Quarantine an alibi to cheat for Olympics: Ex-world champ

FRANKFURT: A level playing field may not be provided at the Tokyo Olympics because quarantine after a coronavirus infection offers the best alibi to cheat, says former shot put world champion David Storl.

The 30-year-old Storl told Die Welt paper that he realised this when he was hit by Covid-19 and was in isolation at home for two weeks.

The 2011 and 2013 world champion and 2012 Olympic silver medallist Storl said he was visited by a drug tester from Germany's anti-doping agency NADA shortly before the end of his quarantine period but told him from inside that he wasn't allowed to open the door, and the drug tester left, reports DPA.

"I realised during my quarantine that we certainly won't have a level playing field at the Olympic Games, if they take place. My scepticism has risen a lot, because there are a no doping tests for athletes in quarantine," said the German.

"At that moment I became really aware of how far a quarantine can open the door for cheating. At home and in total isolation there are all the possibilities in the world to improve certain capabilities with forbidden substances.

"I don't want to suspect anyone in the world, but I can well imagine that there are some who use the quarantine as a loophole." IANS

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