Cannavaro doping doctors in court

November 26, 2009

Two Juventus club doctors who gave a banned drug to Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro after he was stung by a wasp are facing a three-month suspension from football.

That is the recommendation put forward by Italian Olympic Committee (Coni) prosecutors on Thursday for Bartolomeo Goitre and Luca Stefanini.

Cannavaro failed a dope test in late August after taking a medicine that contained the banned substance cortisone, given to him by his club’s doctors, after he was stung by a wasp.

The former World Player of the Year then requested a doping exemption on the grounds that it was emergency medication but his request was missing a document and while awaiting a decision he was subjected to an anti-doping test, which returned a positive result.

Coni then announced in mid-October that it was dismissing the case against him, after which Cannavaro launched a furious tirade at the press for their coverage of the incident.

“I have a clean conscience. Someone gets stung by a bee and then he finds themselves in the newspapers as if he had doped,” he said at the time.

“When that happened I thought I was dreaming. Some newspapers and television stations went too far.”

ROME (AFP)

Tags: anti doping test, Bartolomeo, captain Fabio Cannavaro, coni, conscience, cortisone, doctors, dope test, emergency medication, fabio cannavaro, goitre, Italian, italian olympic committee, Italy, juventus club, late august, medication, newspapers, prosecutors, ROME, television stations, tirade, wasp, world player of the year

Cannavaro fails dope test, claims it´s medicine

October 9, 2009

Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro has failed a dope test after taking a medicine that contained the banned substance cortisone, it was revealed on Thursday.

The former World Player of the Year was allegedly stung by a wasp and took a medicine that contained cortisone on August 29.

He requested an exemption on the grounds of having taken a medication in the case of an emergency but his request was missing a document and while awaiting a decision he was subjected to an anti-doping test, which returned a positive result.

Sources close to his club Juventus have claimed he took nothing more than an anti-allergy medicine.

The Italian Football Federation (Figc) claimed they were immediately made aware of the situation as Juventus had sent a copy of the exemption request to their doctor just before Cannavaro joined up with the national team ahead of matches against Georgia and Bulgaria on September 5 and 9.

Cannavaro is currently on international duty once again, preparing for Italy’s last two World Cup qualifiers against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday and then at home to Cyprus on Wednesday.

Cannavaro is suspended for the Ireland match but was expected to return to the team he captained to World Cup glory in 2006 for the Cyprus game.

He is due to be interviewed by the Italian Olympic Committee’s (Coni) anti-doping prosecutor Etorre Torri on Friday morning in Turin.

Coni released a statement on its website explaining the circumstances of the positive test without revealing if any action has been taken against the player.

ROME (AFP)

Tags: allergy medicine, anti doping test, bulgaria, captain Fabio Cannavaro, coni, cortisone, Cyprus, dope test, dublin, exemption request, fabio cannavaro, FIGC, friday morning, Georgia, Ireland, italian football federation, italian olympic committee, Italy, prosecutor, ROME, torri, turin, wasp, world cup glory, world cup qualifiers, world player of the year

FIFA defies WADA over anti-doping tests

March 20, 2009

GENEVA (AFP) – World football’s governing body FIFA on Friday defied the World Anti-Doping Agency’s key demands for out-of-competition drugs testing by insisting on special treatment for footballers.

FIFA maintained after an executive committee meeting that it wanted exceptions for football and other team sports, including exemptions from testing for one day per week and during holiday periods.

It also advocated limits on the ‘whereabouts’ rule that allows anti-doping authorities to locate athletes daily for testing, insisting in a statement that only the location of a team, and not of individual players, should be provided.

WADA director general David Howman and president John Fahey last month ruled out immediate changes to out-of-competition drugs testing for athletes, underlining that the rules were new and softer than those used before.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter revealed that football’s governing body was sending a new letter "today" to WADA on the issue.

"We’re surprised that through certain statements there won’t be exceptions whatever the sport. The team sports are in total agreement," he added.

"It’s not a question of not fighting doping, but one should not have a witchhunt."

Since the beginning of January, elite athletes are required to give notice of their location on a chosen one-hour period each day, seven days a week, under the world anti-doping code.

European football chief Michel Platini has criticised the ‘whereabouts’ rule and suggested a 20-day ‘holiday’ for football players during their off-season break.

But during a seminar in Lausanne on February 24, Fahey said that amounted to a "part-time" approach that could jeopardise the integrity of the anti-doping test process.

In a letter to Howman, FIFA’s chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak said Team Sports Federations and the International Rugby Board had agreed at a meeting in December that they could not put the WADA Code for 2009 into operation from the very beginning.

"It is the general feeling that we have to adapt step by step," he added in the letter dated February 16, released by FIFA.

Copies were also sent to international basket ball (FIBA), volleyball (FIVB), baseball (IBAF) and ice hockey (IIHF) federations, as well as the International Olympic Committee.

Written by: AFP