HELSINKI, Aug 6: Finnish police have found banned performance-enhancing drugs in the possession of a top Finnish discus coach but Finland’s athletics world championships team leader said on Saturday the suspect’s former protege is clean. Police last month seized illegal doping substances at the home of Kari Mattila, until October 2004 the coach of discus thrower Timo Tompuri who is a member of the Finnish team at the championships which opened on Saturday.

“An investigation is underway into the possession of suspected doping substances,” Detective Chief Superintendent Thomas Elfgren of the Finnish central criminal police told said.

In mid-July police had found what local media describe as large quantities of prohibited substances, including growth hormones and testosterone, at Mattila’s home. “One suspect has been questioned,” Elfgren said.

Possession of banned drugs is a criminal offence in Finland and can result in a sentence of up to four years in prison. Elfgren declined to comment on the substances, saying that laboratory tests had not yet been completed.

The host nation — keen to avoid a repeat of the 2001 doping scandal in which six Finnish athletes were caught using banned drugs at the Nordic skiing world championships on home snow — said Mattila no longer played any role in Finnish athletics.

Mattila has not received “a single euro” in any form of compensation from the Finnish athletics federation since October 2004, Makela told reporters. All athletes on Finland’s team, including Tompuri, have been tested several times in the run-up to the world championships, Makela said.—Reuters