This week new details have been revealed from previously classified documents from the FBI, the United States investigative agency. One of the files contained information related to Diego Armando Maradona. In the past, Maradona had been under scrutiny by the FBI due to doping allegations that emerged in late 1996.
According to information published by a portal linked to the US agency, in September of that year, contacts were made in Uruguay with unidentified researchers who were examining “accusations of drug use or possession by the Argentine soccer player”. The document, dated October 2, 1996, mentions that part of the investigation included the suspicion that Maradona had replaced his urine sample with that of another person during drug tests carried out by Boca Juniors, the club where he played at the time.
In that context, The FBI was specifically asked to determine whether the Boston laboratory, which had conducted Maradona’s doping tests during the 1994 World Cup in the United States, He still had the Argentine soccer player’s urine sample. It is worth mentioning that in that tournament, Maradona had tested positive for ephedrine after the second match, which was against Nigeria, which resulted in his exclusion from the Argentine national team, which was eventually eliminated in the round of 16. This episode is remembered for Maradona’s famous statement: “They cut off my legs.”
Nurse Sue Ellen Carpenter takes Diego to drug control at Boston’s Foxboro. (AP)
In an interview conducted by Daniel Bolotnicoff last June, who at the time was acting as Diego Maradona’s representative, an alternative version of events was provided. Bolotnicoff claimed that Maradona was taking a vitamin complex called “Ripped Fast”, which contained harmless substances, and there were no problems. However, when they were in the United States, they ran out of this product and purchased a supplement called “Ripped Fuel”, which apparently contained a substance similar to ephedrine in its metabolism. Bolotnicoff mentioned that this was provided to him by Daniel Cerrini. According to him, FIFA’s accusations about a cocktail of substances were unfounded.
Maradona tested positive for the third time in his career in 1997. (Clarín Archive)
The objective of the request to the FBI in 1996 was to compare the urine sample from that year with that from 1994 to determine if Maradona had replaced the original sample with that of another person.. However, in the declassified documents, there is a second report dated October 10, a week after the first, in which the investigation was requested to be “discontinued.” The reason for this decision was that another sample had already been obtained to carry out the comparison.
It is important to remember that in August 1997, Maradona failed a drug test for the third time in his career, while playing for Boca Juniors. This was the reason why he permanently retired from professional football just five weeks later. Curiously, a year before this episode, there were signs of suspicions surrounding the use of prohibited substances by the Argentine soccer player.
The FBI document that details how the investigation was.
2023-10-28 04:16:00
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