Michele Ferrari, the doctor banned from involvement in sport for life in 2012, has been jailed for 18 months by an Italian court for supplying EPO to a former junior world champion biathlete.
Daniel Taschler, aged 29, had been put in touch with Ferrari by his father Gottlieb, a former vice president of the International Biathlon Union and Olympic bronze medallist at Calgary in 1988.
Conversations between the pair and Ferrari in 2010 and 2011 were being tapped by the Italian authorities, however, as part of an investigation into the doctor and his links to doping.
Besides the sentence handed down to Ferrari, Gottlieb Taschler was given a one-year jail term and his son was imprisoned for nine months, reports Tuttobiciweb.
The World Anti-Doping Agency was involved in the case, which went to trial in Bolzano, north-east Italy, as a civil party and was represented by lawyer Marco Consonni.
He had previously acted for the United States Anti-Doping Agency during its investigation into doping at the United States Postal Service cycling team, which resulted in life bans for Lance Armstrong and Ferrari.
Speaking about the latest case, Consonni said: “In recent times, WADA has decided to act as a civil party in several important criminal proceedings in Italy related to violation of anti-doping rules.
“The decision was also made in relation to the importance of the case and the profile of the accused.
“This result obtained from the court in Bolzano is of great importance in the international fight against doping.”
20 thoughts on “Italian doping doctor Michele Ferrari jailed for 18 months”
Dr Ferrari always freaked me
Dr Ferrari always freaked me out, a twisted genius who lived in a moral vaccum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWpcBvR-B7Y&t=68s
Team EPO wrote:
Not really a genius. If he’d been a half decent doctor he would have been contributing to the medical world.
hampsoc wrote:
That doesn’t follow. You may want it to, to fit squarely into your world view. Admirable. But it just doesn’t follow, never will.
World just doesn’t work like that.
unconstituted wrote:
I must have missed his amazing contributions to medicine.
Good riddance, although
Good riddance, although unfortunately a good few years too late. I hope they’re also investigating t=his finances and any money he’s made from criminal activity.
Was he not given a suspended
Was he not given a suspended sentence, rather than actual jail time?
When writing for a cycling
When I was writing for a cycling magazine in the 1990s, I referred to Ferrari as Dr Concotion. And, credit to my Editor … he published it.
In hindsight, I would have liked to have been sued because I would be on to an earner now.
Other Journo’s didn’t have the balls to out what was going on.
I’m not sure the fledgling
I’m not sure the fledgling Mail messageboards count as a ‘cycling magazine’, but cool story, bro.
hi-lvl road cycling = best
hi-lvl road cycling = best doctor wins
Ferrari is a criminal genius,
Ferrari is a criminal genius, his method was not just doping, his training and research methods were innovative, class leading and detailed.
Pity he didn’t stop at 100% and crossed the line.
On one side: Yay! Got the
On one side: Yay! Got the dodgey bastard.
On the other…… What he did certainly wasn’t done in isolation & he and a certain well known Texan are now the scapegoats for a whole load of shit that was less than hidden in plain sight ~ Not so very different from the fate of many a 1970’s DJ. What was once acceptable as long as it wasn’t made too obvious is now seen as being particulary wrong. Collective guilt?
HowardR wrote:
I’m pretty sure raping kids was wrong in the 70s, too.
davel wrote:
On one side: Yay! Got the dodgey bastard.
On the other…… What he did certainly wasn’t done in isolation & he and a certain well known Texan are now the scapegoats for a whole load of shit that was less than hidden in plain sight ~ Not so very different from the fate of many a 1970’s DJ. What was once acceptable as long as it wasn’t made too obvious is now seen as being particulary wrong. Collective guilt?
— davel I’m pretty sure raping kids was wrong in the 70s, too.— HowardR
I’m guessing that you didn’t mean to compare paedophilia and PEDs? I’m not sure the Yewtree victims would compare their woes with those of one cheating cyclist beating another to a yellow jersey and a pile of cash…
Chris Hayes wrote:
His comparison between the two things was about normalcy, you’ve changed it to effects.
This is a common fallacy (for want of a less wanky expression) that pops up regularly. His comparison in its current form is perfectly reasonable.
Chris Hayes wrote:
I’m guessing you need to read and use quotes properly, so you’re replying to the person who compared the two, and not me. Unless you’re suggesting that an allusion to 70s DJs doesnt recall Yewtree and it was me bringing it up, in which case, on your bike.
davel wrote:
On one side: Yay! Got the dodgey bastard.
On the other…… What he did certainly wasn’t done in isolation & he and a certain well known Texan are now the scapegoats for a whole load of shit that was less than hidden in plain sight ~ Not so very different from the fate of many a 1970’s DJ. What was once acceptable as long as it wasn’t made too obvious is now seen as being particulary wrong. Collective guilt?
— davel I’m pretty sure raping kids was wrong in the 70s, too.— Chris Hayes
I’m guessing that you didn’t mean to compare paedophilia and PEDs? I’m not sure the Yewtree victims would compare their woes with those of one cheating cyclist beating another to a yellow jersey and a pile of cash…
— davel I’m guessing you need to read and use quotes properly, so you’re replying to the person who compared the two, and not me. Unless you’re suggesting that an allusion to 70s DJs doesnt recall Yewtree and it was me bringing it up, in which case, on your bike.— HowardR
Yep – bang to rights. I was replying to the original post….
If only he’d had an MBA and
If only he’d had an MBA and the good sense to spin some shite about washing your hands and having a special mattress he could have had a lucrative book deal by now.
In some ways maybe there is
In some ways maybe there is something science can learn from him and Armstrong. You’d think people would be more interested in the actual medical data from Armstrong given he came back from near death to win the TDF. Most people would be happy just not to die.
This is the problem with PEDs, in that the actual research into them is fairly limited compared to a lot of pharmaceutical products because of their legality in most places. People like Ferrari have probably got a lot of information that could be useful given what Armstrong achieved after cancer. Armstrong and Ferrari would be more than giving back if they fed back his data into the medical community.
It may be that the cheating
It may be that the cheating factories like Balco have something to give back, but I think the science regarding steroids is widely understood: they’re readily prescribed. Likewise EPO and blood transfusions. It’s more a case of creative/nefarious use of understood medicine, rather than some evil scientists that just need to go straight.
I do get the point about learning from Armstrong and some of his cheaty peers, though – they’re medical marvels, regardless.
Loads of good info on PEDs
Loads of good info on PEDs and steroids and a huge back catalogue of variations on certain forums. Doctors and chemists post on them too, and are often mods or high ranking members. Loads of user experiences to boot, Armstrong is a nice case study, but we have 1000’s of guys taking each and every available PED as they’re synthesised. Has been the way before and after Lance, he just happened to be in the limelight. The best of these sites, usually referral ones, have definitely moved on from bro-science to real science, and the studies are there as well, though often quite small.
People really interested in PEDs have it all just a sign-up or referral away.
The mainstream medical community isn’t interested though. Medicine follows conventional ethics, it’s definitely not neutral.