At the gates of the Olympic Games (Olympic Games) in Paris, Spanish sport reunites with an old, familiar and disturbed face, a particularly disturbed face: that of doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, a name linked to the history of doping in elite national athletics. His name is linked to the operations against Puerto and Galgo. doping Fuentes has previously cast serious doubt on the use of doping at the 92nd Barcelona Olympics. Now, in statements recorded by a secret camera, Fuentes is back to cast further doubt on that suspicion.

This situation even points to state doping.

First, the context. Fuentes is a former witness of national sport. A gynecologist by training, his name has been associated with elite sport for decades. Also with controversy. He was tried for doping in Operation Puerto, his name was linked to that of former cyclist Jan Ullrich, expelled from the Tour de France, and in the past, for example in 2021, he had made occasional statements in the category of media bomb. In an interview with journalist Jordi Évole, he said: “I know that some athletes with medals in Barcelona 92 ​​resorted to doping.”

Now he is back in the headlines. Although in a strange way. What brought him back to the spotlight were some statements he made to a group of investigative journalists using hidden cameras in 2021. Months ago, his words reached the German ARD, currently at the door of the Paris Olympics, which included them in its documentary “Secret Substance Doping: Dirty Games”.

The piece will premiere tomorrow but we know some of its content thanks to the advanced chronicles in German media such as Sportschau or Kicker and the reproduction in Spain of other sports media such as As, Marca or Relevo.

A clear order. This is what Fuentes claims to have received from the Spanish government in 1992: clear orders. The doctor’s order, as quoted in the record, is: “Do what you have to do, but we want medals.” Moreover, the doctor assures that the guidelines come with only two restrictions: first, that there should be no “positive tests”; second, that there should be “no health problems that could harm those who are positive.”

With these wicks, there are already those who speak of “State doping” in the background of the Barcelona 92 ​​Olympic Games, a transcendent event for Spain at a political and sporting level, where Spanish athletes rose to sixth place in the rankings, with 22 Perseids, 13 of which were gold.

Going into detail. This is not the only pearl left by Fuentes, now 69 years old and who, according to Sportschau, believes that he spoke to journalists interested in Spanish sports successes in recent years. During the conversation he would assure that he would work for four years “working in the shadows”, a strategy so that he could work “freely, without pressure or oppression”. He even spoke of the system that was followed after the Los Angeles of 1984 and the selection of Barcelona as the Olympic venue in 1986: very young talents were recruited, given technical training and “medically” assisted, so that they could “exert themselves” at their best.

When we look at the eastern countries“We copied the system of the Eastern Bloc countries. We had money to exchange information with East German, Polish, Russian, Czech doctors from all the Eastern countries. And we bought the information with dollars,” he says in the minutes published by Sportschau.

The method chosen would be blood doping, as it was “safer, cleaner and easier”. And although EPO was “not so necessary”, “it was there.” Fuentes does not limit himself to sharing information. He also mentioned names, according to Sportschau, including the award-winning athlete and Chief of the Spanish Olympic team for Paris 2024, Cayetano Cornet. In his case, to be more precise, he is talking about “growth hormones, testosterone and anabolic steroids.”

not so new. Fuentes’ words made headlines in Germany and Spain, but in reality they are not entirely new. This is not the first time that Barcelona 92 ​​has been overshadowed. In 2021, when the statements shared by ARD were obtained, Fuentes spoke at length about his career in an interview with ‘Lo de Évole’. In the past, he had claimed that he had never committed the “crime” of doping and left sharp headlines about the 92 Games: “I know that some athletes who won medals at Barcelona 92 ​​resorted to doping.”

“I used doping drugs before they were banned, and when they were banned I turned to others to stay out of the dangerous line. The system wanted me to do it, I worked for the Government in the 80s but I didn’t do it. In 2004 he wants to do it again. It was a breakthrough,” explained the doctor, avoiding to name teams or athletes “for fear of prosecution”, but at least one of them missed, as it is now: he offered the runner Fermín Cacho “the treatments he did at that time”.

Cover image | Wikipedia (Nikolai Karaneschev)

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