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It all started with a lost question about the bronze medal against Tiril Eckhoff in the joint start during the Sochi Olympics in 2014. It was the Germans’ best result in such a failed championship so far. Soon after, it was going to get worse.
After the race, Sachenbacher-Stehle is taken for doping control. Of course, she shows up and doesn’t think she has anything to hide.
Two days before the Olympic flame was extinguished in the Russian resort city, the message of shock arrived. The German Olympic Committee confirmed that one of their athletes had tested positive for doping and shortly thereafter German newspapers reported that Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle was this athlete.
More than six years later, Sachenbacher-Stehle tells Dagbladet that the curtain fell later. It went completely black and she didn’t know what to do.
– It was a bad feeling. The first months were cruel and really difficult, but fortunately I had a lot of support from family, friends, and other practitioners, she tells Dagbladet.
Sachenbacher-Stehle had tested positive for the banned substance methylhexanamine and was later sentenced to a two-year ban by the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency).
The following months were a challenge for the German profile that had replaced cross-country skiing with biathlon only two years earlier. He loved the sport, but what happened after the doping revelation would radically change him.
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Tainted tea
Allegations of, among other things, systematic doping abounded, while Sachenbacher-Stehle herself consistently claimed that she tested positive for methylhexanamine after ingesting a contaminated dietary supplement.
The German prosecutor launched an investigation and turned over the house to the then 33-year-old. Finally, methylhexanamine was found in a tea Sachenbacher-Stehle kept in the kitchen cupboard.
– I was so lucky that the German Anti-Doping Organization found out where I came from and that it was not my fault. Actually, it wasn’t doping, it was just a stupid mistake, he says about the acquittal process.
Subsequently, the producers of Sachenbacher-Stehle tea drank big problems. The German Food Safety Authority launched a comprehensive investigation of the company, which was based in Marburg in the Hesse area of Germany.
It became clear that the tea had been contaminated with a low concentration of the prohibited substance methylhexanamine once during the production process. The substance can be found in several products of the same company.
– He lost joy
The evidence of the star’s innocence was clear and the sentence for doping was reduced to six months. Thus, the gold winner of the Olympic Games in Vancouver and Salt Lake City could once again participate in international competitions.
However, Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle decided to put the rifles and skis on the shelf shortly after she was believed in the controversial doping case.
She had had enough.
– I chose to sign up because I lost the joy of the sport, and especially the competition part after everything that happened. He was very afraid of the reaction of the other athletes, admits Sachenbacher-Stehle to Dagbladet.
The fear that his achievements had been questioned all along just prevailed, he says.
– I couldn’t live with it and I couldn’t bear all the critical questions. I am a person who needs harmony and good feelings to act, and when I did not have it there was no point in continuing.
Victim of the scandal: Crack together
Doping
Sachenbacher-Stehle made headlines again after Russian doping whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov revealed that she was euthanized while hunting drug addicts during the Sochi Olympics. The former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory writes in his new book that came out on Thursday, July 30.
– His case was in a gray area because this drug is often used in high concentrations. If he had already recorded five rapes, he may not have reported him, but we needed blood. It was forbidden and the punishment never matched her crime, Rodchenkov writes in the book.
Sachenbacher-Stehle burst into tears when he read Rodchenkov’s concessions. For six years she has lived with the doping case on her, but now she feels like she is finally being heard.
– I’m not angry in any way. I’m mostly relieved and really don’t want to think about what might have been if this hadn’t happened. But all this has happened and I cannot change it now, so I do not want to think about what could have been, he says about Rodchenkov’s concessions.
– Never get rid of the seal
Although Sachenbacher-Stehle was believed in the doping case, she says she does not feel clean and will always be associated with doping.
– I’ll probably never get rid of the doping stamp. If you’ve made headlines with a doping case only once, even if it wasn’t the right doping, that stamp will probably never completely go away. I don’t think it’s possible.
For several years, Sachenbacher-Stehle was one of Germany’s leading cross-country skiers and can boast two Olympic gold medals in relay (Salt Lake City 2002) and sprint relay (Vancouver 2010).
In addition, she has a lot of important championship medals and had a lot of tough duels with the Norwegian cross country girls.
Many will remember how a young Sachenbacher-Stehle made Anita Moen race on the final stage of the relay at the Salt Lake City Olympics.
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Eight years later, it was Therese Johaug who nearly decided the relief in Vancouver by distancing Sachenbacher-Stehle in the second stage and avenging Moen’s loss in the sprint.
In hindsight, both Sachenbacher-Stehle and Johaug have been banned for violating doping regulations. They have both been believed not to have doped on purpose and the German star says he has been very sorry for Johaug in his doping case.
– I was in a situation very similar to that of Therese where you externally do not know if it is about real doping or accidents as it was for me. I think it was the same with Therese and it’s awfully heavy. She is strong going through this and competing again. It’s not something she has accomplished, says the German who had several duels with a young Johaug before she switched to biathlon.
The face of division: treated differently
– Will not return
Now life is completely different for Sachenbacher-Stehle, who has had two daughters and taught nutrition since leaving the summer six years ago. In Germany she is still recognized and has had several television jobs.
However, he’s completely done with the sport and says he has turned down several interesting job offers in recent years.
– I don’t want to go back to sports after all this. They have asked me if I want to be a coach, but it is not something I want. After everything that has happened, I do not feel comfortable in such a situation, she says and deepens the answer that the family has taken over the role of sport:
– Now the family is the most important thing for me and in the role of coach you have to travel a lot and not be able to spend as much time with my children as I want. Now I just want a normal life, concludes Sachenbacher-Stehle.
In February, it is supposed to be the World Cup right next to the 39-year-old’s home. Sachenbacher-Stehle will stay away.
Shocking New Details About Doping
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