Top five: Doping excuses

The Brazilian legend was banned for 120 days after failing a post-match test in 2007. The World Cup winner was positive for the masking agent finasteride and blamed it on hair-loss medicine which he said he had been using for a decade. The 41-year-old Romario's mother Lita Farias leapt to his defence, saying: "Why doesn't somebody have mercy on my son? It is so sad - all this misery, this pain - and he is losing his hair. His life is unfair." In the end, somebody did have mercy on him, and a tribunal overturned the suspension. Now 43, he recently came out of retirement to join Rio de Janeiro club America.

In March, the Frenchman tested positive for cocaine at the Miami Masters. Gasquet pleaded his innocence, maintaining that the drug must have got into his system via a waitress, whom he had spent the previous night kissing. The explanation was initially greeted with derision, but Gasquet took the case to an independent tribunal, which heard he "kissed her at least seven times, each kiss lasting about five to 10 seconds". The 23-year-old also argued successfully that - unknown to him - his companion was a regular drug user, and subsequent forensic evidence sealed the deal. The two-year ban was reduced to two months, and Gasquet is now back in competition.

US sprinter Mitchell tested positive in 1998 for an excessive level of testosterone. He blamed the sky-high reading on his activities the previous night, when he said he drunk five bottles of beer and had sex with his wife four times. His defence claimed: "It was her birthday, the lady deserved a treat." Amazingly, the American authorities bought Mitchell's explanation, but the IAAF were less indulgent. He was banned for two years. Mitchell later testified against his former coach Trevor Graham in the infamous BALCO case. In an unrelated aside, Mitchell shares his name with the US version of comic book tearaway Dennis the Menace.

Rebagliati won the Giant Slalom in the men's snowboarding competition at Nagano, the first time the sport had been included in the Winter Olympics. The IOC had hoped to add a hint of youthful rebellion to the games but got more than they bargained for. The Canadian lost his medal when traces of THC - a chemical found in marijuana smoke - were found in his urine. Rebagliati protested his innocence, saying he had inhaled the smoke passively at a pre-Olympic party. He was eventually reinstated, mainly on the basis that marijuana does not enhance athletic performance. The repentant Rebagliati pledged to "wear a gas mask" at future parties.

Cycling has had more than its share of doping controversies, but excuses do not come more outlandish than Dutchman Van der Poel's in 1983 after he who tested positive for strychnine, which acts as a stimulant when used in small doses. He blamed it on a pigeon pie served for Sunday lunch. Little did he know, Van der Poel explained, that the birds were his father-in-law's racing pigeons which had been doped with strychnine. Van der Poel came back, won several one-day classics and two Tour de France stages, and eventually retired in 2000.