Artificial excuses?

One curious aspect in the Petr Korda (right) drugs issue is that the nandrolone for which he tested positive is an anabolic steroid. Korda, the 1998 Australian Open champion, was let off the positive finding by the tennis authorities much to the horror of many players in the game. The point about nandrolone is that it is an artificial version of testosterone. It is a man-made chemical which does not occur naturally. In other words, it cannot enter the human body unless it is deliberately taken by the athlete.

Just how Korda argued himself out of that corner at this stage of the drugs debate is beyond comprehension. The last time a player got off with the plea - `I don't know how it got there,'- they were using wooden racquets.