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Ullrich admits taking 'pills' in a disco Posted: Saturday July 06, 2002 6:00 AMFRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- German cycling star Jan Ullrich admitted Saturday taking pills in a disco the night before a doping test found him positive of amphetamines, insisting it was a "stupidity" and he was in no way seeking to improve his performance in sport. Speaking to reporters for the first time since the results of the June 12 became known, Ullrich said he had declined to have a second, or B test, and admitted to taking what he described as "two little pills" an acquaintance had given him in a disco. "I accept the positive results," the 1997 Tour de France winner told reporters in Frankfurt. "That means that for the first time in my long career, I am positive." Ullrich, who had been out sick recovering from a May 28 knee operation, insisted he had not taken the substance in an attempt to improve his cycling, but at a period of personal struggle he had been going through since his injury -- which has resulted in his first prolonged absences from competition in a decade. "I have never used banned substances to improve my performance," said Ullrich, who appeared tired as he faced reporters. The announcement by the 28-year-old German came on the opening day of this year's Tour de France and as doping scandals continue to shake the sport. Ullrich could face a ban from competing in the sport from six months to a year, said Sylvia Schenk. Germany's three-man sporting body is expected to rule on the matter within the coming weeks. Team Telekom stood by their star, saying while they did not condone the use of drugs under any circumstances, they understood that Ullrich was going through a personal struggle in dealing with his injury. "He took this substance in an extreme situation," said Olaf Ludwig, spokesman for Team Telekom. "In this sense, we don't view this as a case of doping." Unlike steroids, which build muscle mass, or the oxygen boosting EPO, amphetamines traditionally offer a short-term adrenalin boost. Cycling has been covered with a cloud of doping scandals, the latest coming when Stefano Garzelli was thrown off this year's Giro d'Italia after testing positive for the masking agent probenicid. He captured the event in 2000 and led the race when he was dismissed. In early April, Ullrich and Telekom team doctor Lothar Heinrich were cleared of all charges in connection with the 2001 Giro d'Italia scandal, where police raided hotel rooms and discovered numerous banned substances among cyclists. Ullrich declined to speculate that someone had plied him with the drugs to see his downfall, saying it was a personal issue between him and his friends and had nothing to do with the sport. "For me it is only important that I wasn't deceiving anyone by trying to overtake them using drugs," said Ullrich, insisting that the situation had only increased his resolve to get back on his bike and win a major competition again. Ullrich, four times the Tour de France runner-up, also admitted that he has frequented discos and bars seeking an out from his frustration at being laid up for an entire cycling season with the knee injury, which first surfaced in early January. On May 1, he was arrested and subsequently convicted of drunken driving. He described the incidents as an expression of his inability to cope with his health problem, which hit him in a year when he had vowed to defeat his rival Lance Armstrong in the tour. "I've been so successful recently, this is just a personal downfall and an error that I made as a human being," Ullrich said. But he vowed that he would be back on his bike to win another major competition. "I can't end my career like this." |
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