14 March 2016

Rafael Nadal denies new doping allegations by ex-France sports secretary

Facing new accusations, Rafael Nadal again denied he has ever used performance enhancers to speed his recovery from injury.
"You know what?  "I am a completely clean guy. I have never had the temptation of doing something wrong. When I get injury, I get injury. I never take anything to be back quicker."
On Tuesday, Roselyne Bachelot , the former French secretary of sport, accused Nadal of doping in 2012, echoing accusations made by former French Open champion Yannick Noah in 2011 and by former Belgian pro Christophe Rochus in 2013.
"We know that Nadal's famous seven-month injury was without a doubt due to a positive drug test," Bachelot told French TV show "Le Grand 8" on Tuesday morning. "When you see a tennis player who stops playing for long months, it is because he has tested positive and because they are covering it up. It is not something that always happens, but yes it happens more than you think."

Nadal has never failed a drug test. He has used new therapies for his knee problems, including stem-cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma therapy. "It is an example for the kids, and if I am doing something that goes against that, I will be lying to myself, not lying to my opponents," Nadal said Wednesday. "I believe in the sport and the values of the sport."

Nadal's uncle and coach, Toni Nadal, told RAC 1 radio show, "Rafael's lawyer is already working to potentially take legal action against [Bachelot]. In this world, instead of proving one's guilt, a person must prove their innocence. "I am no longer surprised by what people say, but comments like these from a former sports leader are incredible to me."

In 2011, Noah wrote a column in Le Monde newspaper saying that French athletes no longer had a chance against their Spanish opponents because they "don't have the magic potion." French television also featured several satirical moments, and in 2013, Rochus questioned how Nadal could dominate the 2012 French Open and then be injured two weeks later at Wimbledon.

"I have been open all my career," Nadal told reporters at Indian Wells. "I never tried to hide anything that I did. I did PRP, and then I did stem cells. "The first time with PRP, it worked fantastic, and the second time it was bad. I had to stop playing tennis for seven months. With stem cells, I used it two times on my knees and it worked very well. I am not doing, never did and never going to do something wrong."

The 29-year-old added that he has faith in his doctor, Angel Ruiz-Cotorro.
"He has been the doctor for all the Spanish players for a number of years," Nadal said. "I would never take anything that he doesn't know about."
Spanish sports minister Miguel Cardenal blasted Bachelot, who held her position from 2007 to 2010 under the administration of Nicolas Sarkozy, telling Spanish news agency EFE that her comments were "surprisingly frivolous."
"[Bachelot] has not held this position [minister of sport] for many years, and I am sure she has forgotten everything that she has ever known," Cardenal said. "I am convinced that she will realize the huge mistake she has made and the unacceptable injustice and she will apologize. About the rest, it is best not to pay too much attention. The lie is so ridiculous that it is easy to rule out without much effort."

This is not the first time that sources in France have hinted at Spanish sport stars' involvement in doping offences. Yannick Noah spoke of a 'magic potion' that Spanish athletes took to guarantee success in their respective sports. Then, it was Canal + France's 'Spitting Image' puppets who parodied Iker Casillas, Pau Gasol and Rafa Nadal signing autographs with a hypodermic needle.


27 comments:

  1. Everyone knows that since he started playing, Rafa Nadal has been on the top 10 best tennis players, and as every athlete, sport organizations have kept a close eye on him in order to make sure he is not using any kind of drugs, so if he hasn't been accused of doping till this moment, it is probably because he hasn't used any kind of drugs, and if he's being accused now it is just a matter of jealousy. We know that every athlete would do anything so they could "beat the beast", but instead of accusing good people of cheating, they should spend more hours in the tennis court and then, they may beat Rafa Nadal.

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  2. I think this issue must be dealed in ethical terms. It's really unfair to accuse somebody without proves and a deep knowledge of the matter; that's why I consider Bachelot must be taken to court. Moreover, Bachelot might have had personal reasons to blame Rafa Nadal for such a serious accusation —if we take into account that this is not the first time an important French personality makes this accusation, the reason is easy to to deduce: simple sport competition and rivalry due to an envy to the opponent—.

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  4. I think that it's an injustice and a terrible action to accuse someone of such an strong crime without proves..., but incredibly it occurs a lot of times and not only with Rafael Nadal's case. I also think that in a lot of cases the accusation it's only to criticize or devalue the person, or only to cause a great stir (so that people talk about it); but in conclusion Bachelot should pay for her unfair accusations and begin to apologize.

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  6. I believe these kinds of accusations should be illegal, defaming people should be illegal - if it isn't already.
    In addition, I think it's hilarious how the French have always tried to discredit Spanish sport stars by saying they've been involved with dopping. It's time they stopped acting like little kids accusing others and admit we have amazing athletes. No matter how many times Nadal is accused of enhancing drugs, he has proved that he's clean, and he is also the tennis player who has won the most Roland Garros no matter how much that annoys the French.

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  7. As the article said, it is not the first time that French people charge Spanish athletes with consuming performance enhancers. From my point of view, Frenchmen and Frenchwomen are doing these kind of accusations due to the fact that they can't bear seeing Spanish athletes winning almost all French competitions, such as Roland Garros, the Tour de France... They can't stand being worse than us at sports!

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  8. In my opinion, Nadal was accused unfairly and without enough evidence. Nadal is a loyal tennis player and I don't think he would ever take drugs or something illegal to recover quicker. Although there have been a lot of doping cases, we should trust athletes. Furthermore, I think that French people have always been jealous of Spanish athletes and maybe that's why they have accused Rafa Nadal.

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  9. How as Rafa Nadal said, if he has been doping himself all this time, he has been lying to himself, not to his opponents. But I disagree with what Yannick Noah said, not all the Spanish athletes are doped, if they are doing their job pretty well, it does not necessarily have to be due to drugs.

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  10. Rafael Nadal is one of the best Spanish players in history and these accusations are the result of ignorance and jealousy. This isn't the first time Spanish players are accused of doping and won't be the last time but they should do something so that at least they let them play as they know. France should accept that Spanish players have been better than their players.

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  11. I think that Bachelot’s allegations are not properly substantiated because Nadal has never failed a drug test. I don't mean that because he has never failed them this time he hasn't done it; but it seems to me that Bachelot feels envious of Rafa Nadal. Moreover, Rafa Nadal is an exemplary figure for children and he wants to be honest with them and himself, that's why he trains hard so as to be better.

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  12. Rafa Nadal has proved to be a great tennis player during his entire career as an athlete winning competitions for his own merits and without the help of drugs which could allowed him to get better results. His victories have been the result of much effort, hard training and talent. This kind of athletes is tested to prevent doping and Rafa has successfully passed them. Therefore, it’s obvious that Bachelot’s accusation on a TV show contains other kind of interests such as damage Rafa’s image with that type of news. It’s depressing that people like Bachelot spend time trying to break others’ success.

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  13. From my point of view, Rafael Nadal has been accused of doping without any kind of proof. As he says, cheating is failing yourself, not failing the rivals and, for that reason, I really think he has not been doped on any occasion. In addition, journalists who are dedicated to disclose these accusations, saying that they actually have taken place, should devote that wasted time to adding new information to clarify the facts so that the people who really are interested in this kind of news can draw true conclusions.
    To sum up, I think people that accuse good athletes should use that wasted time in other things, like discovering who really cheats in sports (either tennis or any other).

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  14. It's true that the French people should be jealous of Spanish sports figures. We have won the last two Eurocope Cups along with our victory in their own basketball tournament last summer. Also in cycling and tennis. So the words of Bachelot are due to the impotence before Spain success.

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  15. It is not the first time that Rafa Nadal is accused of doping, therefore it would be resolved with the intervention of justice. Tennis players are subject to routine checks, so if Nadal had come out in one positive the authorities representing the sport would have acted properly. On the other hand, the accusation that the French secretary of sport, Bachelot,makes is unfounded and based on accusations of other players like Yannick Noah or Christophe Rochus.

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  16. One of the problems involved in doping practice is that we live in a society where the results are important and we forget about the process and practice.
    We should try to stop doping because it’s not fair to the other people who practice sport. Moreover, doping oneself is harmful.
    So what If we accuse someone and it isn’t true? He maybe won’t be trusted at all in the future or some people will doubt/ question his victories

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  17. I think that Roselyne Bachelot accused Rafa Nadal of doping because of envy or something similar. In my view I think that blaming Rafa for doping twice because he is a good tennis player is a big nonsense and even more when there is no evidence that he is doping.
    Making this kind of accusations could damage the image of the player and surely she pretends to do this. I don’t know many things about him but I don’t believe that he dopes because he seems a sensible and a legal person.

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  18. In my opinion this is a huge and fake accusation. Nobody can accuse someone of something without proof or even with bad arguments. Rafa Nadal is a very good tennis player, and he has never been found taking drugs, so this is only a sign of envy from French people because it is not the first time that this happens, and not only with Rafa Nadal,but even with other Spanish athletes.

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  19. For many years some French players have been jealous of other Spanish players as there are many who are better than them. That's why, in my opinion, French players have accused Rafa Nadal of doping. Nadal is a very good player and I don't think that he has been doped, but we must also keep in mind that many players dope themselves.

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  20. People shouldn’t accuse other people of such a terrible act like doping or taking drugs to be better at something when it’s not true. It can destroy the athlete‘s career or give him or her a bad image for something he, in this case Rafa Nadal, hasn’t done at all. It’s also known that many French people through TV programs, or social networks, have accused Spanish athletes of doping and, in some cases, it turned out to be true. However, this time, I think Roselyne Bachelot shouldn’t be allowed to say things that are not proved to be true.

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  21. Nadal is a prestigious tennis player, his name is in the history of the sport for everything that has been achieved, and that causes a lot of jealousy, a big problem in our society. Nadal has been accused of doping several times, and that has never been demonstrated, they are just false accusations. This time they have gone further, because the accusations have been miss by a secretary of sports, making these accusations more credible to people who aren’t sport fans.

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  22. I truly believe that these accusations about doping are not based on solid facts, so I think they are not adequate. In addition, I think these accusations are unfair, because if these are not true, athletes receive criticisms that are not necessary, and from this moment everything is questioned.

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  23. I'm very surprised by the comments of some people about Rafael Nadal, we all know that Nadal is one of the best players in the world and is a symbol of Spanish sport, and if some people are saying that Nadal has cheated they are just lying.

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  24. I'm very surprised by the comments of some people about Rafael Nadal, we all know that Nadal is one of the best players in the world and is a symbol of Spanish sport, and if some people are saying that Nadal has cheated they are just lying.

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  25. I think that Nadal has nothing to do with any dopping or illegal activity that helps him to perform better. Indeed from my point of view, he cares a lot about sport and the values it gives to people. In addition, as it is said in the article, it's not the first time French people accuse Spanish sport stars of dopping, and the great number of accussations eventually false, maybe they are resentful for having lost a lot of competitions againtsst us.

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  26. Bachelot has made a very strong accusation against Rafa Nadal. This accusation isn’t based on any kind of proof, that’s the reason why it is unacceptable. Furthermore, Bachelot has lost face because her accusation seems a product of her envy toward the tennis player. Rafa Nadal never has failed a drug test and has never been accused of doping up to now. I think that if he really doped there would have been rumors much earlier. So, Bachelot should apologize for her baseless accusation.

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  27. The rivalry between Spain and France has been there for years and it’s nothing new, but there are limits for everything, and this woman has exceeded all of them. Everyone can obviously have an opinion about this issue but, before talking, she should have thought about the fact that Rafa Nadal is an important player that has been under surveillance and undergone , like most of the big players, and if he has never tested positive it is because he was not doing anything wrong. So, if French people are jealous of the success that the tennis player has had during his career, they should start training harder instead of accusing their geographical “neighbours”.

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