Officials Accused of Covering Up Italian Olympian's Doping Investigators in Italy say officials for track and field's world governing body had evidence that an Olympic gold medalist used performance-enhancing drugs but made no effort to prevent him from competing in last summer's Olympic Games in London. Othmar Seehauser/Associated Press The racewalker Alex Schwazer, during a news conference in August, admitted using the blood-boosting hormone EPO. Kevin Frayer/Associated Press Schwazer won the men's 50-kilometer walk during the athletics competitions at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. The revelation stemmed from an investigation being conducted by prosecutors in Bolzano, Italy, into Dr. Giuseppe Fischetto, the medical director for the Italian track and field federation and a member of the international track organization's Anti-Doping Commission. During the investigation, Italy's military police said in a report, the authorities obtained e-mail messages indicating that as early as April 2012, officials for track and field's world governing body, known as the I.A.A.F., were aware of abnormal doping test results for the racewalker Alex Schwazer, who won gold at the 2008 Beijing Games. Schwazer eventually failed a doping test conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency shortly before he arrived in London last summer, and he was removed from Italy's team before the 50-kilometer racewalk. During a televised news conference, he admitted to using the blood-boosting hormone EPO. On Tuesday, Italy's paramilitary police force, the Carabinieri, searched the home and office of Fischetto, as well as those of two other officials of the Italian track and field federation in Rome. They are accused of covering up the doping practices of Schwazer. In their search warrant, the prosecutors accuse Fischetto of "complicit behavior, that consisted in not activating any anti-doping control against the athlete, in fact allowing him to take illegal performance enhancing substances." Fischetto denied the accusations. "My correspondence proves that I never did that," he said Tuesday in a phone interview from Italy. If anything, I would have protected him if I had alerted everybody. But I didn't. I decided to ask for more frequent controls. According to law enforcement documents, the e-mail exchange started on April 4, 2012, when Thomas Capdevielle, the medical and antidoping manager of the I.A.A.F., sent Fischetto the results of an out-of-competition blood test conducted three days earlier on Schwazer. Capdevielle emphasized that the values recorded in Schwazer's blood were high. Less than two hours later, Fischetto responded, "Hi Thomas, absolutely sure manipulation." He added, "No doubt at all." On April 5, an antidoping project manager for the I.A.A.F. sent an e-mail to Fischetto suggesting an analysis of Schwazer's biological passport, which tracks an athlete's blood profile over time. Fischetto gave his approval: "I think he should be controlled now, immediately and very strictly." On July 13, another antidoping official for the I.A.A.F. sent an e-mail to Fischetto: "Dear Giuseppe, please find attached confidentially all the ABP (Athlete Biological Passport) files sent to the expert panel for the profile review and their feedback." It went on: "It is highly unlikely that the longitudinal profile is the result of a normal physiological or pathological condition and may be the result of the use of a prohibited substance or prohibited method." A few hours later, Fischetto restated his belief that Schwazer was using illegal performance-enhancing substances. But according to the Carabinieri, neither the Italian federation nor the I.A.A.F. moved to stop Schwazer from competing in the Olympics. Capdevielle said Tuesday that he and the I.A.A.F. handled the case appropriately. "We did what we had to do regarding Mr. Schwazer," Capdevielle said in a telephone interview. Our conscience is clear. On July 30, 2012, days before the 50K race at the London Games, Schwazer was disqualified for testing positive for EPO. The World Anti-Doping Agency conducted that test without informing Fischetto. "Although strongly convinced that Schwazer had used doping substances and in possession of data confirming it, doctor Fischetto ignored the issue until Wada tested the athlete," the office of the Bolzano chief prosecutor, Guido Rispoli, said in a search warrant request. "This circumstance can only be explained by the desire to "preserve" a national track and field star for the 2012 London Olympic Games, in the expectation that he would perform well for Italy both in the 20 and the 50 km walk race. With this complicit behavior, which consisted in not activating any anti-doping control, doctor Fischetto has in fact allowed the athlete to take illegal performance enhancing substances, which is a crime under article 9 of the Italian criminal law. Claudio Gatti is an investigative reporter for Il Sole 24 Ore, a daily business newspaper in Italy. He is based in New York.