Domínguez dogged by new clue in Greyhound doping case

There is a key name involved in Spanish athlete Marta Domínguez's association with the Greyhound doping case and it not that of Dr Eufemiano Fuentes, the alleged mastermind behind the blood transfusion ring. The name that has come back to haunt Domínguez is that of a dog: Urco.

According to the Civil Guard, this name was present on the labels of "various plasma blood bags" uncovered during Operation Puerto, a 2006 investigation into sports doping in which Fuentes also figured prominently. The name Urco was also found in the disgraced sports medic's notebook, above the cellphone number of Domínguez, the reigning 3,000m steeplechase world champion. "The name Urco means nothing to me," Domínguez recently told El Mundo in an interview. "I've never had a dog called Urco. There is nothing to connect me to Eufemiano Fuentes."

Not according to documents related to the database of the Castilla y León animal registry, to which EL PAÍS has had access: Urco was a rottweiler registered in Palencia, the athlete's home town, to Diego Bercianos Valles, Domínguez's husband.

The suspect bags reside in the anti-doping laboratory in Barcelona. They were discovered in Fuentes' possession with other bags belonging to José Enrique Gutiérrez and Tyler Hamilton, two cyclists implicated in Puerto. The Civil Guard believes the bags marked "Urco," extracted on May 10, 2006, "could correspond to Marta Domínguez."