Doping Allegations Dog France 1998 WC Winners

Would that face lie to you?

If you’ve never heard of Dr. Jean-Pierre Paclet, get ready to be bombarded with his name over the next few weeks.

The disgruntled former team doctor for Les Bleus has come out with some startling allegations concerning the 1998 national team, which won the World Cup that year on home soil. Paclet was with the national team from 1993 through 2008 in various capacities, starting with the junior and Olympic development sides, eventually becoming the team physician for the senior side from 2004 through 2008.

In his book “The Implosion” (due out tomorrow – how convenient!), the doctor alleges that several members of the 1998 champions were using blood-doping techniques to gain a competitive advantage. Claiming that it is an open secret within the French Football Federation, Paclet states that blood tests conducted immediately before the World Cup showed anomalies for numerous players from Serie A sides, with those players having elevated hematocrit levels which is suggestive (although not conclusive evidence) of the use of EPO.

Paclet argues that due to pressure from the FFF, the unusual results were ignored, although it should be noted that there was no accurate test for the use of EPO at the time (a test was developed in 2000 at, ironically, the French national anti-doping laboratory). Jean-Marcel Ferret, who was the team doctor (and, nominally, Paclet’s boss) during the 1998 World Cup has denied all of the allegations:

“This was attributed to errors/mishandling during the blood-drawing process…We analyzed everything to the fullest extent possible, more than ever before. We did a complete blood workup, including testing for steroids, and everything was normal. All of the assertions in this book don’t stand up to scrutiny. I have proof, I kept everything.” [French link here]

Given Paclet’s statements regarding the club teams of the alleged dopers, suspicion falls squarely upon Didier Deschamps and Zinedine Zidane, both of whom were with Juventus at the time. Yet, although there were allegations of doping at Juventus (mostly from AS Roma gaffer Zdeněk Zeman), the club were cleared of all charges by the Court of Arbitration for Sport as: (1) the substances alleged were not illegal; and (2) no players tested positive for any banned substances.

The former team physician also claims that during Euro 2008 he was encouraged by Raymond Domenech to give Actovegin to Patrick Vieira in order to speed up the healing process for a muscle strain. Paclet argues that his refusal resulted in his dismissal from the team and caused a rift in his relationship with his good friend Domenech, and one could be forgiven for assuming that it was that turn of events which lead to his authoring such an accusatory book.

Marcel Desailly, a defender on the 1998 national team who played for club side AC Milan in Serie A, has called the allegations “detestable” and makes the same connection as have many others; namely, that Paclet is bitter about being fired and needed “a hook” to sell his forthcoming book. [Link in French]

However, it seems that there are numerous “hooks” if the preview from Le Parisien [in French, obviously] is to be believed.

Among the other notable revelations: (1) why Franck Ribéry and Yoann Gourcuff didn’t get along during WC 2010; (2) who was really in charge of the players’ boycott during WC 2010; (3) why Franck Ribéry and Samir Nasri almost came to blows during Euro 2008; and (4) the real reason that Raymond Domenech made his marriage proposal immediately after Euro 2008.

So, in 1998, while he was the team doctor for Les Bleuets, Jean-Pierre Paclet somehow got access to the blood-testing results of players on the senior side and found “unusual results” for (presumably) Deschamps and Zizou.

In 2010, while he was nowhere near Les Bleus or the FFF, he was somehow privy to all of the inner thoughts of the players. It seems that the only situations he was actually present for occurred during Euro 2008, and everyone already knew that Franck Ribéry was a malcontent. Therefore, the only new and trustworthy story coming out in this book is the reasoning behind Domenech’s bizarre wedding proposal after crashing out of Euro 2008. I’m not sure that story is worth $24.99.

Perhaps I’ll just get in touch with Dr. Paclet to ask him to spare me the money and just tell me that story. Otherwise, he should feel free to keep his mouth shut.