Abel Antón Rodrigo (born 24 October 1962 in Ojuel,

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

of Cabrejas del Campo,

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 (INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial population. ...

) is a Spanish long-distance runner. He won gold medals in the marathon at the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and the

1999 World Championships in Athletics The 7th World Championships in Athletics, a World Athletic Championships event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico, Seville, Spain, between the August 20 and Augu ...

. In 1998 Antón became the first Spanish runner to win the

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held ...

. He also won the

Berlin Marathon The Berlin Marathon (german: Berlin-Marathon, ) is a marathon event held annually on the streets of Berlin, Germany on the last weekend of September. Held annually since 1974, the event includes multiple races over the marathon distance of , inclu ...

in 1996, giving him major marathon championships in 4 consecutive years (1996 through 1999.) In 2006 Abel Anton was implicated by Spanish professional cyclist and whistleblower

Jesús Manzano Jesús María Manzano Ruano (San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 12 May 1978) is a former Spanish professional road racing cyclist. He is famous as the whistleblower of systematic doping within his cycling team and his statements led the Guardia Civil t ...

in the doping ring that was the focus of the Operación Puerto doping investigation by the Spanish

Guardia Civil The Civil Guard ( es, Guardia Civil, link=no; ) is the oldest law enforcement agency in Spain and is one of two national police forces. As a national gendarmerie force, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the a ...

. Manzano alleged that Abel Anton together with former 5,000-metre champion Alberto García and Spanish 1,500-metre athlete

Reyes Estévez Reyes Estévez López (born 2 August 1976 in Cornellà de Llobregat, Spain) is a Spanish 1500 metres runner. He won the European Championships' final 1998 in Budapest. In addition, he won bronze medals at the 1997 World Champion ...

were in a hotel where

Eufemiano Fuentes Eufemiano Fuentes (born 1955) is a Spanish sports doctor who was implicated in the Operación Puerto doping case. Biography Fuentes was once an athlete. He then became the team doctor of Team ONCE, Amaya and Kelme. The former Kelme rider Jes� ...

, the Spanish sports doctor at the centre of the alleged doping ring, was claimed to have been offering consultations. Manzano went on to declare, in an interview with Italian online cycling journal ''Tuttobiciweb'', that these athletes were all "with Fuentes". Alberto Garcia later served a two-year ban after having tested positive for EPO in 2003.

References

External links

*
1962 births Living people Olympic athletes of Spain Spanish male long-distance runners Spanish male marathon runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics London Marathon male winners World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Berlin Marathon male winners Recipients of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races Best Marathon Runner Award Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Spain Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 Mediterranean Games World Athletics Championships winners {{Spain-athletics-bio-stub