Italy's top athletics authorities defended 26 athletes at the center of a doping scandal, saying that the affair "was a question of inefficient procedures rather than illicit substances," according to Gavin Jones of REUTERS. On Wednesday, Italy's National Anti-Doping Organization called for two-year bans for 26 athletes, "including many of Italy's best-known Olympic and European Championship medal-winners of the last 10 years." NADO accused the athletes of "evading doping controls or failing to make themselves available for them." Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) President Giovanni Malago said, "These kids aren't people who cheated, it's simply a question of procedure in communicating where they were." The athletes repeatedly "failed to respond to emails from the authorities" in '11-12 requesting information on their whereabouts so they could be subjected to random doping tests, according to numerous Italian publications. Italian Athletics Federation Head Alfio Giomi said that the federation was "convinced there has been a mistake" and it would make legal assistance available to all the athletes involved. Giomi: "There has been negligence and superficiality on the part of many athletes, absolutely, but that has nothing to do with doping" (REUTERS, 12/3).
