Gurpegi drugs ban lifted by court
MADRID, Spain (Reuters) -- A Spanish court has lifted the two-year ban on Athletic Bilbao midfielder Carlos Gurpegi pending a final decision on a sanction for his positive drugs test.
"The court's decision was based on the view that an immediate implementation of the suspension would cause the player irreparable damage in the event that the ban is eventually overturned," Athletic Bilbao said on their website.
Gurpegi will now be able to play in his side's league match at Zaragoza on Thursday.
The 23-year-old, who has always denied knowingly taking any banned substance, tested positive for 19-norandrosterone, a metabolite of the banned steroid nandrolone, in the first match of the 2002-03 season.
He was originally suspended on February 15, 2003 while the case was being investigated, but the provisional ban was lifted in April following an appeal by the club.
A month later, Spain's Football Federation handed him a two-year suspension, but Bilbao lodged another appeal that allowed Gurpegi to carry on playing.
The ban was then upheld by the Spanish sports council in November, but the player and his club immediately announced that they would appeal against the decision in court.
Bilbao officials said in March that studies the club had commissioned from the University of Extremadura showed that the player produced the substance naturally and had not taken it from an external source.
They explained that tests had been carried out on the player before and after a league match against Valladolid at the end of December.
Results showed levels of the substance had changed significantly as a result of physical exercise.
