the Tour de France 2018, the Giro 2016 and 2018 and the Vuelta 2017, without talk about the 2017 and 2019 Nordic Ski Worlds.
- "I was not making a profit" -
The 42-year-old man, in preventive detention for 16 months, described himself Tuesday as a doctor "fascinated by high-level sport", and not by money: "In the end I was not making a profit, I 've always seen it as a hobby, "he says.
He says he asked each of his clients 5,000 euros per year for his blood manipulations, and sometimes received bonuses when athletes won races or medals.
But according to him, the costs of the clandestine laboratory, travel and hotel absorbed almost all the income.
The accused also referred to his activities as doctor for the German cycling teams Gerolsteiner and Milram, between 2007 and 2010. Although the two formations were dissolved after confirmed cases of doping, Mark Schmidt formally denied having been involved at the time in prohibited manipulations.
"Why I decided (in 2012 according to him) to practice blood doping, I do not remember it any more", he made read by his lawyers, "the fascination and the love of the sport were the drivers of this decision. Doping is the order of the day if we want to succeed ".
- "You had to think about it!"
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After hearing his testimony, the chair of the Sports Committee in the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) Dagmar Freitag reacted with amazement: "Practicing doping out of fascination and love for sport, you had to think about it!" she said.
"In this environment, acting for altruistic motives would be a great first. If he really liked sport, he would have put everything on the table, given the names of the people involved and expressed regret for having betrayed the clean athletes," said advanced the member.
Born into a family of sportsmen and himself a student of sports-studies section alpine skiing in his youth, Dr. Schmidt appears with four accomplices.
Three of his co-defendants, including his father, have already testified in court, in particular to explain their role in the operations of transporting and injecting blood to athletes at the venue of the competitions.
Hearings are scheduled until December and the verdict is expected to be known before Christmas.
The case first broke publicly in February 2019, when Austrian police raided the site of the Nordic Ski World Championships in Seefeld, Tyrol.
Mark Schmidt was arrested the same day by German police in Erfurt (center), as part of the operation dubbed by investigators "Aderlass" ("bleeding" in German).
© 2020 AFP