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Uzbek coach fined for substance
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- An Uzbek track and field coach pleaded guilty Monday to trying to smuggle the performance-enhancing human growth hormone into Australia before the Olympics. Sergei Voynov fined $5,500 for trying to bring 15 vials of the banned substance into Sydney. HGH is undetectable using current doping tests. Under Australian drug trafficking laws, Voynov had faced a maximum fine of $55,000. Voynov's attorney, Clive Stern, told the court his client was using the drug to treat a skin disorder and that he did not know it was banned. Voynov, who sat next to an interpreter and did not speak during the hour-long hearing, stood at one point and removed a blond wig to show the magistrate that he was bald. Magistrate Kevin Maughan said the claim that an Olympic track and field coach did not know HGH was illegal "flies in the face of reality." Olympic officials have said they could withdraw Voynov's accreditation if it is determined he was improperly carrying HGH. Uzbek National Olympic Committee president Sabuirjan Ruziev said last week Voynov has a skin disorder called Alopecia capitis totalis, or total baldness of the scalp, and that Voynov had treatment with the drug Somatotropine before coming to Sydney. Prosecutors said Voynov had brought a seven-week supply of the drug to the Olympics, which last two weeks. Customs department spokesman Leon Bedington declined to comment on the severity of the sentence, and neither Voynov nor his attorney spoke after the hearing. It was not immediately clear how Voynov would pay the fine. Stern told the court Voynov earns the equivalent of $330 per year.
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