The Doping Hunter
In the memoires of Professor Arne Ljungqvist, the cancer doctor, medical professor, high jumper and sports manager tells us about his life in the service of medicine and sports. His sports career and eagerness to compete started at an early age and he managed to become the Swedish youth champion and Swedish champion in high jump as well as participate in an Olympic game (Helsinki 1952 Olympics) before his sports career was ended due to injuries.
After 25 years as a successful cancer research scientist, Professor Arne Ljungqvist returned to the sports movement in 1973 as he was voted board member of the Swedish Sports Confederation. This time he met a different world, where the athletes used all kinds of medicines in order to enhance their bodies to achieve success.
Professor Arne Ljugqvist’s concern for the athletes health, as well as his concern for the moral pitfalls, made him start to involve in the fight against doping in sports which has led him the be the foremost doping hunter and his name one of the world’s most respected within international sports management.
The unfolding of true stories
Unfolding the truth, the fall of super star athletes and international doping scandals behind the curtains of the world’s sports establishments should then become the everyday life of Professor Arne Ljungqvist. Throughout the years there have been many who wanted him to open up the lid and share his untold stories and experiences, and at the age of 79 he felt the time was right to start telling them for the purpose of publishing in a book.
The book tells a story with many angels and perspectives of an ongoing fight against doping in sports and a global sports movement’s developing during the last 50 years. It describes a period of time when athlete’s use of enhancing drugs was at its peak
Professor Arne Ljungqvist was the one facing Ben Johnson, the Canadian sprinter and world record holder of 100 meter, when he was caught in a doping control at the Seoul 1988 Olympics. He was involved in the fall of Marion Jones, winner of five medals at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, after she confessed that she had been taking illegal drugs at the time.
The stories told are compelling and still being active in the top of the world’s largest sports organizations makes Professor Arne Ljungqvist an undisputed living legend with a remarkable track record within international sports management (see CV). He has recently warned the Russian President Dmitrij Medvedev that his country better put more efforts into the fight against doping in order not to ruin the Sotji 2014 Winter Olympics
Translated into several languages
The book in its original was published in Swedish in 2008. The first international edition was translated and produced in Mandarin for the Chinese market and launched in 2009 with the strong support of the Chinese Ministry of Sports, who made the book mandatory literature for all sports university students and anti doping testing personnel throughout the country. In 2010 the English edition was released and at present the book is being translated for editions in French, Korean and Russian.
