a creative choice, to say the least, but also cruelly ironic

February 16, 2018 8:40 AM

Guerrero (whose name, in Spanish, means “warrior”) fought the ban, saying that he had merely drunk a tea that included coca leaves—a common enough beverage in Peru, though Guerrero lives in Rio de Janeiro, where he plays for the soccer club Flamengo. But his claim paved the way for his Brazilian lawyers to mount an even more interesting defense, introducing FIFA to its oldest, and highest, character witnesses ever: the Children of Llullaillaco, three mummies named for the icy, twenty-two-thousand-foot-tall volcano in Argentina where they were left by the Incas, five hundred years ago. - As Peru Heads to the 2018 World Cup, Its Star Striker Has Three Inca Mummies to Thank

More on the ruling

More on Peru and the World Cup

posted by beisny (7 comments total)

Why is cocaine a banning offense? Everything I can find about it suggests it is of at best limited use for doping.
posted by Dysk at 9:02 AM on February 16, 2018

I'm reminded of The Ballad of Narayama.
posted by doctornemo at 9:29 AM on February 16, 2018

Why is cocaine a banning offense? Everything I can find about it suggests it is of at best limited use for doping.

It's a stimulant and a lowers inhibitions. It's apparently popular with rugby players, and it might be turning into a problem.
posted by lmfsilva at 9:56 AM on February 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Right, but it'd only be useful to be on it during a match pretty much? So how is finding something in your hair that indicates you've taken something a problem? If they're taking your hair at the match, anything in it isn't in your blood any more. They didn't catch him while he was flying, exactly.
posted by Dysk at 10:00 AM on February 16, 2018

I don't think FIFA does hair tests, only urine and blood, so it was fresh on the system and likely after a match (since off-competition testing in football rarely happens because it's a joke).
posted by lmfsilva at 10:12 AM on February 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

Ah, I must've misread something in the article. Thanks for explaining!
posted by Dysk at 10:13 AM on February 16, 2018

Cocaine can help with altitude sickness which might be relevant for someone who spends most of their time playing in Brazil but on occasion needs to play in Peru, maybe?
posted by juv3nal at 3:08 PM on February 16, 2018 [1 favorite]