Toronto Woman Charged with Voyeurism During Massage Appointment

ROME (AP) — The word “DOPING” is printed in capital letters inside a red circle with a slash through it on the box containing the over-the-counter spray sold in Italy that caused No. 1-ranked tennis player Jannik Sinner to fail two drug tests in March.

Sinner was cleared last month and will play Jack Draper in the U.S. Open semifinals Friday.

Trofodermin, which contains the banned anabolic steroid Clostebol, is available without a prescription in Sinner’s home country — and that’s where the 23-year-old’s physical trainer bought the medication that led to a trace amount of Clostebol showing up in his test results.

A small can of Trofodermin was purchased for 14.50 euros ($16) at a Rome pharmacy this week by an Associated Press reporter.

The product is meant for treating cuts and scrapes and contains an underlined warning in Italian on the medication guide that comes inside the box: “For those taking part in sports: use of the drug without therapeutic needs constitutes doping and can result in positive anti-doping tests.”

Giovanni Fontana, an Italian lawyer who represents athletes facing doping charges, has worked on about 100 such cases over 30 years. Ten of his cases resulted from positive tests for Clostebol that were traced to Trofodermin; nine of those resulted in bans, Fontana said in an interview Thursday.

“When an athlete tests positive for Clostebol, the first thing I ask them is if they used Trofodermin,” Fontana said. “And if they haven’t, I tell them to go check if a family member or partner has, because it’s transmitted so easily.”

Sinner was not suspended for his positive tests after it was determined the Clostebol entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi. Sinner said his fitness trainer, Umberto Ferrara, purchased Trofodermin in Italy and gave it to Naldi for a cut on Naldi’s finger. Naldi then treated Sinner while not wearing gloves.

Sinner said before the U.S. Open he fired Ferrara and Naldi.

“In my mind, I know that I haven’t done anything wrong,” Sinner said. “I always respect these rules — and I always will respect these rules — of anti-doping.”

Ferrara, who is also a qualified pharmacist, and Naldi had been at Sinner’s side during his rise, which included his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January and arrival at No. 1 in June.

According to Italian law No. 376 from 2000, all products containing substances on the World Anti-Doping Association’s banned list come with the printed “DOPING” warning.

“But with Trofodermin, the mark is only on the box and not the product itself,” Fontana said. “So if a family member purchases the drug and throws away the box, there’s a danger that the warning isn’t seen.”

Fontana, who represented figure skater Carolina Kostner and cyclist Filippo Simeoni — an early Armstrong accuser — said Sinner could sue Ferrara and Naldi in Italy.

“It would be a civil case in which he seeks damages for the impact on his image, for the legal costs, for the anxiousness and stress he had to deal with,” Fontana said.

WADA and Nado Italia, Italy’s anti-doping agency, could appeal the decision in Sinner’s case. Nado Italia appealed all of the Clostebol and Trofodermin cases that Fontana worked on, the lawyer said.

Fontana also suggested that Nado Italia could open proceedings against Ferrara and Naldi — pointing to the four-year suspension for a club doctor at an Italian soccer club in 2018 for administering Trofodermin to a player.

In the United States, Clostebol is listed as a “controlled substance,” meaning the government considers it to have a potential for abuse, and it can only be sold with a doctor’s prescription.

Clostebol is listed in the anabolic androgenic steroids section on page 5 of WADA’s 24-page list of banned substances.

And “Clostebol” appears four times on the Trofodermin box and can bought by the AP (the product is also available as a cream).

The International Tennis Integrity Agency investigation found that Sinner had a trace amount of Clostebol in his system, a point he illustrated before the U.S. Open began by using eight fingers to count out the number of zeroes before the “1” in the amount, .000000001.

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AP tennis:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

PARIS – Brent Lakatos got the gold.

The veteran wheelchair racer from Dorval, Que., owns fistfuls of Paralympic medals, but not quite enough gold for his liking kept the 44-year-old racing to Paris.

Lakatos won the men’s T53 800 metres Thursday for a 13th medal in his sixth Paralympic Games, and second gold after his first in 2016.

“Oh my gosh, its been eight long years and so many silver medals,” Lakatos said after his race. “It’s so good to finally be back. We’re going to sing O Canada and it’s a really great feeling.”

Lakatos collected his second medal at Stade de France after a silver in the 400 metres.

He was a four-time silver medallist in Tokyo, where he finished behind Thailand’s Pongsakorn Paeyo in the 100, 400 and 800 metres.

“Tokyo, I had so many silvers. I wasn’t happy with that. Not really,” Lakatos stated. “If I was going to retire, I wanted to try once more for the golds and that’s why I’m back here.”

Paeyo beat Lakatos in Sunday’s 400 metres by just over a quarter of a second.

Lakatos’ tactics in the 800 kept the Thai racer behind him. The Canadian was in control in the final sprint to win by just under a second.

“Lots of planning. The Canadian support staff is great. We had a great strategy going in,” Lakatos said. “It was to come out and take control of the race in Lane 1 and I was able to not only do that, but block Paeyo in between the track and my chair and not let him out until the final sprint.

“We were able to execute the plan we came up with.”

His time of one minute 37.32 seconds was off his world record of 1:31.69 set in 2019, but Lakatos was the only man in the final to go under 1:38. Paeyo crossed the line in 1:38.26, and Brian Siemann of the United States in 1:38.44

Lakatos suffered a stress fracture in his rib at the end of May, leaving him racing against time to return to form.

“It was really bad timing,” he said. “I had seven weeks really to get back. I was able to get back to where I was before the injury.”

As was the case at the Olympic Games, the victors at the track ring a bell engraved with the Paris 2024 logo. It will be hung in Notre Dame’s bell tower once the 861-year-old cathedral is restored from the 2019 fire.

“Part of history. That was something really cool,” Lakatos said. “The lady asked if I wanted to ring the bell. I was like ‘hell yeah I do”. I was in there and put all my weight into that. I was rocking back and forth with the momentum.”

The T53 classification is for athletes that can use their arms, but have little or no trunk movement. Lakatos sustained paralysis from a blood clot in his spine at the age of six when he slid into boards while skating.

Lakatos carried Canada’s flag in Tokyo’s closing ceremonies mere hours after placing fourth in his fifth event, which was the men’s marathon. He’d won the London marathon in 2020.

Lakatos dialled back his workhorse schedule somewhat by leaving the marathon off his Paris program. He admitted racing the 5K on Saturday and the 400 on Sunday “was a bit too much”, and a few days off before the 800 was beneficial.

“The 800 is a really fun race. It takes a little bit of everything. I’ve got good stamina from doing marathons and five thousands and the speed it takes in the start,” Lakatos said.

He’s married to Britain’s Stefanie Reid, who won Paralympic long-jump silver in London in 2012. The couple live in Loughborough, England.

Reid is a CBC co-host for the Paralympic Games with Scott Russell, and her husband said he couldn’t wait to hear what she said about his race.

Whether the 800 was his Paralympic swan song, Lakatos wasn’t ready to say given his track record.

“I said after every Games since 2008 I was going to retire. It hasn’t happened yet,” he said. “I don’t think I’m going to say anything right now.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 5, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

CALGARY – An oil and gas industry group says environmental groups must be held to the same truth-in-advertising standards as other sectors under new federal greenwashing rules.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers says it has submitted formal recommendations to the federal Competition Bureau, which is in the process of developing guidance around the new legislation.

The federal government passed a law in June that says corporations must be able to provide evidence to support their environmental claims.

CAPP, as well as the Pathways Alliance oilsands group and a number of individual oil and gas companies, removed environmental content from their websites in response.

CAPP says the legislation effectively silences discussion around climate and environmental policy.

It says the Competition Bureau should make it clear that environmental groups must also be able to back up their statements with fact or face penalties under the new law.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 5, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.