ANKARA - With tears in his eyes, Turkey's three-time Olympic weightlifting champion Halil Mutlu on Friday denied knowingly taking a banned substance after he tested positive for an anabolic steroid at a tournament in April.
Government and sports officials as well as the media threw their support behind the elite weightlifter, a highly popular and respected figure in Turkey.
"I swear that I never used such a substance in my life," a visibly shaken Mutlu told a news conference, pausing at times to fight back his tears and recompose himself.
"I'm not stupid... I know that in every tournament I will undergo a doping test, because I always come first," he said. "I'm very upset. Although this happened beyond my control, I apologize."
Mutlu's doctor, Kaya Livanelioglu, said the substance detected in Mutlu's urine sample at the European championships in Sofia last month, where the so-called "Little Dynamo" won three golds in the 62kg category, was nandrolone, an anabolic steroid that boosts muscle growth.
He explained that nandrolone was an easily detectable susbstance which weightlifters would not normally resort to as a performance-enhancer, that the human body could produce it naturally and that scientific research showed it was sometimes found in certain types of meat.
"However, the amount discovered in Halil's test is higher than permissible," he said. "We are now trying to find out how it entered his body." Turkey has asked anti-doping authorities to also examine the B sample taken from Mutlu in Sofia, Livanelioglu said, but warned there was little hope it would turn out clean.
Mutlu said he took pain-killers ahead of the tournament because of an injury, but was assured by doctors that none of them contained banned substances.
He sought to evade questions on whether something he ate or drank might have deliberately contaminated, but said: "I trust the people around me, but naturally, I am now less confident."
The Turkish press speculated that the affair might be linked to a power struggle earlier this year at the Turkish weightlifting federation, which resulted in the ousting of its previous president, whom Mutlu allegedly backed.
Mutlu played down suggestions that a Bulgarian hand might be involved in the affair.
Mutlu is a Bulgarian-born ethnic Turk and the Bulgarian audience at the European Championships in Sofia booed him for competing for Turkey.
05/27/2005 10:03 GMT