Juventus Threatens Suit, Denies Zeman's Doping Charges
Copyright � 1998 Nando.net
Copyright � 1998 Reuters
TURIN, Italy (Aug 11, 1998 - 18:48 EDT) - Italian champion Juventus hit out on Tuesday at suggestions its players took performance-enhancing drugs but freely acknowledged they used legal "restoratives" to recoup energy.
"Confusion breeds ignorance," the club's chief medical officer Riccardo Agricola told a news conference at the club's training ground in Turin.
"Restoratives, that's to say amino acids, creatine, vitamins, mineral salts and water, are legal and, indeed, it would be a crime not to use them because the body needs to regain equilibrium after heavy exercise."
Agricola said he did not think there was a serious doping problem in Italian soccer, contrary to claims made by AS Roma coach Zdenek Zeman in a magazine article last week.
Zeman, a Czech, said drug taking was rife in Italian soccer and singled out one past and one current Juventus player as having achieved "astonishing" and rapid muscle growth.
His comments sparked outrage at Juventus and sent shock waves through the world's most prestigious soccer league, which has been relatively free of doping scandals.
One of the players named said he would sue Zeman over the "unacceptable damage" to his reputation while the other branded the controversial coach "a terrorist."
Juve said it too would sue Zeman for what club president Vittorio Chiusano described as "an underhand and ambiguous form of defamation which cannot be tolerated."
On Tuesday Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi insisted his players were clean.
"We are a club which works hards and finds treasure through our own effort," he said. "We don't need other things."
Zeman appeared before an anti-doping panel of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) later on Tuesday to clarify comments he made on the same subject last month.
He said then that soccer needed to "escape from the pharmacies and the financial offices and get back to being sport and entertainment."
"I was called to explain my comments and that's what I did. I am always ready to appear before the committee again if necessary," Zeman told a news conference at CONI's Rome headquarters on Tuesday.
He said soccer authorities should re-examine their lists of banned substances.
"There are some substances that are considered doping and others that are not, even though they maybe should be because they enhance performance," he said.
"If a player is given creatine because he's injured and because it's necessary, that's one thing. If it's given to a player who clearly doesn't need it, that's another."
Asked if Italian soccer could be hit by a doping scandal on the scale of this year's Tour de France, Zeman replied: "It could happen. Anything could happen. But I hope it doesn't."
Zeman, who has worked in Italian soccer for 17 years, was also due to appear before a magistrate in Turin on Wednesday to explain last week's comments, published by L'Espresso magazine.
"I have the impression that recently (doping) has been on the increase," Zeman told L'Espresso. "The pressure on players is increasing all the time. It's more and more difficult to resist the temptation of magic pills."
"I'm certain that many players in Serie A, perhaps at Roma too, do not know how to say no to certain substances."
The furor over Zeman's comments split Italian soccer in two and even reached parliament, where a party in the ruling coalition called for an immediate debate.
Sports Minister Walter Veltroni urged magistrates to push ahead with investigations while the leader of Italy's Civil Rights Movement called for a delay to the start of the league championship, scheduled for September 13.
The Italian Football Federation has said it wants to tighten anti-doping measures by introducing blood tests but would need the approval of CONI and soccer's world governing body FIFA.
At present CONI, which oversees sport in Italy, tests urine samples from four players -- two from each side -- after each Serie A match.
Zeman acknowledged that anti-doping measures were stricter in Italy than elsewhere.
