Gibilisco's Drug Ban Lifted

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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/0805 ... ibilisco_1

Pole vaulter Gibilisco has doping ban rescinded, aims for Beijing
Sat May 10, 3:19 PM


By The Associated Press
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MILAN, Italy - Former pole vault world champion Giuseppe Gibilisco of Italy wants to compete at the Beijing Olympics after having a two-year doping ban rescinded.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the suspension on Friday.

"In the past eight months, I continued to train without a trainer," Gibilisco said Saturday. "I had some terrible moments, but there were people who told me not to give up. I'm not in perfect shape now, but I'm in good condition and I'm looking forward to the Olympics."

The Italian Athletics Federation banned Gibilisco last July for having contact with Italian doctor Carlo Santuccione, who has been linked to doping and is alleged to have provided illegal drugs to athletes.

Gibilisco's sentence was overturned on appeal, but Gibilisco again was banned after prosecutors won a later appeal.

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http://www.cleveland.com/livingston/ind ... immun.html

No track and field event immune from suspected performance-enhancing drug use
by Bill Livingston
Friday January 30, 2009, 3:24 PM

CLEVELAND -- The column today concerns USA Track and Field CEO Doug Logan's recent condemnation of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) at one of the sport's dirtier outposts, a convention of dietary supplements makers and health food producers.


Special to The Plain Dealer
The cover image for the book "Above and Beyond -- Tim Mack, the Pole Vault and the Quest for Olympic Gold" brought up a problem in sports ethics related to the issue, PD columnist and book author Bill Livingston says
While the sprints and throws have had the greatest number of cheaters, no event is immune. When my book "Above and Beyond -- Tim Mack, the Pole Vault and the Quest for Olympic Gold" came out in September, its cover brought up a problem in sports ethics that was related to the issue.


The cover photo of Mack, the Westlake-bred and St. Ignatius-educated pole vaulter, on the medal podium in Athens showed him flanked by silver medalist Toby Stevenson of the USA and bronze medalist Giuseppe Gibilisco of Italy.

Almost three years after the Athens Games, yet before the publication of the book, Gibilisco was suspended by the Italian Athletics Federation at the request of the country's Olympic Committee for "the use or attempted use of a banned substance or of a prohibited practice." Mack preferred a different cover picture from one that included a PEDs suspect.

Gibilisco never tested positive for PEDs, but one of his associates was Dr. Carlos Santuccione, a man known as "Ali the Chemist." Santuccione was implicated in the cycling doping scandals after working for the notorious Franceso Conconi of the University of Ferrara's Biomedical Research Institute. Conconi is said to have introduced to cycling the endurance drug Erythropoietin, or EPO, which increases red-blood cell production.

Gibilisco threatened to retire if he were not cleared of the charges. In September 2007, two months after he was suspended, the Court of Arbitration for Sport rescinded the punishment because of the lack of a positive test.

While it runs counter to the presumption of innocence that is a cornerstone of American jurisprudence, track and field fans have become resigned to the fact that association by athletes with coaches or trainers who have a history of drug charges usually ends by tainting the athlete too. It was true with sprinters Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery. It was true of disgraced Athens 100-meter gold medalist Justin Gatlin.

Gibilisco won the bronze medal in Athens despite having trained only 15 days before the Olympics because of injury. He was coached by Vitaly Petrov, the former mentor of the great Sergey Bubka in the Soviet Union. Because of the state system of doping in many communist countries, not even Bubka -- described by Mack's coach as a "perfect storm" of physical, mental and psychological abilities -- was above suspicion.

Pole vaulting has been comparatively PEDs-free, but Gibilisco's performance in Athens certainly made knowledgeable fans wonder.

Friday's blog dealt with the death of intermediate hurdler Glenn "Jeep" Davis, a three-time Olympic gold medalist from Barberton and Ohio State. In it, I mentioned the all-time Cleveland track team in the book that WKNR AM/850 radio personality Greg Brinda and I authored, "The Great Book of Cleveland Sports Lists."

A certain amount of dissent is inherent in such a book because the lists are subjective. However, I could have done better than select LaShaunte'a Moore, the Akron women's 200 meter runner, for that spot on the coed team. Former Plain Dealer reporter Dick Zunt, my source for all definitive views on area track and field, suggests Otis Paul Drayton of Villanova and Cathedral Latin.

Drayton was the silver medalist in the Olympic 200 in 1964 in Tokyo and won a gold medal as part of the USA's 4x100 relay team. Case closed.

"Above and Beyond," which won the 2009 National Media Award from the Pole Vault Development Committee of USA Track and Field, is available at area book stores, KentStateUniversityPress.com and Amazon.com. "The Great Book of Cleveland Sports Lists" is also available at area bookstores, RunningPress.com, and Amazon.com.

To reach Bill Livingston: blivingston@plaind.com, 216-999-4672