Greyhound coach caught in a trap

One of the most successful coaches in Spanish track and field, Manuel Pascua, was arrested on December 9, the day that Operation Greyhound ? a high-profile investigation into doping among athletes ? was made public. During a raid at his home the Civil Guard found, among other things, a timetable with dates marked with an "x" in addition to a series of acronyms. When he was questioned about it by officers, he responded: "Each page corresponds to the doping plan for each type of athletic competition, aimed at the athletes he trains," according to a summary offered by the Civil Guard in the case, to which EL PAÍS has had access.

In his statement, and according to investigators, the coach acknowledged that he helped to dope several of his athletes. Legal sources say it is "very likely" Pascua ? who has been charged with a violation against public health, punishable by six months to two years in jail ? will retract his statement when he is before the judge who is investigating the case.

The secret acronyms in his calendar, presumably, identify well-known athletes. For example, A15 would correspond to Nuria Fernández; B15-30, for Reyes Estévez; A1, for Digna Luz; and B8B for Eugenio Barrios, according to the Civil Guard, which claims the letters and numbers correspond to names and distances.

The Civil Guard had Pascua under heavy surveillance. Officers intercepted many of his text messages, cellphone calls and conversations that ended up on his home phone after being initiated on landlines at the Blume residential sports center outside of Madrid, where many top Spanish athletes live and train.

One day, for example, authorities captured the coach listening to an excited voice. "They say that there will be a surprise examination and that he had a patch but doesn't know how well it was going," according to the case summary offered by the agents, who added that the voice sounded like that of an "African man."

The coach calms him down a bit and asks the man if there was really a patch ? probably of testosterone ? or maybe just a cream.

Pascua then asks the man whether he put on the entire patch or just half of it, and then tells him how to deal with it. "Drink a lot of water so you can dilute it, train as much as possible, and wait until 24 hours have passed. Okay?"

Pascua then receives a call from his wife, María José Martínez, who is also a coach. "Francis has called me scared shitless because he has had a doctor's examination today," she tells him.

The Civil Guard is trying to prove that African man's voice is that of Francis Obikwelu, a Portuguese athlete of Nigerian ancestry, who won European gold in the 100 meters in 2002 and 2006, and in the 200 meters, also in 2006. "We are not going to have any problems with our athletes," agree the couple, according to the Civil Guard.

It is doubtful that Pascua continues to receive calls now that he knows that agents have been listening in. He spends his days training a group of young athletes in the sports center of Valle de las Cañas, in Pozuelo, during the cold winter mornings.