Name: Diego Maradona Age: 44 Nationality: Argentine Claim to fame: The fallen hero makes a comeback and starts off with his own TV show
After years of scandals that cost him his career and health scares that nearly cost him his life, Maradona has rebuilt his life and taken on a new role. The Argentine football hero is now a TV presenter on a two-hour TV show called La Noche del Diez (The Night of Ten), in reference to the Number 10 shirt he wore for the national side. The first episode of the glitzy show was aired recently on local TV in Buenos Aires, which he co-hosted with Sergio Goycochea, the goalkeeper in Argentine’s 1990 World Cup side.
Maradona, who has finally beaten cocaine addition after several failed attempts, looked slimmer and healthier than he had in years. Brazilian legend Pele was his first guest in the programme that also included fellow Argentine footballer Gabriel Batistuta, the country’s leading international goal scorer, and tennis star Gabriela Sabatini. Pele, revered everywhere apart from Argentina as the greatest footballer of all time, also played in the fabled Number 10 shirt. The two super heroes of football swapped national shirts and headed a football to each other after the host received goodwill wishes from his guests. Later, Pele played guitar and sang a song he composed himself and Maradona sang an Argentine tango about football.
Maradona candidly talked about drugs with Pele, whose son has been jailed for drug offenses. And the Argentine star was also praised by his Brazilian counterpart for successfully beating addiction and calling him an inspiration for the latter’s jailed son. Maradona was clearly emotional as he thanked his family and friends for helping him rebuild his life after a series of health scares.
Maradona’s is the classic tale of how heroes fall from grace when power and fame leads them towards self-destruction. Once hailed as the greatest football player of his generation, Maradona helped Argentina win the 1986 World Cup and led Italian side Napoli to their only two league titles in 1987 and 1990. But his footballing talents were overshadowed by his drug problem that started in the early eighties when he started playing for Barcelona. He led Argentina to victory in the World Cup in 1986, but his downfall had already started. After a controversial Italia 90, a positive dope test in 1991 triggered a 15-month. He returned and arrested his slide by getting his act together to play in the 1994 World Cup. However, more positive drug tests, suspensions and fines followed before he decided to retire in 1997. By 2000, his health was so poor that doctors said that due to his drug addiction his heart rate had been reduced to 38% capacity and he was rushed to the hospital after collapsing in 2004.
Besides beating his drug habit, Maradona has also controlled his weight — thanks to a stomach surgery. The surgery, called gastric by-pass, reduces the stomach’s capacity to hold food which is why the former star, whose weight had almost shot up to 20 stones, looks almost his old self again. Now that he has got his life back on the right tracks, let’s see if it stays on it. — Faraz-ul-Imam
Name: Diego Maradona
