„We were never offered a single pill“ – Took jellied sheep’s head to the World Championship

In November 1981, a Swedish powerlifter claimed that there had been a flood of drugs at the World Championship in powerlifting in Calcutta. Iceland had two repres­enta­ti­ves at the tournament: Skúli Ósk­ars­son and Jón Páll Sig­mars­son. The Swedish competitor was arre­sted upon arri­val at the Arlanda air­port in Stockholm, after hav­ing been stopped in customs, where over one thousand „ana­bole-ster­oider“-pills had been discovered in his luggage.

Travelled with jellied sheep’s head and fish jerky

The World Championship in powerlifting was held in Calcutta, India, from November 4th through November 8th, 1981. It drew some attention that the two Icelandic powerlifters, Jón Páll Sig­mars­son and Skúli Ósk­ars­son, took all food they were plann­ing to eat during the tournament with them from Iceland. In Morg­un­blaðið, it was reported that the stewardesses in the plane on route from Bombay to Calcutta, had been quite astounded to see Sig­mars­son and Ósk­ars­son eat­ing jellied sheep’s head and fish jerky on the plane, instead of the Indian delicacies ser­ved during the flight.

The two Icelanders did very well at the tournament, each one earn­ing a medal; Ósk­ars­son the bronze in his category and Sig­mars­son sil­ver in his own.

Claimed that the pills had been flowing all over

The Swedish powerlifter Ray Yvander had competed a few years ear­lier in the Nordic Championships, which were held in Iceland. He immedi­ately confessed to the drugs belong­ing to him when they were discovered in his luggage at the air­port. The drugs in question were not only banned in customs, but also by the international sports movem­ent. Yvander ther­efore received a heavy fine and was to be banned from participating in any sports tournaments for two years.

Shortly ther­eaf­ter, Yvander said in an interview with Swedish journalists that drugs had positi­vely been flowing, at the World Championship in Calcutta. He claimed there to have been both usage of hor­monal drugs and stimu­lants, which he claimed to have been very easy to acquire for anyone who wanted to do so; „[…] easy to acquire for those who wanted them.“

Denied any flood of pills

When Yvanders claims were publ­is­hed, Icelandic journalists obviously wanted to know whether they rang true for Ósk­ars­son and Sig­mars­son. „We were never offered a single pill out there so I have no idea what the Swede is gett­ing at,“ Ósk­ars­son answered. He also stated that he had not witnessed any „pill-eat­ing“ or drugs being sold during the tournament.

In an article by Dag­blaðið&Vísir, it is stated that both Ósk­ars­son and Sig­mars­son had actually been tested for drugs after hav­ing completed the tournament. They had both come out „completely clean“. The same could not be said for everyone else. Two men, one Japanese and the other American, had been disqualified due to drug use and stripped of their prizes. Both these contestants were said to have used hor­monal drugs. This was discovered when the top five of each category were tested for drugs.

Mynd/skjá­skot tima­rit.is

This article was orig­inally publ­is­hed in Icelandic.