Davids Faces Two-Year Drugs Ban
Wednesday 16th May 2001
Juventus midfielder Edgar Davids faces a two-year ban after it emerged on Wednesday that he had failed a second drugs test. The Holland international submitted a sample showing traces of nandrolone following a game against Udinese on March 4.
An Italian Olympic Committee spokesman said: "The findings have been passed to our anti-doping commission which will now launch an inquiry into who is responsible.
"It will then be up to the Football Federation and the Football League to impose the relevant punishment."
But the chairman of the Turin giants, Umberto Agnelli, vowed to fight any charge. "The rules are not clear about nandrolone and we will be looking for a new decision if there are any revisions of the rule."
Davids maintained his innocence last month, saying: "I have never used any sort of drugs in my whole life. I strongly condemn the use of them. I do not understand those who try to improve their performance using these substances.
"After the match against Udinese, I reported for a routine doping test as happens to all Serie A players regularly. In the past I have taken such a test many times.
"Obviously I expected that everything would be OK and the results would be negative. Therefore I was totally perplexed and surprised."
Juventus president Vittorio Chiusano suggested last month that the "non-negative" result of Davids' dope test was flawed. "It seems peculiar that a player who has been subjected to 14 tests since 1997 can suddenly fail one," he said.
"And if nandrolone is the easiest product to find in urine, why is it possible that we have only seen cases come out since October?" Chiusano added.
"When the test-tubes were sent to foreign laboratories, they never found a trace of the drug. Now, all of a sudden, eight cases are discovered of a substance nobody even spoke about."
The Delle Alpi chief was also concerned about the length of time between Davids giving his sample and the result becoming public knowledge.
"How is it possible for the law to allow the result of a test done on March 4 to be notified on April 22? This will be the first question I will ask my lawyers to investigate," he said.
"We cannot accept a judgement breaking the constitutional right of defence. This is a professional matter concerning Edgar's image and the image of the club. We will do everything necessary to ascertain the truth.
"We are against doping, that has to be fought and severely punished, but we are also against summary trials. Everything has to follow the rules," he said.
Lazio star Fernando Couto was suspended with immediate effect on April 27 after testing positive for nandrolone. The defender must sit out all matches until he is sentenced.
A lawyer representing Couto, one of eight Serie A players to have failed a drug-test this season, has claimed there were irregularities in the sampling procedure, while Lazio insisted an independent test had proved negative.
