Dutch Track & Field Association actively involved in covering up doping violation

De Dutch Track & Field Association has willingly covered up a doping violation of steeple chaser Simon Vroemen during the European Championships in 2006 in Götheborg. Bram Wassenaar, head coach for long distance running, has confirmed this. Simon Vroemen used an illegal drip but got ill from this and had to withdraw from the finals. The use of a drip is forbidden since january 1st 2005 and is sanctioned with a two year suspension.

Representatives of the Dutch federation where informed about this violation from the beginning but decided to go public with a false statement about food poisoning. After the incident was published last summer the federation still claimed they were not informed. They could only hunch what happened in Sweden but had no real facts, the federation stated. But in fact the federation took a leading role during the whole incident and willingly tried to cover it up.

‘I was not involved in the decision to keep quiet but I was involved in the execution of that decision. At that moment you keep together,’ states Bram Wassenaar who was present in Götheborg as team coach for the marathon runners. Wassenaar was informed by technical director Peter Verlooy. Wassenaar suspects dat the decision to cover the incident up was taken by Verlooy together with the leader of delegation and chairman of the federation Wim Slootbeek.

At first Wassenaar didn’t feel guilty about keeping quiet. ‘A recovery drip is not allowed according to the rules but I think it is different from doping. I think there’s a fundamental distinction between using steroids or taking a recovery drip. Besides that the argument was taken into account that Simon Vroemen would retire after the championships. At this point in time however I don’t think it was a wise decision then and neither does the federation,’ says Wassenaar.

Vroemen made an unexpected come-back last spring. ‘When Vroemen started competing again the federation had the obligation to come forward,’ Wassenaar thinks. But the federation kept quiet and on june 11th Vroemen qualified for the olympics. But a dopingtest revealed the use of a steroid called metadienon and Vroemen’s second carreer came to a sudden stop. This case is now being reviewed by the independent institute for sports arbitration.

When the dopingincident was published in july the federation made a false press statement. In Götheborg they had no real proof to doubt Vroemen’s statement he got ill by food poisoning. Five months later the federation received an email by Vroemen form which they could deduct ‘that Vroemen used a drip without notifying the federation.’ Vroemen however said already from the beginning that he and the federation had agreed upon not talking about the drip in further communication. ‘I had to keep quiet,’ Vroemen said. The federation reacted by saying Vroemen’s statement was ‘absolutely false.’

Therefore the federation is in a difficult situation right now. The federation has always stated that they are fiercely against doping but in reality coaches and officials have willingly covered up a doping violation. The Dutch doping authority will soon come with a report that will look into the procedures followed by the federation. The results of that investigation could clear the way to go to the institute for sports arbitration. But besides that one question the credibilty of the coaches and officials that were involved.

Wassenaar thinks the federation will probably get a .’A decision was taken at that time that nobody is comfortable with now. But I would like to state that the federation has taken a hard stance in other dopingcases like that of Esther Schrijvers, Erik de Bruin, Troy Douglas and Khalid Choukoud. But in all these cases it was about finding a substance that is on the dopinglist, with Simon it was something else.’

Chairmain Wim Slootbeek states that the story of Bram Wassenaar is ‘absolute nonsense.’ But it is remarkable that during a phone call with an editor of this website a few weeks ago Slootbeek confessed that he ‘discovered that Vroemen had used a recovery drip.’ Later on he withdrew that statement and told it was a slip of the tongue.

Tekst: Frank Woestenburg, De Telegraaf