A schoolboy cyclist aged just 14 years has tested positive for powerful banned steroids.
Boy (14) tests positive for banned steroids
A 14-year-old Italian boy has tested positive for banned steroids in a regional race near Rome.
The child has not been named but has already been banned by the Italian Olympic Committee’s anti-doping tribunal.
The substance at the centre of the case is mesterolone; a banned steroid.
Italy's National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO) published news of the case yesterday. It appears the child is the youngest person ever to test positive in Italian sport.
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However, cases of amateur riders –including juniors and veteran riders in their 50s and 60s – are now not uncommon.
"Resorting to doping in sport is already something criminal; in a case like this we are faced with a crime against humanity," doping expert Carlo Tranquilli told the Italian media.
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Tranquilli, who is head of the Lazio section of the Italian sports doctors federation, said the case was very worrying.
He added the fact the boy had tested positive for “an anabolic steroid with devastating side effects” suggested some of the people around him had acted criminally.
"We're well beyond ordinary crime here. Something beyond all logic, which is perverted in itself,” he said.
“But in the case of a kid, because at 14 you're just a kid, the picture becomes really worrying.
“At a youth level, too, doping is strongly rooted now. That means that those children have fully fledged criminal organisations around them.”
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