Jenny Fransson may be freed from doping, according to fish theory

We have been trying to get this interview for several weeks, but Mats Larsson has wanted to wait until he feels completely ready to speak.

And that moment is now.

– I think what I have to say can make people look a little different in this whole situation with Jenny Fransson, Larsson says in a video call with SportExpressen.

It was on February 3 that the bomb exploded. Jenny Fransson, who among other things took Olympic bronze and World Cup gold in wrestling, had tested positive for the anabolic steroid methyltestosterone and therefore risked a doping suspension for several years.

Your reaction to the news? Total surprise

The 32-year-old woman began desperately searching for explanations for the positive doping test and was eventually stuck with a water bottle that she carried with her during training. Could anyone have prepared something to sabotage her? However, the RF doping commission saw no reason to even analyze the water bottle.

“Right now it seems like I have been dumped as food for sharks and it is alone where all the knowledge I have accumulated during my 32 years is meaningless. Now apparently I should be a lawyer, a biomedical professor and a police officer at the same time to be able to demonstrate that I have not taken any unauthorized substances. As an elite athlete, it is obviously my responsibility. At the same time they take away my whole life. Right now I don’t feel bigger than an ant and I’m worth nothing “Fransson wrote in an Instagram post on February 26.

But now Jenny Fransson is no longer alone. Mats Larsson has stepped in as his agent.

“I do this for free”

Typically, there are attorneys representing athletes suspected of doping in these types of processes, but Larsson has a completely different track record. He is a professor of molecular physics, was chairman of the Space Board research committee for ten years, and his research has meant that today we learn a little more about molecular formation in space.

He enters with a whole new perspective.

– Why am I helping Jenny? It’s not to make money anyway, I do this for free, says Larsson.

– Scientifically, I have developed measurement methods that I have used in research projects led by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). And I have met some who work with techniques very close to doping analysis techniques. So I started to get interested in this.

– And the best way to learn more about the risks of doping tests is to act as an agent.

Mats Larsson says that he is “100 percent convinced” that Jenny Fransson did not knowingly cheat. He bases it on several long conversations he’s had with the fighter lately.

Now she will try to prove to the RF doping committee that she is truly innocent. This is where the sentence is decided and May 26 is time for the hearing.

He works on two different theories.

Found an error in the analysis

Theory 1: The measurement in the doping laboratory has been incorrect.

– During the last days I reviewed the laboratory report and there I am quite convinced that with one of the metabolites, the laboratory has not fulfilled all the Wada requirements. That’s my opinion and we will definitely include her on the doping committee, says Mats Larsson.

– If it can be shown that the laboratory has deviated from the international standard and that the deviation could probably lead to a positive result, then you can question the laboratory data.

Therefore, metabolites are breakdown products of a substance and in the Jenny Fransson doping test, metabolites of methyl testosterone have been found.

Mats Larsson also wants to emphasize that doping tests are not completely reliable.

– A week ago, Sophia Hober (protein researcher at KTH) was on TV4 talking about different test methods for coronavirus and how accurate they were. Then he said there is evidence that it dropped to 40 percent, and then the entire scale up. This is probably the first time that the Swedish people have been told that all tests are not 100 percent reliable. But in the world of doping, it seems that tests are, by definition, reliable. There it is black or white.

Take Adil Bouafif as an example. Bouafif ran 10,000 meters for Sweden in the European Championship in 2014, but after the race it was for blood doping and was closed for four years.

– Immediately after the race, they took him to a test that resulted in a negative result. A few days later they took him out again for several doping tests, where one or two of them gave positive results. Would he have doped blood after the race, when the season ended? I did not find the data presented to be reliable enough and after being sentenced I took these results and went to my colleagues who were working in protein chemistry. I asked for What do you think of this test? Is trustworthy? And they got pretty lonely: “Huh? Is that enough? We would never say this is a positive result.”

Do you think Adil Bouafif was innocent?

– Yes, that’s my opinion. And if innocent athletes are convicted, then there is a system error here.

Compare with Magnus Hedman

Theory 2: Jenny Fransson has gained methyl testosterone from eating fish.

Mats Larsson explains that the measuring instruments used when analyzing doping samples are extremely sensitive. And that can spell trouble.

– Jenny has a very low concentration, according to the laboratory report. To make a comparison, I looked at soccer goalkeeper Magnus Hedman who went looking for Stanozolol, an anabolic steroid. Since he was sentenced in the District Court, his levels were made public and his stanozolol concentration was approximately ten thousand times higher than Jenny’s metabolite level.

What does that mean?

– That she could obtain the steroid through a source that we have not yet been able to identify. I have a friend and colleague in Ukraine, a female chemist, who started looking for various sources of steroids. And he has found Chinese articles showing that there may be synthetic steroids in fish and water, among other things. We are trying to investigate that matter now.

It is unusual for an athlete to be released when there is a positive doping test. But Mats Larsson has been successful at this before.

In the fall of 2011, weightlifter Kim Mikkelsen was caught in a doping test. He had tested positive for anabolic steroids and was suspended from all competitors for two years. But just over a year later, the message came out that the lock had been lifted.

In an interview with the Dala Democrat, Mikkelsen explained: “I have to thank Mats Larsson for everything.”

– It was very funny. We were able to show that it belonged to an unusual category that has produced balloons, says Larsson.

– He was condemned by the doping committee, which was entirely in the statement of the laboratory manager. His opinion was that there was no possibility of having that concentration of balloons of their own production. But I managed to get the Swedish Sports Commission to send the test to Germany for an isotope measurement and there it was concluded that it was actually self-produced, not through ingestion. And then he was acquitted.

“It was a shock”

How do you assess the chances of Jenny Fransson being acquitted?

– It is very difficult to obtain an acquittal on a doping board. It is also the case that Wada has an opportunity to appeal to the highest court, which is Cas. Of course, they have this opportunity for individual countries not to favor their own athletes by reducing the penalty.

– Therese Johaug, for example, was sentenced to a lesser suspension in Norway than in Cas. And he certainly spent millions on that defense, because he hired Mike Morgan, the most skilled doping attorney he can find. I don’t really have the same conditions as him.

What does Jenny herself say about this whole situation?

– Obviously, it’s uncomfortable for her. She has lived with this sport all her life and would make her last big bet against the 2020 Olympics. Of course, that came as a shock to her.

– If you had consciously administered a steroid, you probably would have come up with something smarter than saying that someone might have put something in your water bottle … it doesn’t seem very convincing, I think.

Is there a dream in Jenny to be released and to compete in Tokyo next year?

– We haven’t really talked about that. It’s probably too far. That said, it is very difficult to obtain an acquittal in a doping case.

It proposes suspension for four years.

After the video call with Mats Larsson, we called Åke Andrén Sandberg, chairman of the RF doping commission, who is acting as prosecutor in this process.

He has already heard of the claim that the lab would not have met all of Wada’s requirements in analyzing Jenny Fransson’s test.

– The laboratory manager has responded and, according to him, everything has turned out as it should, says Andrén Sandberg.

How do you see that Mats Larsson is convinced that Jenny Fransson is innocent?

– She is innocent until she is convicted. But we have presented our evidence to the anti-doping board and, of course, we have done so because we believe there is reason for a suspension. Mats Larsson works as a representative and tries to find things that are wrong here. It is the court, that is, the doping committee, that can decide whether or not to judge Jenny Fransson.

Have you submitted any proposed punishment?

– Yes, if there is no reason for the reduction, the sanction should be suspended for four years.