Norwegian track coach suspended for emails about PEDs

OSLO, Norway (AP) -- A Norwegian track coach suspended for a series of suspicious emails about performance-enhancing drugs claims he is innocent and that the messages were forged.

Yugoslav-born coach Petar Vukicevic told the Norwegian Athletics Association on Monday - the day he was suspended - that he had nothing to do with the emails, which were written in Serbo-Croatian and sent to a Slovenian colleague.

There were a total of five emails sent in 2001-03 in which Vukicevic allegedly asked details about steroids and their effects on athletes, the association said.

Association official Svein Arne Hansen on Tuesday refused to say whom Vukicevic accused of the forgery, but Norwegian media reported that the former Yugoslav hurdler named his wife.

Media also reported the emails were sent to Slovenian track coach Srdjan Djordjevic, though Hansen refused to confirm this.

Vukicevic, who competed in the 1980 Moscow Olympics as a hurdler, has been contracted by the Norwegian Athletics Association to coach his daughter, 25-year-old Christina, who runs the 60-meter and 100-meter hurdles races.

The association said that Anti-Doping Norway, an independent enforcement agency, will carry out the investigation.