Former Sports Minister Marie-George Buffet admitted in a documentary about Zinédine Zidane that French national team players were spared surprise doping tests ahead of the 1998 World Cup, a claim she had denied for years.
Former French Sports Minister Marie-George Buffet has caused a stir in European media with her admission in the documentary "Zidane, the Making of a Legend" ("Zidane, la fabrique d'une légende"), aired by French television network BFM TV. She admitted that ahead of the 1998 World Cup, she received orders to stop subjecting French national football team players to surprise state doping tests. The story is particularly interesting for the Croatian public because it was that very French generation that defeated Croatia 2:1 in the tournament's semifinal, with a comeback orchestrated by Lilian Thuram.
The case dates back to 1997, when French controllers arrived unannounced at the national team's training camp in Tignes. Although all test results were negative, coach Aimé Jacquet, the players, and the French Football Federation reacted strongly, accusing the doctors of disrupting the team's preparations.
Doctor Alain Garnier, sent to Tignes by the Ministry of Sports, revealed in the documentary what happened after that testing: "I was no longer allowed to disturb the players until the World Cup. In other words, there were no more surprise tests." Garnier explained that he received a verbal directive from the minister's position, and the order, according to him, came from the office of then-Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.
What makes the situation particularly problematic is the fact that Marie-George Buffet had persistently denied the existence of such a directive for years. As recently as 2013, during a hearing before the Senate committee, she stated: "We never gave any directive in that regard."
Now, however, her story is completely different. In the documentary, she confirmed Garnier's claims: "If Dr. Garnier says so, yes, then it was true. We didn't put it that way, but it amounts to the same thing. It was a step backward in the fight against doping." She added that "the directive was probably passed on to us at the ministerial level."
"The only moment when I felt my will waver, due to excessive pressure, was after the unannounced control in Tignes, for which I almost apologized on air," Buffet said back in 2013, which further corroborates her latest claims.
Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport, which covered the story extensively, concludes that Buffet "has definitively dismantled the official version she defended for more than fifteen years, even before institutions." The former minister had previously stated that she was subjected to "all sorts of pressure."
Of course, this is not proof that Zinédine Zidane, Didier Deschamps, Youri Djorkaeff, Emmanuel Petit, Fabien Barthez, Lilian Thuram, or other national team players were doped. However, it shows that football stars had a privileged status compared to other French athletes and that the state did everything to ensure them peaceful preparations for the tournament they ultimately won.
Buffet emphasized in the documentary that "after the World Cup, they continued the fight against doping," suggesting that the suspension of tests was a temporary measure with a specific goal. Interestingly, it was she who, during her tenure from 1997 to 2002, highlighted the fight against doping as one of her priorities.
For Croatian fans, this story has a special dimension. France defeated Croatia 2:1 in the semifinal of the 1998 World Cup. The Blazers took the lead with a goal from Davor Šuker, but right-back Lilian Thuram scored two goals for the comeback, sending France to the final. Ironically, those were his only two goals in his entire international career.
Marie-George Buffet, now 77 years old, is a long-time French communist politician. She joined the French Communist Party in 1969 and served as Minister of Youth and Sports from 1997 to 2002 in Lionel Jospin's government. In 2001, she took over the leadership of the Communist Party, and in the 2007 presidential election, she won only 1.93 percent of the vote, the worst result for a communist candidate in French electoral history up to that point.
