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Cyclist Da Ros’s ban reduced
Cyclist Gianni Da Ros’s 20 year doping
ban has been cut to four years after
the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
agreed the punishment was excessive.
CAS said that, although Da Ros had used
and supplied banned drugs, it had not
been established that he had attempted
to administer them to another rider.
A four-year ban is in line with the standard
suspension provided by the World Anti-
Doping Code.
The 23 year old Italian is free to race
again from March 2012.
Da Ros was suspended by his Liquigas
team after he was arrested on training
duty with Italy’s national track cycling
team in March 2009.
He was one of a number of riders and
team staff caught up in an investigation
into drug-trafficking by the Milan state
prosecutor.
Fellow cyclists Davide Lucato, who
admitted buying banned drugs for Da Ros,
and Albinio Corazzin were subsequently
banned by the Italian National Olympic
Committee (Coni) for eight and two years
respectively.
Shorts
FIFA.com attracts record visits
FIFA.com attracted over a quarter of
a billion visits as the world engaged
online with the 2010 FIFA World Cup in
South Africa. FIFA, through its web and
Twitter feeds, aimed to deliver the World
Cup through a digital medium to a wider
audience than ever before.
Over 220,000 people followed FIFA’s
official tweets on Twitter, while the 5million
members of the FIFA.com club swapped
120m virtual stickers and made over 1m
comments on the website as they debated
the main points of the tournament.
Over the course of the tournament’s 31
days FIFA.com attracted over 250million
visits – approximately 150million unique
users, triggering seven billion page
views: 410m of those page views were
recorded in a single day - when England
and the USA played simultaneously and
FIFA.com technicians reported a
throughput of 1m hits per second at the
height of the activity.
FIFA.com had three times more unique
users than in 2006 and exceeded
forecasts for page impressions by 1.5bn.
Doctor warned over
Bloodgate Incident
The doctor at the centre of the rugby
“Bloodgate” scandal has been given a
warning by the General Medical Council’s
(GMC) disciplinary panel.
Wendy Chapman cut the lip of Harlequins
rugby player Tom Williams to cover up a
bogus blood injury and later lied about her
role in the event.
The GMC ruled that Dr Chapman’s fitness
to practise was not impaired, despite her
actions. But it said her actions were not in
the best interests of her patient. She was
suspended by the GMC last September
and could have been struck off at the
hearing in Manchester.
The incident occurred during the 2009
Heineken Cup quarter-final in which
Harlequins were losing 6-5 against Irish
side Leinster. Dr Chapman has admitted
cutting the lip of Harlequins rugby player
Tom Williams. Williams’ supposed injury
meant a specialist goal kicker could
come on to the pitch as a substitute for
Harlequins in the dying minutes of the
game. However, Leinster held on to win
the match.
The GMC panel was told how Williams
became “extremely panicked” after he
bit into a fake blood capsule and was
challenged about the authenticity of his
“injury”. He then asked Dr Chapman to
cut him and she agreed, the panel was
told.
The GMC disciplinary panel said the
warning would be published on the List of
Registered Medical Practitioners (LRMP)
for a period of five years.
Williams was initially barred from the
game for 12 months, a ban that was
reduced to four months after he admitted
using the capsule.
New funding deal agreed
for Football League
A new 3 year deal has been agreed
between the English Premier League and
Football League which will see funding for
Football League clubs rise to £372m - or
£124m a season.
The parachute payments that are given to
clubs relegated from the top flight will rise
from £32m over two years to £48m over
four years.
The deal distributes some of the income
generated by the Premier League to the
smaller clubs - £2.2m per Championship
club, £335,000 per League 1 club and
£225,000 per League 2 club.
Premier League chief Richard Scudamore
said the extra revenue would make a
‘huge difference’ to Football League clubs
and that one of the main reasons was to
allow clubs to plan for their financial future
with a greater degree of certainty.
Woman paralysed at
Pole dancing class
A woman has been paralysed after
performing a routine move during a pole
dancing fitness session.
Debbie Plowman, from York, England,
was performing a manoeuvre known
as cross ankle release when she fell,
breaking her neck and severely damaging
her spinal cord. The cross ankle release
requires the dancer to hang upside down,
with ankles crossed and back arched.
Mrs Plowman was upside down just a foot
above the ground when she fell on her
head and was knocked unconscious.
The mother-of-two is unable to move
since the accident nine months ago.
She requires a ventilator to help her
breathe and can only communicate
through a computer that tracks her eye
movements.
According to reports, she is expected to
remain in hospital in six months and it
could take up to three years for doctors
to know whether she can regain body
movement.