I hid drug use - athlete

ROME (AP) :

The 2008 Olympic race walk champion who was expelled from the London Games for doping broke down in tears yesterday while recounting how he hid the banned substance in the home he shares with star figure skater Carolina Kostner.

Alex Schwazer said he bought the blood booster EPO in Turkey and kept it in a box of vitamins in a refrigerator in their home.

Schwazer had hoped to replicate his feat in the 50-kilometre event in London, but was tossed from the games on Monday after testing positive.

INJECTED DOSES

Weeping, and at one point burying his face in his hands, Schwazer told a news conference in Bolzano, northern Italy, that he went to Turkey with €1,500 ($1,850) to buy the EPO at a pharmacy.

He recounted how he injected it daily in a bathroom at home to hide his doping from Kostner and from his parents.

"I did everything possible not to involve anyone else," Schwazer said.

Schwazer said he caved in to pressure and "the expectations that I had to dominate even more than before".

"I couldn't say no to this decision to do doping for the 2012 Olympics," he said. "I made a huge error and I can only repeat, I'm sorry."