The question is not about whether Maria Sharapova should have known meldonium was added to the banned list for 2016.
The question is why she has been taking this since the age of 16 for an “abnormal EKG” diagnosed by her personal physician.
MLB players have *astonishingly* high rates of adult ADHD which requires treatment with amphetamines.
Pro cyclists are cursed, apparently, with almost universal asthma, requiring bronchodilator use.
Medical exemptions and dubious diagnoses from personal physicians are severely abused ways to get around doping bans and Rx-only regulations.
It’s still cheating.
Some basic facts about the drug that add to this:
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/mar/08/meldonium-maria-sharapova-failed-drugs-test
Her “after falling ill” excuse referred to having the flu a couple of times. She kept taking it, since the age of 16 when presumably the series of influenza infections took place, because she stayed healthy. Dude. It’s the flu. It didn’t last over a decade.
It illustrates what a challenge the anti-doping agencies have. Lots of weird compounds out there.
According to Dave’s link, at one point 17% of Russian athletes must have been suffering terribly from abnormal EKGs and decades-old bouts with the flu.
On that note, Guardian again:
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/mar/08/meldonium-treatment-four-to-six-weeks-maria-sharapova
She was clearly up to no good. Her excuse is better than the old classic “I just took what my trainer gave me”, but not much better. I remember Armstrong got out of an earlier drugs problem by getting a bogus script after testing positive. Think that was for a ‘rash’ lol.
In 2017 they will declare caffeine and alcohol as banned substances. Every title earned prior to 2017 will be retroactively null and void. Only orthodox Mormons get to keep their titles for chasing balls and doing sports faster than other players.
OK, she was cheating in the spirit of the law.
But the compound was not on the list, so she was not doing anything illegal.
And if what she did is cheating, then I am quite sure everyone else at the top of professional sports is cheating too. It is just that they were more careful about it and have not been caught. Or, if we are to get into some classic conspiracy thinking, they have been given a pass (it is deeply suspicious how the whole of Russian athletics was caught with doping just before the Olympics and just when relationships between Russia and the “West” have become so strained).
The real question is why she kept taking it after the ban.
The possible answers are that it was either an honest mistake due to negligence (in which case the question is who did not bother to read the update of the rules) or that there is something deeper going on.
Obviously this comes back around to my question of a few days ago- if it is within the rules and everybody is doing it…is it cheating?
I say yes. For me and for my group. We’re not going to seek out TUEs or whatever the equivalent is.
Caffeine is threshold controlled Draino.
Also, it is worth noting that over the course of her career Capriati developed a remarkably male-like physique.
Which makes me think she might not be exactly holding the moral high ground on these issues.
GM- obviously Ms. Capriati doesn’t agree with you about “everyone”. Neither did Greg LeMond.
GM 2 –
Wow dude. Just…..wow.
The pictures are out there.
http://www.tennisearth.com/photos/feature/Jennifer_Capriati1.jpg
Are you so confident that the workouts of a top flight international athlete cannot produce this in some individuals?
Ps, you should look at the legs of the *recreational* women athletes that cycle or jog around my city. Are they all doping?
Oh look, a picture not selected for maximum flexage….
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Capriati#/media/File%3AJennifer_Capriati_Wimbledon_2004.jpg
Looks normal to me.
Also, it is worth noting that over the course of her career Capriati developed a remarkably male-like physique.
Slopes don’t get much more slippery that this!!!
I’ll get the popcorn…..
http://media.virbcdn.com/cdn_images/resize_1024x1365/7b/ContentImage-14550-272421-phelps.jpg
Bunch of dopers.
Yeah, it’s really startling that an international top quality athlete who hit the scene at *thirteen* may have changed physically by the time she quit at 28.
Winning & losing in athletics is much more stark, more black & white than it is in science. But if we see people bending rules to “win” here, why are we surprised that athletes would do anything different? http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/29/the-stem-cell-scandal
It is easier to maintain a “loser” scientific career than one in professional sports.
@DM
“I say yes. For me and for my group. We’re not going to seek out TUEs or whatever the equivalent is.”
If smart drugs actually worked, wouldn’t it be actually unethical *not* for scientists to take them? You’d be cheating the taxpayer out of the extra science you could do under the influence.
You’d be cheating the taxpayer out of the extra science you could do under the influence.
Yep.
and also
https://drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2007/12/19/performance-doping-in-academia-take-2/