Mathias Flückiger – the brave hero in the big scandal

This whole story has several aspects. Firstly, there is the “witch hunt”. When you look at it closely, the fight against the use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs is almost (but not quite) a fight against windmills. If only because doping tests are carried out between competitions under completely different conditions.

Mathias Flückiger was temporarily banned.Image: keystone

There are countries that obviously tolerate doping and where testing by neutral controllers between competitions is impossible: firstly, it is clear from the moment you get your entry visa that controllers are coming, and secondly, in the vastness of a country such as China, an unannounced test is not possible. In this sense, our athletes in our small country are probably the most heavily controlled in the world. This may be legally offensive, but it does not have to be a disadvantage: the knowledge of strict controls promotes the dynamism of legal sports science. Switzerland is one of the most successful sports nations in the world.

The difficult battle of the doping hunters can take the form of a witch hunt. “Blank shots” such as those of Ben Johnson (Olympic champion over 100 meters in 1988), Johann Mühlegg (three-time Olympic champion in 2022) – both had to deposit their medals after doping tests during the Games – or cycling world champion Oscar Camenzind (caught during a training test in July 2004 before the Games in Athens), Lance Armstrong (all seven victories in the Tour de France revoked) or Marco Pantani (disqualified as leader of the Giro in 1999 due to questionable blood values) are the exception. Not the rule.

He was stripped of all seven Tour de France victories: Lance Armstrong.Image: EPA

The black magic of sports science is clearly superior to the white magic. The hunt for doping offenders is a frustrating one. In addition, the offenders themselves come up with the most absurd excuses and the best law firms are called in. It is actually logical and understandable that the often frustrated doping hunters go about their work with extraordinary diligence, persistence and ambition. In their zeal, care and cool head can fall by the wayside (“witch hunt”). Which brings us to the Flückiger case.

Despite all their zeal, doping hunters and doping judges must strictly adhere to the legal requirements. The result of their work can not only decide games (like a referee’s wrong decision), but can ruin and even destroy careers and lives. Doping accusations must never be made lightly. But above all: the procedure must correspond exactly to the regulations in the interests of legal certainty. Not adhering to one’s own regulations and working sloppily and amateurishly is the absolute worst accusation against a doping authority. Which brings us back to the Flückiger case. And thus to the scandal.

The Flückiger case raises questions from a sports science perspective that we do not need to discuss here. Much worse and decisive: Swiss Sports Integrity has to put up with the father and mother of all accusations: Its work in the Flückiger case was so sloppy and amateurish that it had to acquit Mathias Flückiger not only meekly because of administrative errors. Even more serious: WADA, not otherwise squeamish, accepted this acquittal. We now have it officially that Swiss Sports Integrity worked sloppily and amateurishly. The sample taken was not usable at all.

Swiss Sports Integrity had to admit mistakes to Mathias Flückiger. Image: keystone

Now the time has come to present the bills. Firstly: Even without Mathias Flückiger hiring lawyers again, Swiss Sports Integrity would have to voluntarily reimburse him without hesitation for all costs incurred as a result of the errors confirmed at the highest level. In fact, Swiss Sports Integrity would also be liable for damages. However, quantifying the actual loss of income due to the temporary, unlawful ban is complex and a claim for damages is legally difficult and can only be enforced in a lengthy, burdensome process.

But it is easy to quantify the expenses actually incurred and paid by the athlete, and thus documented in black and white. Secondly, the Flückiger case should really have personnel consequences at Swiss Sports Integrity. If that does not happen, the credibility of the Swiss doping hunters will be shaken to its foundations. All the more so because Mathias Flückiger is not a sports millionaire and the doping hunters could assume that he would not have the means to defend himself properly. It is not malicious to think that with names as glamorous as Marco Odermatt, Simon Ehammer or Beat Feuz, such a sloppy and amateurish approach as in the Flückiger case would be completely unthinkable.

At the World Cup on Sunday, Flückiger and Co. experienced disappointment.Video: SRF

Swiss Sports Integrity did not reckon with the indomitable will of the Oberaargau native and miscalculated completely. Mathias Flückiger is the brave hero in the history of our biggest sports scandal.

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