Dom¨ªnguez proclaims doping innocence and vows to run again
Athlete detained in Greyhound probe appears in court for first time
"Everything's fine - I'm very relaxed." These were the first words spoken by Marta Dom¨ªnguez as she left a Madrid court on Wednesday after testifying for almost two and a half hours over her implication in the anti-doping police investigation Operation Greyhound. After giving her testimony, Dom¨ªnguez, the world 3,000m steeplechase champion, still stands accused of supplying performance-enhancing drugs to other athletes.
Dom¨ªnguez repeated her innocence outside the court: "This has done a lot of damage to my image, to my family and to my loved ones," the athlete said. "Nothing was removed from my house because I have never sought to make money [from illegal substances]. I have not appeared on video exchanging prohibited substances or supplying doping products to anybody. Clearly, I am quite sure that I am innocent and I will be back competing when I have recovered from my pregnancy."
Dom¨ªnguez arrived at the court at around 9.30am, accompanied by her lawyer and her husband. She was arrested earlier this month along with 13 other suspects, all of whom stand accused of belonging to a complex doping ring centered on blood transfusions. Spanish European cross country champion Alemayehu Bezabeh was removed from the team competing in Portugal last week after the Civil Guard found him in possession of a bag of his own blood. Lawyers representing two of the prime suspects in Greyhound, Eufemanio Fuentes and his alleged courier, former professional mountain biker Alberto Le¨®n, were also present at Dom¨ªnguez's hearing.
Dom¨ªnguez's lawyer later criticized the unusual proceedings in which the runner was required to answer the judge's questions on the one hand as a witness - meaning without legal assistance and under oath - and also as an official suspect.
The file on Greyhound runs to 5,000 pages, and includes wiretaps, bank transfers, photographs and surveillance records. Six of the 14 suspects have now testified and during December and again from January 8 the case will continue.
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