Has coach JacaCoach ever taken prohibited substances?
Yes.
Preparing for the Polish Junior Championships, I was under the care of a coach with experience in this field for the first time.
The treatment looked something like this
B vitamins
Magnesium, iron
Solcoseryl
and I think all of that was allowed
And we trained with that support for about 2 months.
And just before the start, Dexaven
and I think that was prohibited
(Everything in injections)
There was another permitted substance, but it was over 20 years ago and I don't remember the name.
"-Was I on doping?
I don't know, after all.
I wasn't caught.
I didn't even really know why, what I was taking it for. Somewhere, the guys probably told me that this Dexaven was prohibited."
"-Who gave me the injections?
The coach.
There was an unwritten rule that I had to be 18. So it was my responsibility.”
“-Do I think it was strong doping?
I am even a bit ashamed that we are writing about it as doping. The guys from professional sports will have a laugh :)”
“-Did anyone catch me? (because we know somebody did)
A friend from another club searched my bag and found ampoules. He commented on it like this: you have what everyone else has”
“-Who gave me the injections?
First my older friends.
They taught me a bit and then I did it myself”
“-How long did I take those injections?
About 2 months.”
“-What were the effects?
We trained terribly hard.
Two training sessions a day.
All the time behind the car at 60 km/h
Solcoseryl, from what I am reading now, has a regenerative effect. Ordinary people can now buy it as an intravenous infusion everywhere as a kind of body reconstruction. It is possible that without it I would not have endured those trainings. Although my knee still gave out, I managed to ride the target start”
“-Which one was I?
Seventh.
A life success.
I mean, I had even had a medal at the Polish Junior Championships and many podium places at the Polish Cups etc. (of course without doping) but this one was the most valuable to me.
The horses themselves, who even managed to win stages at the Tour de France recently.
And I was a first-year rider”
(In our opinion, this result was not the most valuable. There were many others that were much more valuable but they made you believe that you were a nobody).
“-What did you need that for?
I was planning to quit the sport.
A series of defeats.
Everyone was getting stronger and stronger and I was falling further and further behind.
And the decision.
I'll show them and finish.
And that's what I did.”
“-Did I show them?
Yeah. The coach who hated me a bit and bullied me watching me "slipping athletically" even apologized to me and commented "I didn't know that was the case". I was mega strong. I had the second time in the last 5 km. I don't want to give names but everyone knows almost all the top runners from that race :)"
"- And how was the ride?
Hmm
That was a funny story.
Because I took that Dexaven twice.
Once a week before the target race.
And I was one of the last ones, probably fifth from the end (I don't remember exactly) :))
It was a time trial.
The coach commented that we would burn through it all and it would be fine.
And it was.
I was going like a wild boar at the championships.
But it was terribly hard.
Everyone did their 200% if not 1000 :)”
“-How can I know that they were doing 200-1000%
Because I know
These were mega horses with character
You know everyone... well, maybe almost everyone :)
Humility. Calmness.
But everyone had that something about them.
Duch a horses were there.”
“-What do you think? What contribution did doping have to it?
I was always proud of that race.
And I am.
I don't have too many pangs of conscience.
I think it would be possible to do the same without doping.
Now I basically ride like I did then, at 40 years old, and I do it on the water.
I'm even grateful to the coach for giving me such a chance. He devoted a lot of time to training. A bit out of good will because I wasn't his competitor.
I don't want to make excuses for him because he did what he did and co-created this, that world.
It shouldn't be like that.”
“-Do you want to add something?
Disgusting.
I did it, I don't regret it.
But I didn't want to have anything to do with sports for almost 10 years.
I always said that if I had a son, I wouldn't let him do cycling."
"- Why disgusting?
Oh, man.
The injections were disgusting for me.
And before the second start after this time trial (because there was a time trial and a joint start day after day, I think) I had to inject myself with some big ampoule (supposedly it was allowed). And in the toilet. There was so much of it that I punctured a vein (probably more than once). Blood was pouring. Hot.. the peloton was already at the start.
And what.. I put on my sleeves and went to the start. And so I withdrew because my knee couldn't handle it anymore.
Oh, what a disaster. That's how it had to be, I guess."
That's how it had to be.
We think so too :)
"- Finally. What did the parents say about it?
They probably didn't know.
I finished sports and in some conversation with my father we came up with the subject of 'cramps' that I would get quite often at races and he said that what kind of club was it that couldn't somehow deal with it (something like that). I just thought to myself... 'they could, they could...'"