Constantinos Gelauzos, who tested positive for the substance erythropoietin, took a stand for his four-year exclusion from EOCAN for violating anti-doping regulations.
In a lengthy post on social media, the long-distance champion spoke of a marginally negative sample and raised questions about his heavy punishment.
Among other things, he said that he has presented tests that do not justify the use of a prohibited substance and wonders why more control has not been done in his case.
In detail, what he wrote:
“Unfortunately for some I don’t have much to say.
I was lucky and saw both sides of the coin called championship.
Through the successes many people came to me and through the difficult times they stayed
few. All expected.
Even the ending.
What I did was push my body to its limits,
to sacrifice years
to sacrifice moments from my family,
moments from my friends.
To sacrifice moments from my life that time will never bring back again.
But I did it with love.
Those who know me, know how passionately I did it!
I wasted even my last euro on what is called sports.
So from the long 2004 and my first Panhellenic medal at the age of 13 to my last medal in 2022 and the age of 33 I experienced almost everything.
No one will take these back from me no matter what they say, no matter how much they accuse me, no matter what they do…and this is because sport is not about medals, records, cups and anything similar that they have made you believe about us.
Sport for me was that unique moment after a hard workout with the feeling of fatigue,
sport is the look you will look up and take a deep breath while running, sport is the well-being after training,
sport is the smiles with your friends at training,
sport is traveling with your fellow travelers,
sport is acquaintances and experiences,
sport is the smile you create when you think of yourself achieving your goal.
No one will take these away from me.
What I never digested, however, was the lie, the mockery, the greed and the synaphy of the people who rip and sew in sports but also the misery of those who sell their mother for a little publicity or recognition.
I’ve Always Been Against Everyone.
Not because I wanted to, but because I had seen the real sport out there.
A rotten system that works very well unfortunately and 90% of you all are its cogs, intentionally for your own benefit or unintentionally.
Athletes, Coaches, Athletes.
If you search within, deep or shallow you will find it.
No, I don’t expect anything to change, and I don’t want to.
For years I tried to understand and I succeeded.
Jim Carrey’s life in the movie The Truman Show does not seem so fantastic, on the contrary it is used very well by some.
“Ostrich camelism” as a friend had said.
But enough with them, since they are of no interest to you.
In any case, what you are waiting for is to say your line “one moment to fall from the clouds!!”.
Yeah, I’m not falling from the clouds either.
So patiently waiting for the process and respecting everything in it, I wanted “today” to come, to say a few words.
-In my case, I may have become the fastest notified abnormal sample in the history of Greece. Faster and that of the 2004 case.
In less than 20 hours my name was on the air.
In the wells, I will tell you, it was less than 12 hours.
Why;
By the competent anti-doping authority, the announcement of a sample is considered Top Confidential until its conclusion.
– So who were the ones who put my name out there?
And I’m not talking about the yellow guy.
Who were the insiders?
So how trustworthy is the competent authority?
What was her position while she had to protect the athlete where that is her job.
Why has the competent authority never taken a position on this in order to protect the athlete and to follow the procedure correctly since this is also defined by the legislation?!
Obviously, many people will understand that when you already have something pressing you, every process is done under hurried movements.
-But how can a competent authority of such a level make a mistake in the prices set for the procedure? In the final mail we are talking about double the prices.
Lives and careers are at stake here.
Prices which in their final form are double what they are in Australia or any other state.
Values ​​that may be unmanageable for a track and field athlete to proceed with the process.
Nevertheless, I gathered a group and tried to defend myself.
No matter what it cost me.
-An athlete is never informed of what should be the procedure to follow in such a case.
You’re just left to your own devices.
-I asked for my papers and tried to see what was going on.
-It was obvious from the beginning that we were not talking about a normal non-normal sample but a borderline sample.
Something that the competent anti-doping authority has never admitted even though it itself with the photo of the curves it has sent as to what a normal sample looks like and a negative one… it is obvious that we are talking about a borderline negative.
But what can even this marginal sample produce.
I hired doctors to look into it.
At the same time some others came voluntarily believing my words.
-After some time I filed my memorandum where it said that we were clearly talking about a marginal sample which according to research can be influenced by several parameters that should be taken into account.
-At the same time, one of the most well-known hematologists presented my hematological profile through certified microbiological examination centers from 2012 until 2022, where in no case do they justify the use of a prohibited substance or anything else.
-The competent authority was completely indifferent and insisted that I had used a prohibited substance.
-You realize after a point that some people have both the watermelon and the knife.
And sooner or later they would be led where some wanted.
So at the final hearing I decided to go all alone, without lawyers, without doctors and without anything… because after I realized that I could not prove anything according to their logic then I would only have a question as a basis of logic.
My question:
-If an athlete uses this substance, doesn’t it mean that he should have fluctuations in the hematological indicators?!
Why didn’t something like this happen to you?
And why, since we are talking about a marginally abnormal sample and without fluctuation, why is my case not checked more?
The answer is that I can use the banned substance incorrectly and it won’t work!!!!
In other words, I get it, but it has no effect on my performance.
I think there is no other logic here.
At the end I will quote some images from the process but before I would like to ask myself and out loud some things.
– How coincidental was the announcement from a certain site that I am an anarchist in the summer of 2022?!
-How coincidental was a surprise check that took place at the same time at 3 places at 5am in September 2022 which I have previously declared while I was not at any of them?!
And while they never found me they didn’t report him as a fruitless check.
-How coincidental is the pressure from some to quickly remove a coach who was registered (but did not train me) in my name where a year ago due to pressure from the federation he was officially registered?!
…where it was removed overnight and without even calling me!!
-How coincidental were the false reports that I was going to break the Panhellenic record and at the same time that I continue to be the black sheep for sports?!
-How coincidental it was that in May 2023 and while I had incorrectly declared residence in Amfissa and while I was on a trip to Germany.. there was a knock on my door with a paper for a doping control?! Obviously I accepted and passed and it came out negative.
-How coincidental is it that until today the athletics federation hasn’t called me even once, even to apologize, and it keeps silent fish?!
-How many random passers-by can there be?!
And at the end of all this… the case arrives in June and you say that at least you understand the case and that you would like to open the second sample because you think it will be negative since the first one was so marginal.
– But the answer was that you had this choice at the beginning.
In December.
And since you didn’t choose it now it can’t be done.
That is, I in this sample may be negative, as happened very recently in the case of the Australian athlete where he was acquitted, but I will never know because I did not choose correctly at the beginning of the process.
A process that none of us knows how to work.
Let everyone draw their own conclusions.
Thank you all, both those who will be by my side and those who will go against me,
I wish you a good continuation and many good and healthy endings.”
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
