‘’No negative’’ result of Paulo Garcés doping test.

After the sixth league day in the ‘’Campeonato Nacional’’ of Chile, when the team Deportes Antofagasta had to play against O’Higgins, one of the players gave ‘’no negative’’ results in a doping test. The protagonist of this story is Paulo Garcés, goalkeeper of the ‘’pumas’’, as usually is known his team, Deportes Antofagasta.

According to the goalkeeper, the substance is a pill that he consumed with the only aim to lose fat. That substance was autorized by the doctors of the team and is very known in in the world, but, nevertheless, they did not know that it is in the prohibited substances list. If you do not know anything about this team, you can see a video of a match:

Paulo Garcés talked with a local TV program called ‘’24 Horas Deportes’’, he said that he took a nutritional suplemment and informed of it to the medical team. He added that he was calmed, searching for the best defense to talk about that. Also, his wife, Joyce Castiblanco, wanted to give her opinion in the social media, saying that the club autorized him and the faimily is confident to the positive result of the case.

Nowadays, the goalkeeper can not play for his team becauses is suspended, and is waiting for the results.

What do you think about this type of doping? Do you think that Garcés should be suspended for a time or the medical team have the responsability?

Thanks for reading us,

Sergio Torreblanca.

Bibliography:

http://www.24horas.cl/deportes/futbol-nacional/paulo-garces-dio-positivo-en-control-antidopaje-en-partido-del-campeonato-nacional-2707055

http://www.24horas.cl/deportes/futbol-nacional/paulo-garces-rompe-el-silencio-tras-doping-positivo-no-tengo-nada-que-esconder-2708206

http://www.adnradio.cl/noticias/sociedad/joyce-castiblanco-por-doping-de-paulo-garces-fue-autorizado-por-el-doctor-del-club/20180510/nota/3748361.aspx

The case of Marco Pantani: Doping or sports fraud?

Marco Pantani was a Italian profesional cyclist between 1992 and 2003. This won a Giro of Italy, a Tour of France and a bronze medal in the road cycling world on 1995.

Marco Pantani, nicknamed “El pirata” got his best results in cycling trials in stages, and it was until 2014 the last italian to win the Tour of France and the last cyclist to win the Giro of Italy and Tour of Italy in the same year.

In the Giro of 1990, after winning in four stages and being a leader in the race, was disqualified to find high levels of hematocrit in his blood, what it a case of doping with EPO. Specifically, 52% of blood hematocrit was found, more tan 50% allowed.

The tests were made by surprise in Touring of Madonna di Campliglio Hotel. Later, a counter analysis confirmed the positive, so Pantani was suspended of his activity as cyclist.

This case of doping has led to great controversy, since from the beginning believed that this case could have been rigged by the mafia. In 2014, the italian prosecutor’s office reopened the case of Pantani to try to clarify if this had really been a victim of the mafia.

It was suspected that the Camorra could be behind of this case, so they would have extorted the doctor who performed the tests to alter the results, so that the Pantani sample was positive in the hematocrit concentration. The modification of these tests was carried out because the Camorra had made large bets against Pantani, and because it had many chances to win the turn for the path that had led during the last stages, the last option was to set aside to Pantani of the competition.

After the investigation, there were not enough evidence to determine a definitive resolution, and this, along with already made had prescribed, it was decided to close the case again.

Finally, on February 14, 2004, Pantani died at the  hotel Le Rose in Rimini, for an alleged overdose of cocaine, although like the case of doping, his death is also full of doubts about whether it was a suicide or a murder by the Mafia.