September 6, 2007 (Montreal, QC) РGenevi̬ve Jeanson will appear on a television program dealing with doping in sports on Thursday, September 20 as confirmed by Radio Canada.

“We are doing a show on doping in sports on September 20 and on September 27 and Genevieve Jeanson granted us an interview. She will make some revelations, but that is all I can say for the moment,” declared Alain Kemeid, chief news editor at the investigative French-language program, Enquete.

Jeanson, who turned 26 on August 29, was formerly called “the golden girl of Canadian cycling,” and raced at the 2000 Olympics. She retired from professional cycling in January 2006 after the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) upheld a positive test for EPO (erythropoietin) in the cyclist’s urine at the 2005 Tour de Toona and issued a lifetime ban. Previously Jeanson had higher than normal haematocrit (red blood cell count) levels at the 2003 Hamilton Road World Championships but was cleared of any doping infraction, and missed a doping test at the 2004 Fleche-Wallone in Belgium. Jeanson, although a Canadian citizen, held a U.S. racing licence and was thus subject to American disciplinary procedures.

As a junior Jeanson stunned the cycling world in 1999 with double gold winning both the junior women’s ITT and road race. Among her many accolades, in 2005 alone, she won the Tour de Toona, the Montreal World Cup, the Tour du Grand Montreal, and the Canadian road race championship.

Jeanson contested the ruling claiming that the initial positive doping test was a false positive and that the tests were misinterpreted. This was supported by a second test on her B sample back in 2005 conducted by the AMA (American Medical Association) that revealed nothing abnormal.

Consequently, on November 28, 2006, the USADA announced they had settled with Jeanson who agreed to a two-year ban from professional cycling expiring in July 2007. The agreement stipulated that neither party was changing their respective position and that the agreement did not constitute an admission to the use of EPO by Jeanson. The purpose of the agreement was “to take into account all of the circumstances of the matter and to avoid the mutual burden of going forward with the AAA/CAS hearing.”

Pierre Foglia, a columnist in the Montreal daily, La Presse, wrote that it is rumoured the Enquete program will air Jeanson’s revelations dealing with violence she suffered at the hands of her former coach, Andre Aubut. Jeanson, who now manages a restaurant in Arizona, apparently married and later divorced Aubut.

Radio Canada’s listing of the program in French, reads as follows:

9 p.m. September 20, 2007
This week: the Scandal of Doping in Sports (Le scandale du dopage sportif). Two programs dedicated to this burning topic: Doping in sports. Alain Gravel and his team conducted an investigation during one year on the “the file of blood and of EPO (erythropoietin). We hear unedited revelations from the very mouths of athletes who show us the sliding doors in this arena ravaged by doping. Journalist: Alain Gravel, Realisation: George Amar (first of two emissions).

Kemeid said that he is unaware of any plans to translate the program, or part of it, into English, but that he would be open to such an initiative from CBC, the English part of Radio-Canada. Stay tuned to Pedal for more updates.