Estonian skier used cocaine undetected before final race of career
Due to a system error, an Estonian skier's use of cocaine ahead of a competition went undetected until after he had retired, Delfi Sport wrote.
Traces of cocaine were found in a doping sample submitted by Kaarel Kasper Kõrge, a cross-country skier, in August 2024, but these were only found after he had retired from competition, and only published this week.
"I admit that the use of the substance occurred, at a party. It was a clear mistake. I was aware that it was a prohibited substance, and I understand that as an athlete I am responsible for my behavior at all times, regardless of the situation. I take responsibility for what happened and regret it," Kõrge, who has now relocated to Australia, commented on the matter.
Estonian Anti-Doping and Sports Ethics Foundation (EADSE) lead investigator Remo Perli told Delfi the ADAMS system, the central database used by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), is configured so that it automatically sends out notification of a positive test to all contacts entered into the system – both to us and to WADA personnel."
Perli noted that records show that when that notification should have been sent, on September 4, 2024, it did not reach either organization.
Four doping samples EADSE took in 2024 returned positive for banned substances, with the other three aside from Kõrge's being from bodybuilders Andrei Abrossimov and Regina Krukovskaja, who were hit with competition bans, and from an unnamed rower, whose explanation – that the substance were legal medications taken post-surgery and there not a doping case – EADSE accepted.
In addition to banned substances, banned practices include blood doping – removing a quantity of blood from an athlete and refrigerating it, before reintroducing it to the athlete's bloodstream shortly before competing.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Anders Nõmm
