A Spanish court "issued a clarification to its ruling of 12 months ago regarding the release of the Operacion Puerto blood bags to anti-doping authorities." The Provincial Court of Madrid -- which upheld an appeal against the original order to destroy some 211 blood bags -- said that it was "only passing them over to the authorities to verify whether they belong to athletes with open cases, rather than to open new disciplinary proceedings." It means the owners of the bags "may never be made public." The letter of clarification comes after EUFEMIANO FUENTES, the doctor "at the center of the scandal," asked for the bags to be returned to him (London TELEGRAPH, 6/17). ... Five-time Olympic rowing champion STEVE REDGRAVE said that the way elite sport is funded is "cut-throat" because "results are everything." But he does not believe it has created a "win-at-all-costs" mentality in British sport. Redgrave said, "If they don't get the results they don't get the funding. If they don't get the funding you can't prepare your team or individuals in the best possible way, so it is a little bit cut-throat" (BBC, 6/18).
