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José Luis Palomino is out of Atalanta Bergamo due to a doping ban
Photo:
Marco Canoniero / IMAGO
Argentinian central defender José Luis Palomino, who plays for Atalanta Bergamo, has been provisionally suspended after a positive doping test.
This was announced by the Italian anti-doping agency Nado.
The substance clostebol metabolite was detected in the 32-year-old.
The national anti-doping court then imposed the ban at the request of the public prosecutor.
The club confirmed that they had been informed of the ban by the court on Tuesday and are now awaiting further steps.
Clostebol has been occupying top-class sport for a long time.
The steroid is on the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA's banned list.
In recent years, dozens of athletes have made the headlines for testing positive for clostebol, including junior athletes, world-class athletes and even an Olympic champion.
From 2015 to 2019 alone, Wada registered more than a hundred cases.
Many who were caught with the steroid in their blood then protested their innocence and said they had taken the drug by mistake.
(Read more here ).
Low doping effect
Among them, for example, former racing cyclist Stefano Agostini, who said he accidentally took Clobestol through a wound healing ointment.
Or Norway's cross-country star Therese Johaug.
She has now ended her career, but was caught with clostebol in her blood in 2016.
The four-time Olympic champion then emphasized that a sunburn cream from her doctors was to blame.
The doctor took the blame, but Johaug was still banned.
It's not uncommon for dopers to protest their innocence afterwards.
In the case of Clobestol, however, experts consider it likely that doping could not have been done knowingly.
Clostebol is actually considered unpopular among dopers because the doping effect is too low, so no significant muscle growth can be expected.
According to a study, it is also dangerous for athletes that even a brief contact with clostebol can result in a positive doping test.
The background to Palomino is unclear for the time being.
The football professional initially did not comment on a request from the Reuters news agency.
Atalanta Bergamo finished eighth in Serie A last season.
In the Europa League, the Italians failed in the quarter-finals at RB Leipzig.
Central defender Palomino was a regular at the northern Italian club.
He has been playing in Bergamo since 2018.
The new Serie A season starts on August 13th.
kjo/dpa/sid/Reuters
