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In addition to doping, he is also accused of dangerous physical harm: Mark Schmidt
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PHILIPP GUELLAND / POOL / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
Christina Kollmann-Forstner has to turn a little tighter to get the white can with the red lid.
The petite woman struggles, giggles a bit ashamed, adjusts her glasses.
She knows exactly what she is holding in her hands on Tuesday morning in the courtroom in the Munich correctional facility in Stadelheim.
The powder in the can is erythrocytes, red blood cells in the form of dried platelets - a doping agent.
It is the preparation that the main defendant in the Munich doping trial, Mark Schmidt, the former European mountain bike marathon champion, administered in mid-September 2017.
Schmidt, 42, said he had mixed the powder with sodium chloride in a bag and Kohlmann-Forstner injected the solution into the crook of his arm with a 50-milliliter syringe.
There was no leaflet.
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Christina Kollmann-Förstner in 2013
Photo: imago sportfotodienst
It was an experiment, as Kollmann-Forstner, 32, describes it to the court on the eleventh day of the trial.
The unauthorized preparation, which presumably comes from a contact from Croatia, should in the best case replace the time-consuming process of autologous blood doping.
That means taking and preparing blood with bulky machines and the laborious storage of the blood in special freezers.
Everything that Schmidt had treated almost two dozen athletes, mainly from cycling and winter sports, with since 2011 - including Kollmann-Forstner.
But the experiment with the supposed miracle cure went wrong.
After 20 minutes, the former mountain biker describes it, she suddenly got cold, fingers and toes turned white "because they had poor blood supply".
She had to get a blanket and brew tea.
Later when using the toilet, she noticed that her urine was dark red in color.
"An allergic reaction," she calls it.
Only after she had completely eliminated the preparation did her condition improve.
The Munich public prosecutor's office accuses Schmidt of dangerous bodily harm in addition to doping.
She felt that she was in good hands with Schmidt - and does not want to have known about side effects
"If I had known what side effects this stuff had, I would never have taken it," says Kollmann-Forstner.
"I'm far too scared." Schmidt assured her that the preparation was harmless and had already been tested on other athletes.
The doctor, on the other hand, wants the athlete to know about the risks and lack of knowledge about the effects.
This is how Schmidt described it in mid-September before the Munich regional court in a confession that he had one of his lawyers read out.
Accordingly, the health of his athletes was his top priority.
According to Schmidt, Kollmann-Forstner intended to carry out the treatment himself in the future.
Without support.
To save money.
When the presiding judge wants to know if that's true, the former athlete laughs out loud.
"We never talked about that," she says.
It was only about the effect of the preparation.
The incident with the ominous powder made from dried blood platelets did not really scare them, says Kollmann-Forstner, who was registered with Schmidt under the cover name "Hugo".
"I felt that I was in good hands with Mark at all times," she reports.
Only a few months later, she had Schmidt draw her blood again so that she could have it fed back to her before important competitions - and so be able to pedal harder and more persistently during races.
In total, she paid between 12,000 and 15,000 euros for Schmidt's services.
From everything she heard on the scene, they were "cheap prices."
When it came to cheating, Kohlmann-Forstner had an easy time of it.
In two years she was only tested twice for doping by inspectors.
And only at major events like the World and European Championships.
"Of course they didn't find anything," she says.
Because there were never any blood tests.
“Urine tests only.
The chance of finding anything in the process is zero. "
Without doping, no chance, says Kollmann-Forstner
The judge wants to know why she doped at all.
She was already a successful mountain biker before she asked Schmidt for help.
If you want to be right at the front, you have no other choice, says Kollmann-Forstner.
When she reached the top of the world, nine out of ten top drivers had already been banned or had just served a ban.
Now it's her turn too.
The Austrian anti-doping agency banned Kollmann-Forstner for four years at the end of May 2019.
She had to return all the titles and prize money she had won since November 2016.
If a doctor is convicted, Schmidt faces a prison sentence of between four and six years.
Next Friday, says his lawyer, he wants to comment on the matter again.
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