Melbourne, July 28 (ANI): Americans and Soviets 'fooled' China into using performance-enhancing drugs, resulting in humiliating scandals and limited success during the Olympics from the late 1970s into the early 1990s, according to a top Chinese Olympic team doctor.
Chen Zhanghao, who is retired but remains a doyen among China's top sporting celebrities, has broken a three-decade public silence to detail how he personally experimented with banned steroids, blood doping and hormones on scores of elite athletes.
Dr Chen was the lead doctor for the Chinese Olympic teams at Los Angeles (1984), Seoul (1988) and Barcelona (1992), The Age reports.
He blamed experts in the United States, Soviet Union and Europe for leading China on an ultimately futile sports doping journey.
"We [Chinese] blindly believed them, like fools, because they all seemed like good people. But indeed they lied to us," he said.
"We tried [hormones] first but found they were not effective, then we gave up. We added haemoglobin when we found it was low [in tested athletes] and also androgens," he said, referring to blood doping and steroids.
Dr Chen said he adopted a principled approach to the administration of all three banned substances.
"The first principle was 'voluntary', the second 'no harm' and the third 'effective'," he said.
The revelations by Dr Chen were made in response to allegations by a former subordinate that he was personally responsible for China's rampant and systemic abuse of banned drugs from the late 1970s into the early 1990s, with support from superiors in China's sports administration.
He said: "The United States, the Soviet Union and France were all using them, so we did as well," said Dr Chen. "So how can you condemn China but not the USA?" (ANI)
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