Four Month Ban for Balding Romario
By: Martha | December 19th, 2007
As everyone surely remembers, Romario announced two weeks ago that he’d tested positive for banned substance finasteride, and was facing a ban. He said he would appeal, based on the fact that that the reason for his positive test was his use of Propecia, which he claims to have been taking for some time (and his hair does look great). Well, the appeal was heard yesterday and, by a decision of 3-2, Brazil’s highest sports tribunal upheld the ban — Romario will be suspended for 120 days.
It’s actually entirely possible that the 41-year-old really is just using Propecia — he wouldn’t be the first one to fall into the trap of either not knowing or not caring that it contains a masking agent, banned because it can cause false negative tests for steroids. Finasteride has been on the banned list for several years, though, so I guess if you’re an athlete, you have to just let your hair disappear until your career is over, at which point you take all the hair-growth drugs you can get your hands on and just hope to get those follicles a-tingling.
Even though he can’t play, Romario is still the (player-)manager of Vasco da Gama, and he’ll definitely coach them next month in a tournament in Dubai. Additionally, if his coaching contract is extended, he could guide the team through the Guanabara Cup, and possibly even play for them again.
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