Knud Enemark Jensen (November 30, 1936 – August 26, 1960) was a Danish cyclist who died while participating in the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome, Italy. He is notable for having been involved in an early doping scandal.
Jensen was born in Århus. He collapsed during his Olympic event, fractured his skull, and was pronounced dead in a nearby Rome hospital shortly thereafter. The autopsy showed he had taken amphetamine and another drug, Roniacol (Ronicol/Roniacol Retard, Nicotinyl alcohol tartrate), a direct-acting peripheral vasodilator that causes flushing and may decrease blood pressure.[1] He was also reported as swallowing eight pills of phenylisopropylamine and fifteen pills of amphetamine and coffee.[2] On March 24, 1961, the three physicians who performed the autopsy submitted a final report stating that the death was caused by a heat wave, not by the drugs found in his body.[3] His family received one million lire in compensation for his death (1600 dollars).
His death led the International Olympic Committee to form a medical commission in 1967 and institute drug testing at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, and at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico.