Italian Striker Del Piero Walks Out of Doping News Conference
Copyright � 1998 Nando.net
Copyright � 1998 Reuters
ROME (Aug 20, 1998 - 14:54 EDT) - Italy and Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero, irritated by a reporter's question about doping, walked out of a news conference on Thursday.
Del Piero took only three questions after testifying before an anti-doping panel of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), which oversees sport across the country.
When asked if he knew the content of everything he ingested, he replied: "Yes, certainly."
When a reporter asked "do you feel doped?" Del Piero winced and walked out of the room.
The striker, arguably the best Italian player in Serie A last season, said he had repeated to the CONI board the same statements he made to a Turin magistrate probing allegations of drug-taking in Italian soccer.
The investigation was triggered by comments AS Roma coach Zdenek Zeman made in a magazine interview earlier this month.
Zemen said drug-taking was rife in Serie A and urged soccer authorities to re-examine their lists of banned substances.
The Czech coach named Del Piero and former Juventus captain Gianluca Vialli in the interview but did not accuse them of anything directly.
Del Piero immediately said he would sue Zeman for defamation of character. Juventus and Vialli followed suit.
The probe, which has sent shock waves through Italian soccer, has focused on the use and alleged abuse of creatine, which some clubs administer to help players recover from injury.
Creatine is an amino acid which occurs naturally in the body and plays a key role in muscle contraction. Its use is legal but some players and coaches say it should be banned.
Juventus players Daniel Fonseca, Mark Juliano and Fabio Pecchia also testified on Thursday.
