Double world champion Magnini given doping ban

ROME – Two-time swimming world champion Filippo Magnini has been banned for four years by Italy’s national anti-doping organisation (NADO), sources say.

 The 36-year old retired from the sport last year and has strongly denied the accusations, saying “we will certainly appeal.” “There is no proof, it’s a sentence that had already been written,” he was quoted as saying.

 The four-year ban is a reduction from the eight years that prosecutors working on behalf of NADO had requested.

 Magnini was the world champion on the 100m freestyle in 2005 and 2007. He also won a bronze medal in Italy’s 4x200m freestyle relay team at the 2004 Athens Olympics.