Austria rocked once again
After the Austrian doping stories involving Irondoc Dr. Andreas Zoubek, pro triathlete Lisa Hütthaler, and road pro Bernhard Kohl, we now have the former road pro turned triathlete Hannes Hempel in the not so desirable limelight.
Bernhard Kohl just named Hannes Hempel as one of his suppliers of CERA, the Austrian Daily Kurier.at reported, and added that Hempel’s attorney Herwig Hasslacher spoke to the ORF (Austrian Broadcasting) and confirmed that his client admitted to police that he passed on CERA to Bernhard Kohl. But Hempel’s attorney claims this is not an admittance of guilt. The Kurier quotes Hasslacher: “ It was a large psychological pressure situation, and he signed everything that was put in front of him.”
According to the story in the Kurier, Hempel was already accused of supplying doping products by Lisa Hütthaler, and responded to these allegations on May 22nd in a press release. “Jealous people are making amateurish attempts to give me a bad name. That makes me very, very sad as I am completely against any form of doping. I will respond to this with victories.”
Hempel had planned to race Ironman Austria on July 5th, but that may not be in the cards anymore. The kleinezeitung.at quoted race director Stefan Petschnig as follows: "For image reasons it would be be better for him to not start here. We hope to come to an understanding." What if Hempel doesn't see it this way? Petschnig addressed this question with the kleinezeitung.at. "Then we have to think about the next steps. The damage to our image is already measurable. There are reports in the media which may hurt us in contract negotiations with sponsors."
Winning races might not be the solution to Hempel's current dilemma. The Kurier also stated that insiders call Hempel “The doctor.” Not known are whether Andreas Zoubek, Stefan Matschiner, Lisa Huetthaler and Hannes Hempel are inter-connected.
Hannes Hempel raced for teams Tel Mineralwolle, Bosch and Gerolsteiner from 1994 -2003 and started to dabble in multisport in 2006. Some of his results in triathlon include an 8th place at Ironman Austria in 2007 and a 3rd place at Ironman Austria in 2008.
Source: kurier.at and kleinezeitung.at
Hannes Hempel image courtesy of Martin Steinthaler. You can find more great photos of Ironman Austria 2008 on Martin’s site www.tinefoto.com
