Kevin Grech
Sports editor Canadian sports doctor Anthony Galea is under criminal investigation for drug violations in both Canada and the U.S. Galea, raised as a Catholic by Canadian parents of Maltese descent, works specifically with high profile sport athletes.
Galea a McMaster University Medical School graduate, and University of Toronto faculty member considered one of best sports medicine doctors in the world.
His Toronto clinic was raided by Canadian authorities after he was detained at the U.S. border and found to be in possession of illegal drugs, including human growth hormone (hGH) and Actovegin, a drug extracted from calf’s blood that is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Galea helped treat Tiger Woods during his eighth-month rehab from surgery is the subject of US and Canadian probes for selling unapproved drugs, according to a report in the The New York Times.
Anthony Galea, is suspected of providing prominent American and Canadian athletes with performance-enhancing drugs, according to the Times.
The 50-year-old Galea was arrested in Toronto on October 15 by Canadian police just a month after he was stopped on another occasion at the US-Canada border with human growth hormone and Actovegin in his suitcase.
Besides Woods, Galea has treated hundreds of professional and amateur athletes over the years including Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, Olympic runner Donovan Bailey and NFL quarterback Chris Simms.
He is also the former team doctor for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.
It is illegal to import or sell Actovegin in the United States. Actovegin is a drug extracted from calf’s blood.
According to reports the FBI investigation of Galea is based on medical records discovered on his computer.
The sources did not reveal the names of the athletes Galea allegedly supplied with the drugs.
Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police have launched a separate probe which is looking into smuggling, criminal conspiracy and the selling of unapproved drugs.
Galea has denied providing athletes with performance-enhancing drugs.
Woods, who announced lastFriday he was taking an indefinite leave of absence from golf after numerous reports from different women that he has had affairs with them, and he has admitted to his infidelity.
Tiger Woods has seen Galea four times at his home in Florida in February and March.
Woods’ team called in the Canadian doctor because they were concerned about the speed of his recovery from knee surgery in June 2008.
When contacted by the New York Times, Woods’s agent Mark Steinberg asked the paper not to write the story, “I would really ask that you guys don’t write this?” he said in an email. “If Tiger is not implicated, and won’t be, let’s please give the kid a break.”
The world’s number one golfer announced his leave from the sport following allegations of infidelity which have surfaced in recent weeks.
Galea is known in the sports world as a pioneer in helping athletes recover from serious injuries. The Times says he has developed a blood-spinning technique (platelet-rich plasma therapy) to help speed post-surgery rehabilitation.
Lawyer Brian Greenspan insisted his client will
be vindicated.
“Dr Galea was never engaged in any wrongdoing or any impropriety,” Greenspan said. “Not only does he have a reputation that is impeccable, he is a person at the very top of his profession.”
Work in Israel Galea has also devoted his life to bringing Canadian-style sports medicine and practice to the country’s best hospitals and is using home-grown Canadian sports medicine practices and technology to heal Israeli soldiers.
Galea works specifically with the Sheba Medical Center’s Rehabilitation Center, part of Tel Hashomer Hospital just outside Tel Aviv where he has formed the Canadian Friends of Sheba charity . Every three months, since 2001 Galea has been leading a mission to Israel bringing with him influential Canadian and American Christian and Jewish business people to the Holy Land.
The Sheba Hospital in Israel runs a rehabilitation centre, the largest of its kind in the region, that features state-of-the-art virtual reality technology for physiotherapy; the hospital’s technology, which is some of the best in the world, can be used more optimally, believes Galea, who uses his time and expertise and technology from his private centre in Toronto to help with the recovery of Israeli soldiers and high-profile athletes.
Since Israelis do not play a lot of hockey, baseball or football like Canadians, they can use help with developing sports medicine and exercise physiology practices in other areas, says Galea.
Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below. Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.
