Precisely on June 25, 1994, the most disastrous postcard for the life of Diego Armando Maradona and of all Argentines, lovers or not of the most wonderful sport in the world.
That day, a nurse named Sue Ellen Carpenter was removing the captain of the Argentine national team from the field of Foxboro Stadium in Boston by the hand after the match in the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Argentina beating Nigeria 2 to 1 to do anti-doping control.
What followed is now history: the positive doping for ephedrine, the suspension from the World Cup, Diego’s “they cut off my legs” and the subsequent defeat of Alfio Basile’s National Team against Romania in the World Cup in the United States.
Without intending to, the nurse participated, at that moment, in one of the most iconic scenes in world football: the Argentine National Team’s farewell to the best player in the world of the 20th century.
This June 25 marks three decades since the day he dressed in blue and white for the last time and, despite everything and everyone, the memory of “Diego” will remain unchanged in the hearts of all Argentines.
The doctor of the Argentine national team, Roberto Peidró, invited Carpenter to look for Diego, since at the time she was in a relationship with an Argentinean and between them they accompanied the departure of the captain of the national team.
Carpenter was assigned by FIFA as one of four medical assistants who had to accompany the players to present the urine sample. They did not go looking for Sergio Vázquez, the other Argentine player chosen to undergo anti-doping testing, on the field to take him by the hand and this caused suspicions that they wanted to remove Maradona from the World Cup. But it was not like that.
“Minutes before the game ended we started a friendly dialogue with her,” said Peidró. “She told me that she had been in a relationship with an Argentinian who was from Congreso and he always talked to me about there. ‘I was left wanting to know,’ she told me. Laughing, I responded that Congreso was a neighborhood and that I lived there. It was the final minutes of the game and when it finished I told him: ‘Come with me because you are going to appear in all the newspapers in the world next to Maradona‘. The photo of the three of us remained forever,” said the doctor.
The image of the number 10 with Carpenter went around the world, as did his immortal statements after receiving a 15-month suspension. “I swear on my daughters that I did not take drugs, that I did not take any substance for FIFA to leave me out of this World Cup,” said the captain and star of the Argentine national team.
Dr. Peidró had acted in good faith, but he never guessed what that image, that photo, was going to mean for that woman who received the nickname “executioner” and FIFA tried to protect her and tried to “change her name” to save her from the stigma. and that no one harassed her.
At present, Carpenter remains linked to medicine: She is a doctor specializing in reproductive endocrinology and infertility and works at a reproductive clinic in Atlanta. She is 63 years old and is married to that same Argentine.
The cause of Diego Maradona’s doping
On more than one occasion, Dr. Peidró said that “Diego was spectacular in Boston. One time we went out to see the city center and he couldn’t believe that no one, but no one, stopped him. He was walking alone for the first time in many years. For the local people he was one of them. We even went into a store to buy a watch and the person he was serving asked him if he was a soccer fan and from what country. “I didn’t know who Maradona was,” he said.
“At the concentration, Diego went around the tables, giving everyone a good vibe. Even what was said about the nurse on the day of doping with Nigeria is a lie. He took her hand and not the other way around. He was so happy They went to where Claudia was and he told her: ‘Look who I’m going with.’ Costa and Diego repeated to him: ‘You’re a dog, you’re a dog. Wow, wow’. I had no idea that he could test positive, because he hadn’t taken anything consciously,” he continued.
And he added: “He ran out of the amino acids that he had brought from here and they bought them there. With the difference that in the United States they have ephedrine. It was exactly that. I saw the analysis in detail. That’s why when they say that he had consumed an ephedrine cocktail, it is a mess. Nothing to see.”
Diego had prepared like never before for the competition, with demanding physical preparation by Professor Fernando Signorini. In the run-up to the World Cup, Maradona returned to the national team to qualify for the Repechage against Australia and thus ignite the enthusiasm of the Argentines.
To face your preparation, he took daily supplements that ended up being the fatal combo that led to the sanction. Once they were gone, they had to be replaced in the United States, where They bought Ripped Fast, which contained ephedrine, instead of Ripped Fuel. This substance was not allowed by FIFA regulations and was the reason why Maradona had to stay away from the fields.
Maradona He was left out of the World Cup and Sue Carpenter, the nurse who accompanied him, became part of the dark history of football. Years later, Maradona forgave the nurse in an interview. “She didn’t know, they used her,” he said.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
