You can read our original report in Italian on SwimSwam Italia here.
Emerging sprinter Andrea Vergani of Italy will have his National Anti-Doping Tribunal hearing on June 6th of this year at 9:30am.
As we reported last month, the 21-year-old Italian National Champion tested positive for cannabis. The reported positive result came from a test conducted on April 2nd of this year, conducted at the Italian National Championships in Riccione. At those Championships, Vergani took the Italian National title in the men’s 50m freestyle, clocking a time of 21.53, a mark that ranks him as #3 in the world.
He has been on temporary suspension by Italy’s Anti-Doping Federation, NADO Italia, since his positive test was revealed.
His most likely absence from this summer’s World Championships is indeed a blow to the Italian team, as the freestyle ace has proven he’s got chops on the elite international scene. Vergani took 50m free bronze at last year’s European Championships and was a critical member of his nation’s 4x50m freestyle relay that also won bronze at the 201 Short Course World Championships in Hangzhou, China.
Delay it a year to April 20th
Going down in a blaze of glory.
I chuckled.
I just laughed at the title of the article itself. Andrea Vergani’s “Doping” Hearing…it works on 2 levels.
cannabis isn’t a drug
I understand that some people are super gungho about their marijuana, and can’t imagine living in a world where anybody is criticized for smoking pot, and that’s fine, smoke your pot…but saying “cannabis isn’t a drug” is at best a lie and at worst misinformation.
If it weren’t a drug, it wouldn’t make you feel so good when you smoke it, and you wouldn’t be so gungho about protecting your own right to smoke it.
(And yes, alcohol is also a drug. So is Tylenol. If you want to protect your right to smoke pot – don’t battle to change the definition of “drug,” just battle to change the universal negative connotation of the word “drug”.)
thanks for setting me straight. Pun intended.
Just imagine if they tested every 21yo swimmer for cannabis…
Lol right
“I got high and forgot I wasn’t supposed to get high!!!!”