ROME, June 26: Former pole-vault world champion Giuseppe Gibilisco hit out at the media when he arrived for his hearing in front of the anti-doping wing of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) on Tuesday.

“I haven't been able to live for the last three years because of these stories,” he told reporters gathering outside CONI's offices in Rome.

“I have always respected you in your work but I don't know if you have done the same for me. Just forget that I exist.”

The 28-year-old Italian, who won gold at the world championships in Paris in 2003 and bronze at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, was last week accused of “the use or attempted use of a banned substance or of a prohibited practice”.—Reuters