The curious case of Richard Gasquet
grif
waitress - and spent the evening smooching at a nightclub.
Little did they know that the kisses they exchanged would spark a
controversy that has gripped France all summer amid lawsuits and wrangles
before international doping tribunals.
Richard Gasquet, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, claimed that he tested
positive for drugs a few hours after his encounter with the waitress because
her kisses had contaminated him with cocaine.
His story, greeted with derision in France at first, was given weight this
week when the results of forensic science tests on his and her hair were
leaked to the press. The analysis, carried out by a Paris police unit
specialising in the fight against violent crime, showed that she was a
regular cocaine user and he was not
The revelation came ahead of Gasquet's probable return to competition next
week after a two-and-a-half month ban imposed by an International Tennis
Federation tribunal.
His supporters had hoped that a comeback in the US would draw a line under
what has become known as the saga of le baiser � la cocaine. But the
federation is appealing against a sentence it sees as excessively lenient
and the threat of a two-year suspension is still hanging over Gasquet. His
defence is to portray himself as guilty of nothing more than flirting.
His lawyers have filed a criminal suit alleging that he was the victim of
"the administration of a harmful substance" - the technical term for
poisoning in French law - which has sparked a full-scale police inquiry.
But the 29-year-old waitress, identified only as Pamela, has responded by
suing him for defamation, arguing that he has depicted her as a loose woman
and a drug addict.
Ma�tre Yassine Bouzrou, her lawyer, dismissed the tests as meaningless. "My
client has always said that she had taken cocaine in the past. It's logical
for the test to be positive. And we already knew that Gasquet was not a
regular user, too," she said. Ma�tre Bouzrou said that there was no evidence
to back the theory that Pamela had introduced cocaine into Gasquet's body by
kissing him when they met on March 27.
In evidence to the tribunal, held in London, Gasquet said that he dined out
after withdrawing from the Sony Ericsson Open tournament in Miami because of
a shoulder injury. Pamela and three other women were at the next table. They
got talking and agreed to go to Set, a nightspot, and then on to Goldrush, a
strip club.
Gasquet said that he exchanged a dozen French kisses with Pamela "and good
ones, too". This version was contested by the waitress - who said she shoved
him aside after one kiss - but it was upheld by the tribunal.
The tribunal's judgment said: "He kissed her at least seven times, each kiss
lasting about five to ten seconds."
They exchanged a final goodnight kiss at the strip club, it went on, after
Pamela returned from the toilet, "where she had spent longer than expected".
The next morning a small amount of Benzoylecgonine, the primary metabolite
of cocaine, was found in Gasquet's body. "We conclude that it is more likely
than not that the cocaine detected in the player's urine sample entered by
means of Pamela's kissing in the period between about 2am to 5am that
morning," the judgment added.
Gasquet had committed no significant fault, the tribunal judgment said. "As
a healthy single young man who is not often able to go out and enjoy himself
in the evenings, it is not unnatural that he should have been attracted to
Pamela, to the point of kissing her. He is not the first young man to have
done such a thing."
The tribunal imposed the minimum two-and-a-half month ban on the grounds
that the tennis star had "placed himself in an environment where
contamination with a prohibited substance was a risk".
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article6805919.ece
Sao Paulo Swallow
> They met in a Miami restaurant - he a handsome tennis player, she a pretty
> waitress - and spent the evening smooching at a nightclub.
>
> Little did they know that the kisses they exchanged would spark a
> controversy that has gripped France all summer amid lawsuits and wrangles
> before international doping tribunals.
>
> Richard Gasquet, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, claimed that he tested
> positive for drugs a few hours after his encounter with the waitress because
> her kisses had contaminated him with cocaine.
>
> His story, greeted with derision in France at first, was given weight this
> week when the results of forensic science tests on his and her hair were
> leaked to the press. The analysis, carried out by a Paris police unit
> specialising in the fight against violent crime, showed that she was a
> regular cocaine user and he was not
>
> The revelation came ahead of Gasquet's probable return to competition next
> week after a two-and-a-half month ban imposed by an International Tennis
> Federation tribunal.
>
> His supporters had hoped that a comeback in the US would draw a line under
> federation is appealing against a sentence it sees as excessively lenient
> and the threat of a two-year suspension is still hanging over Gasquet. His
> defence is to portray himself as guilty of nothing more than flirting.
>
> His lawyers have filed a criminal suit alleging that he was the victim of
> "the administration of a harmful substance" - the technical term for
> poisoning in French law - which has sparked a full-scale police inquiry.
>
> But the 29-year-old waitress, identified only as Pamela, has responded by
> suing him for defamation, arguing that he has depicted her as a loose woman
> and a drug addict.
>
> client has always said that she had taken cocaine in the past. It's logical
> for the test to be positive. And we already knew that Gasquet was not a
Way too much information. But I'm glad Gasquest is coming back. The
whole thing was ridiculous.
John P
"The tribunal imposed the minimum two-and-a-half month ban on the
grounds that the tennis star had 'placed himself in an environment where
contamination with a prohibited substance was a risk' " (the environment
being a Miami nightclub and a Miami strip club).
well, as to "an environment where contamination with a prohibited
substance was a risk," a recent study says that at least 90% of US paper
currency has trace amounts of cocaine on it. Not only is Miami in the
US (sorry, but that has to spelled out for the Max-types), it is
probably the cocaine capital of the US. So maybe Gasquet should have
played the US (or at least Miami) currency card (such seems at least as
plausible as playing the kissing card, plus there is no he-said she-said
muck). indeed, Gasquet could have said he was simply "making it rain"
at the Miami strip club...
Alaska Rocks
> They met in a Miami restaurant - he a handsome tennis player, she a pretty
> waitress - and spent the evening smooching at a nightclub.
>
> Little did they know that the kisses they exchanged would spark a
> controversy that has gripped France all summer amid lawsuits and wrangles
> before international doping tribunals.
>
> Richard Gasquet, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, claimed that he tested
> positive for drugs a few hours after his encounter with the waitress because
> her kisses had contaminated him with cocaine.
>
> His story, greeted with derision in France at first, was given weight this
> week when the results of forensic science tests on his and her hair were
> leaked to the press. The analysis, carried out by a Paris police unit
> specialising in the fight against violent crime, showed that she was a
> regular cocaine user and he was not
>
> The revelation came ahead of Gasquet's probable return to competition next
> week after a two-and-a-half month ban imposed by an International Tennis
> Federation tribunal.
>
> His supporters had hoped that a comeback in the US would draw a line under
> federation is appealing against a sentence it sees as excessively lenient
> and the threat of a two-year suspension is still hanging over Gasquet. His
> defence is to portray himself as guilty of nothing more than flirting.
>
> His lawyers have filed a criminal suit alleging that he was the victim of
> "the administration of a harmful substance" - the technical term for
> poisoning in French law - which has sparked a full-scale police inquiry.
>
> But the 29-year-old waitress, identified only as Pamela, has responded by
> suing him for defamation, arguing that he has depicted her as a loose woman
> and a drug addict.
>
> client has always said that she had taken cocaine in the past. It's logical
> for the test to be positive. And we already knew that Gasquet was not a
It is just like the French :-(
They hound Armstrong all his bike racing career without any evidence
to support their libelous claims, while hiding under their press
privileges. No comes Gasquet, French athlete who actually tested
positive for drugs and they are willing to accept this lame
explanation for it. I would not punish poor hapless Gasquet either but
the French press and their double standard makes me sick.
TT
Hingis got couple years and Gasquet got couple months for claiming he
got dose from kissing a woman...regardless of him being gay.
They really like gays pretending to be straight at ATP, first Federer
and now this.
--
"If I was 7-13 against Andre it would be hard to say I was the best of
my generation"
number_six
Advice to Gasquet -- stay clear of those Miami nightclubs.
Watch a DVD of Scarface instead.
Better yet, study his next opponent and try to win some matches.
Silence, Fedfucker!
said. "As
> a healthy single young man who is not often able to go out and enjoy himself
> in the evenings, it is not unnatural that he should have been attracted to
> Pamela, to the point of kissing her. He is not the first young man to have
> done such a thing."
lol.