Jan 12 (Japan Times) - a canoeist who has been banned after admitting that he doped a fellow competitor’s drink, contrived a variety of schemes to rattle his rival, an official source said thursday.
Yasuhiro Suzuki, a 32-year-old athlete who has already admitted secretly adding a banned substance to a drink consumed by 25-year-old rival Seiji Komatsu last September, also took his rival’s passport and cash, and defamed him in emails. Suzuki has already apologized to Komatsu in writing.
Suzuki has been banned from competition by the Japan Anti-Doping Agency, while the Japan Canoe Federation has said it would seek a permanent ban.
According to an official, Suzuki, without any Olympic experience, last year had been unable to beat Komatsu, whose star was on the rise. Suzuki had already been excluded from a spot he had hoped to earn on the four-man kayak team. With concern over his ability to earn a spot at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Suzuki allegedly hatched a scheme to begin harassing his rival.
At a training camp last June in Ishikawa Prefecture, Suzuki, attempting to annoy Komatsu, took his passport and ¥20,000 ($179) from the changing room. Thinking that if Komatsu were caught doping, he himself would have a chance to qualify for 2020, Suzuki’s campaign allegedly escalated at September’s national sprint canoe championships.
During qualifying, Suzuki put the steroid methandienone in Komatsu’s drink bottle. After the final, Suzuki took Komatsu’s speed meter and paddle, throwing the speed meter in a garbage can and hiding the paddle.
The loss of his passport prevented Komatsu from leaving on time for an overseas trip in July.
In September and October, Suzuki four times allegedly sent damaging emails of a private nature to Komatsu’s club.
