Jan Sterba
Jan Sterba, one of the highly-fancied Czech 1,000m men’s crew that was due to race in London at the Olympic Games, has failed a drugs test.
The Czech K4 dominated racing in Duisburg last month, winning the gold medal in the very quick time of 2:53.22, ahead of crews from Denmark and Russia.
Sterba was tested at Poznan in May, the Czech canoe federation said in a press release, and failed after a banned stimulant was detected in his system.
The canoeist admitted that the test failure was his fault, saying that he had inadvertently ingested the banned substance beta-methylphenylethylamine in a nutritional supplement.
According to a report on Spox.com, Sterba blamed a food supplement called “Shot Gun” which he had not realised contained any banned substance.
“It was my fault, but I had no intent to dope, he told Spox.com
The team said said the positive test result just five weeks before the beginning of the Olympic Games would disrupt the composition of the K4 – but team manager Martin Doktor told the Czech News Agency that it “will not disturb our path to…Olympic success.”
There are several paddlers lined up who can take Sterba’s place, Mr Doktor said. Besides racing in the boat in Duisburg and Poznan, the canoeist was also in the K4 last year when it finished sixth at the world championship in Szeged, thereby qualifying for the Games.
Below you can see the men’s K4 1,000m race in Duisburg, won by the Czech crew that featured Sterba:
Recent article on Royal CC website: “Why we need a clear message on doping”.
(Picture credit: Mocr.army.cz)
