Doping and French Athletes. Fodil Dehiba warns : "I am holding a bomb in my hands ..."

He is the man who makes French track and field tremble. Fodil Dehiba, husband and coach of Hind Dehiba. His wife tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO) last January, and he is threatening to report dubious practices taking place around the tracks to the authorities, if the suspension of his wife is not lifted or reduced. (1)

Huma : On the question of the suspension of your wife for two years, you have never given up, even though you are at the source of that new scandal in French middle-distance running.

Fodil Dehiba : The declaration of the Moroccan Aïssa Dghoughi - that she had supplied doping agents to several Franch athletes (editor’s note) - was like a bomb in my hands ; I had to throw it... The French Athletics Federation (FFA) must now be regretting treateing the athletes like animals and criminals.

Huma : Who are you targetting ? Bernard Amsalem, the president of the FFA, who declared that he would not reduce the penalty against your wife ?

Fodil Dehiba : It isn’t him who imposes the sanctions ! In the case of Hind Dehiba, her drug-control was made by the IAAF, the international federation. I believe that Amslalem id dsying this because he is afraid that all the athletes will be reporting now on each other.

Huma : What do you intend to do now ?

Fodil Dehiba : I want to see applied the rule of the IAAF that states that if an athlete can prove that at least another athlete doped himself or herself , that the athlete who make this declaration can have his or her own suspension for doping lifted or reduced.

Huma : Are you going to report other people supposed to be doped ?

Fodil Dehiba : I still have more cards in my hand ! I haven’t yet given all my information to the IAAF. I must break the system. Some athletes, major athletes of the French team, are protected. All that must come out. Nobody will be spared. I’ll use the same methods as those who reported on me by sending an anonymous letter.

Huma : What anonymous letter are you talking about ?

Fodil Dehiba : The FFA president received an anonymous fax of denunciation on November 29, 2006 in which Hind Dehiba was mention among others. He gave it to the legal authorities, following which we were arrested at the airport of Roissy in January 2007. I know this is so because I have access to my legal file. Then, when I hear the president of FFA declare publicly that it is necessary to break the omerta - the law of silence - while however he refuses to meet with me, I just don’t understand. It is he who first opened up this game of denunciation.

Huma : Is it because you were not listened to in France that you brought in the international federation ?

Fodil Dehiba : Yes, I’ve followed the official channels. In France, the federation doesn’t want to listen to me, so I will go elsewhere. As soon as the suspension of Hind was announced, I sent an email on June 12 to the secretary general of the IAAF to inform him that I had information for him. It took him one month to answer me. But others never replied…

Huma : Specifically, who never replied ?

Fodil Dehiba : I also contacted Pierre Bordry, the president of the French Anti-Doping Agfency (AFLD), to inform him that I had information to communicate to him on networks of dope trafficking. I contacted him when he was in a meeting. He told me : “I’llcall you back. ” That was three months ago, and I am still waiting for his phone call. It is at this time that I decided to contact the World Anti-Doping Agency - they told me that only the international federation had the capacity to reduce the sanction against Hind.

Huma : What are you hoping for now ?

Fodil Dehiba : The leading sports authorities have to understand that they are not any more all-powerful. The boomerang effect will hurt some people very badly… I’ll blow up the athletics federation ; I do not want to pay for the others.

Huma : Who are “the others” ?

Fodil Dehiba : I have nothing more to say in the press because I risk a lawsuit for slander, but the examining magistrate Anne-Marie Bellot is well-informed about this. I’m not stopping there ! I want the lifting of the suspension of Hind ; And that’s it ! There will be no negotiations. If I go further, it will be the into final sprint !

Huma : To listen to you, there won’t be any French athletes at the Osaka World Championships at the end of August ?

Fodil Dehiba : There are athletes whose files I havn’t yet examined … I will keep going as long as the suspension of Hind is not lifted. I am not proud of what I am doing, but, today, I repeat, I am high on anger…

Translator’s note :

Hind Dehiba (born 17 March 1979) is a Moroccan-French middle distance runner who specializes in the 1500 metres. In January 2007 Dehiba was arrested on Charles de Gaulle International Airport together with her coach and husband Fodil after vials containing human growth hormone were found in her luggage. Both were released, but Fodil Dehiba will be investigated for illegal drug trafficking. In 2006 Dehiba was found guilty of EPO doping, and received an IAAF suspension from February 2007 to February 2009. (source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hind_Dehiba)