The 'Hand of God' stops reaching for cake
From the Guardian, UK:
In 10 months Maradona went from obese cocaine addict with a failing heart to slimline star of a hugely successful TV extravaganza. Argentinian journalist Marcela Mora y Araujo, who translated his autobiography and knows Maradona well, speaks to his family and friends in Buenos Aires about his astonishing new life. As for the diet, just cut out the pizza, get your stomach stapled and move in with mum ...
Eighteen months before, in April 2004, he had been admitted to the Swiss Clinic, a private hospital in Buenos Aires, with pulmonary arterial hypertension. He was obese - his diet consisted of little more than steak, pizza, pasta and cakes - and addicted to cocaine. And now his heart was giving up on him. It seemed as if one of the greatest footballers the game had ever seen did not have long to live.
Now that is the decline and fall and rise of a star. Maradona, who claimed that the Argentinian goal that deflected off his outstretched hand was guided by the "hand of God", had seen better days. But what a change! This guy looks amazing, just as good as he did in his team's 1986 win over England in the World Cup.