The lawyer who was banned from Italian doping for the Olympics: “I just learned the spelling for biathlon”
Shortly before the Olympic Games, Italian biathlete Rebecca Passler tested positive for the banned substance letrozole – and was excluded from the home games. On Monday she trained in the Olympic Arena in Antholz after the ban was lifted pending an investigation.
Passler could start in the women’s relay on Wednesday, although several Italian newspapers speculate whether this is too risky for the team.
After an appeal to the Italian Anti-Doping Agency (Nadab) Court of Appeal, the biathlete received the green light last week. Nadab believes Passler accidentally ingested the banned substance through contamination.
What the defense said it was about: Nutella.
Ernesto De Toni is the name of the lawyer who took on the case.
– The amount of letrozole in Passler’s urine was negligible. All previous tests had been negative. When she received the result she was completely shocked, Ernesto De Toni tells Corriere della Serra.
According to the lawyer, it’s about family history. Rebecca Passler didn’t know that her mother was being treated for a cancerous tumor. The mother had hidden her medication in the bedroom.
– Since it is a hormone-regulating drug, every substance in the body is affected. Saliva, sweat, everything is potentially dangerous.
On January 25th, Rebecca Passler and her mother had breakfast together, says the lawyer.
-The only thing they shared was a jar of Nutella, and there was this tiny particle of letrozole.
The lawyer states that there were urgent and special days.
– I’ll say it like it is: I just learned how to spell biathlon.
The German police want to make history as a bobsleigh pilot
He may be unknown on Swedish TV sofas, but when it comes to bobsledding, Francesco Friedrich is the king. The first World Cup gold was in 2011. Since then there have been 17 more, which is a record.
The now 35-year-old German won double gold at both the 2018 and 2022 Olympic Games, as a pilot in the two-man bobsleigh and four-man bobsleigh.
After the Olympics, Franz, as he is called, wants to end his sports career and concentrate on his career as a police officer, but first he wants to make history on the newly built race track in Cortina. There he can become the most successful bobsledder in Olympic history.
Before the two decisive heats in the two-man bobsleigh on Tuesday, Francesco Friedrich, who has Alexander Schuller as his pusher in the bobsleigh, is second behind another German duo: Johannes Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer.
From skier to pilot – the Frenchman’s plan after his career
Many athletes live entirely for their sport and after their sports career, many decide to either become a coach or get involved with sport in another way. But the Frenchwoman Clara Direz, who competed in the giant slalom on the Olympic ski jump in Cortina, has other plans – she wants to become a pilot.
– When I was younger, my parents asked me, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” I replied: “I want to be a pilot,” says Direz in the official information channel of the Olympic Games.
The 30-year-old is taking part in the Olympic Games in Italy for the second time, but has also completed training as a pilot in addition to the elite competition. Now she has received her certificate and is authorized to fly commercial aircraft.
– It was mainly a matter of setting up a purely organizational schedule. It was really hard, but I had a lot of people who helped me with the trips and everything. “All the classes were done remotely, so I could do them from home or from the base,” she says.
Now she is planning her time after skiing and hopes to get a job as a pilot after her career is over.
– I would like to become a professional pilot after my career. I’ll apply to a few companies and hopefully find a good one.
– I’ll also do a little aerobatics because it’s a sporting thing and closer to what I’ve done all my life.
