Three-time Olympic cyclist banned for 10 years for helping triathlete son dope

Austria’s Johann Lienhart, a three-time Olympic cyclist who was part of a bronze-medal winning time trial team at the 1987 world championships, has been banned for 10 years for “encouraging, guiding and assisting his son in the commission of anti-doping rule violations,” says the Austrian Anti-Doping Legal Committee (ÖADR).

According to the ÖADR, Lienhart supplied his son Florian with erythropoietin (EPO), genotropin and testosterone from December 2018 to March 2019. The elder Lienhart’s ten year suspension runs until June 21, 2030.

According to Tri-Mag.de, Florian Lienhart tested positive for EPO at the Austrian cross-triathlon championships on May 25, 2019, and again at a triathlon in Neufeld, Austria on June 9. According to the German publication, the 25-year-old competed for a German triathlon club last year and was implicated during “Operation Aderlass” – an investigation around blood doping by cyclists, cross country skiers and triathletes carried out by a German doctor named Mark Schmidt in Erfurt, Germany.

Florian Lienhart’s four-year suspension runs until February 2, 2023.