Timeline of sports fatal attraction to cocaine

PARIS (AFP) - French tennis player Richard Gasquet, who admitted to a positive test for cocaine on Sunday, is not the first sportsman to fall foul of the drug. Here, AFP Sport examines the big names who have fallen for cocaine's fatal attraction: - Although he never tested positive, colourful American tennis star Vitas Gerulaitis, who died in 1994, aged just 40, admitted at the end of his career that he took cocaine during his time on the circuit. - March 17, 1991, Argentine football legend Diego Maradona tested positive for cocaine when he was playing for Napoli in Italy. Maradona served a 15-month ban but at the 1994 World Cup he was banned again after testing for the banned stimulant ephedrine. In April 2004, Maradona suffered a heart attack although his doctors denied it was brought on by a cocaine overdose. - At the 1999 Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, the 1992 Olympic high jump champion, and world record holder, Javier Sotomayor of Cuba tested positive for cocaine. Banned for a year, he took part in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, where he won the silver medal. - On February 14, 2004, Italian cyclist Marco Pantani died at the age of 34 from a cocaine overdose. Pantani had won the 1998 Tour de France and Giro d'Italia but, in 1999, was thrown off the Giro after a failed drugs test. - In September 2004, Romanian international footballer Adrian Mutu, who was playing for Chelsea, tested positive for cocaine. He was sacked by the English club and banned for seven months. - Former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was arrested in December 2006 at a Scottsdale, Arizona nightclub, after cocaine was found in his car. The fighter was sentenced to 24 hours in jail. - November 2007, former women's world tennis number one Martina Hingis proclaims her innocence after testing positive for cocaine at Wimbledon. The Swiss star is banned for two years, but she had already announced her retirement. - In February 2009, English international rugby union prop Matt Stevens banned for two years for using cocaine. - World champion cyclist Tom Boonen tests positive for cocaine in May 2008 and is banned by Tour de France organisers. In April 2009, the Belgian tests positive again. - March 2009, French tennis player Richard Gasquet tests positive for cocaine at the Miami Masters.

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