If WADA "opens a door" for athletes who use melodonium, then it should open the door to athletes who use all drugs.
2
If WADA does not penalize Sharapova for doping, Serena will continue to pummel her.
Disclaimer: I am in no way promoting, recommending, affiliated, or advising on this product. I simply wanted to share my experience. This paragraph shall act as a hold harmless clause, wherein the following will not hold me liable for any injuries or damages caused to any individual.
With that said; It takes a special kind of crazy person to buy this stuff online and test it out in order to give some honest feedback to those who are very very curious in a forum such as this one. I'm a 38 year old male in average shape. I weigh 205 LBS and 6"3 and was struggling to crank through an hour workout. I started off with 250 MG of Meldonium then increased to 500 MG. This stuff is LEGIT!! I've been powering through 2 hour workouts with no problem, and it's been particularly helpful with activities at higher elevations. I'm an avid skier and I've found that my endurance has improved significantly. I've never been a long distance person and often struggle w/ anything requiring exceptional endurance, even as a competitive Soccer player growing up and playing D1 for a top 25 Collegiate program. With Meldonium you simply don't get fatigued! I've also experimented with it during the work day and I've noticed it's given me a boost of energy and an increased mental acuity. I've experienced no side effects and I've gone from 8-9 hours of sleep per night to jumping out of bed after about 6.5-7 hours. I can tell you, all of these athletes taking this drug are at a significant advantage.
With that said; It takes a special kind of crazy person to buy this stuff online and test it out in order to give some honest feedback to those who are very very curious in a forum such as this one. I'm a 38 year old male in average shape. I weigh 205 LBS and 6"3 and was struggling to crank through an hour workout. I started off with 250 MG of Meldonium then increased to 500 MG. This stuff is LEGIT!! I've been powering through 2 hour workouts with no problem, and it's been particularly helpful with activities at higher elevations. I'm an avid skier and I've found that my endurance has improved significantly. I've never been a long distance person and often struggle w/ anything requiring exceptional endurance, even as a competitive Soccer player growing up and playing D1 for a top 25 Collegiate program. With Meldonium you simply don't get fatigued! I've also experimented with it during the work day and I've noticed it's given me a boost of energy and an increased mental acuity. I've experienced no side effects and I've gone from 8-9 hours of sleep per night to jumping out of bed after about 6.5-7 hours. I can tell you, all of these athletes taking this drug are at a significant advantage.
1
WADA continues its capacious track. It is as problematic as doping
2
The universe of those who care whether one dopes or not is getting smaller and smaller and will soon fade away as athletes realize that virtually anything they put in their bodies form carrots to dope may enhance performance.
So what?
So what?
1
If one thinks the speed and strength at which professional athletes possess are all natural, it is simply foolish. To perform at that level day in, day out, requires a strict training regimen that includes everything from methodical diets, endless workout and practice hours as well as body performance/recovery supplements. While I don't condone "doping" the use of the word negates that training regimen. If we, the spectators, are willing to spend a lot of money to see the often humanly impossible feats featured at professional sporting events, then perhaps some leniency to those who are sacrificing their body for your enjoyment. There is nothing new about professional athletes consuming any type of drugs as part of their training program.
"Russian officials and coaches have insisted that many of their athletes stopped taking the drug before the ban came into force but still tested positive."
WADA is also awaiting delivery of a brand new shiny golden bridge from Russia. They got a great deal.
WADA is also awaiting delivery of a brand new shiny golden bridge from Russia. They got a great deal.
1
Give me a break. Sharapova and all the other athletes were using this drug so far off-label it could only have been for doping purposes.
5
Microgram is not a unit of concentration. They likely mean Microgram/milliliter.
This article is using incorrect units for drug concentration. It should read micrograms per millilitre, not absolute micrograms. The latter is meaningless in this context as it is a unit of mass and not concentration !!
2
I have to admit that I don't quite understand when athletes were required to stop taking the drug. The article says that it was banned "in January," but then it notes that notification of the ban was given "three months before it took effect, to give athletes time to allow the drug to clear their systems or to apply for an exemption." So was it OK for athletes to use meldonium until December 31, meaning that there would still be traces later, or were they supposed to stop using it months earlier to ensure that there was no trace left by January 1?
3
Practically everyone in showbiz has had or will have work done on their faces - and elsewhere - to enhance their careers and performances, should plastic surgery, Botox and breast implants be banned too? I don't really understand why doping matters, considering sports is now entirely about entertainment and nothing else.
They know better .
1
Everybody is doing it, so it must be ethical and right. Everybody is doing it so it can't be prevented. Everybody is doing it and to heck with the posturing and the sanctimony. Let's play ball and play Olympics.
Cold war Russia is back
4
This is like Whack-A-Mole. "Athletes" have been cheating for years, in all sports. "Records" are subject, "heroes" are not, etc. I guess when half of the Russian teams have been involved and banned the situation has reached critical mass.
Let's just get back to business as usual, We will figure something out.
Steroids too have their time limit, maybe, -- but who knows.
And, the bottom line is the bottom line -- too much money involved.
Let's just get back to business as usual, We will figure something out.
Steroids too have their time limit, maybe, -- but who knows.
And, the bottom line is the bottom line -- too much money involved.
This is remarkably bad behavior on the part of WADA. They had been monitoring these people all along, and knew which ones would be in 'violation' after the barely publicized change that took place on Jan-1.
They should have personally notified each and every person that they knew or even suspected would be impacted rather than almost silently slipping another row onto a spreadsheet
They should do the 'right thing' now, and throw out this regime for the time being, apologize, and publicly announce that they will begin to enforce this ban in something like 6-9 months
They should have personally notified each and every person that they knew or even suspected would be impacted rather than almost silently slipping another row onto a spreadsheet
They should do the 'right thing' now, and throw out this regime for the time being, apologize, and publicly announce that they will begin to enforce this ban in something like 6-9 months
1
But they said this is the notification and monitoring process they used in the past. Some of these athletes might have a case if they stopped well before Jan. and it had not cleared their system. Others? Not so much.
3
Let's see -- an athlete who would benefit from additional endurance takes a drug that supersaturates their body with oxygen. Isn't that cheating right off the bat? They should all be disqualified and all their records be erased.
3
Obviously WADA was instructed by Big Business to take it easy. Firing all these top sports people would cost a fortune in ticket sales and advertisement.
10
maybe Phil Knight offered them some basketball shoes to change their minds. More coverage of the rigged Eugene 2021 World Track and Field Championships is needed. As of late the tax payers are now paying for this sham competition- all at the request of Knight and is buddies, in my opinion.
1
Well Pva's attorney's are now trying to defend/walk back what she said at their pre-emptive PR stunt because at that press conference she admitted taking the drug after January 1 because she did not know it was banned effective January 1 because she didn't read her email.
Hmmmmmmm!!
Hmmmmmmm!!
7
I don't see how this effect's Maria Sharapova, who denied having read the memo of WADA and was still taking it at the time of the Australian open by her own admittance.
20
Unless her test showed it at a concentration below a certain threshold...15 mcg, say. She might yet get off the hook, even though she basically admitted using it after January.
1
Well I think this is somehow finding a legal loophole for Sharapova.
4
To use an old cliché - so where do they go to get their reputations back?
1
Bubble Gum will be the next banned substance. It contains sugar which can give a temporary energy burst. If you test positive for Bubble Gum as an athlete you will be disqualified from professional competition for the rest of your life with no appeal and all your records will be erased. Sugar is a drug and it is performance enhancing ...
2
give me a break. You minimize cheating by athletes. Steroids- Ok; HGH- Ok; Blood oxygenators- Ok. go ahead, cheat, i'll pay $100 for a bleacher seat anytime.
6
Except sugar is a part of natural metabolism so that doesn't even make sense.
You really shouldn't make light of this stuff. Part of this is to level the playing field, but another important consideration is to not let an 'arms race' of performance enhancing substances get out of control and harm athletes and the amateurs that emulate them. Granted, it's not perfect, plenty of people cheat and plenty get caught. However, I would counter that turning this into the wild west would be far worse.
You really shouldn't make light of this stuff. Part of this is to level the playing field, but another important consideration is to not let an 'arms race' of performance enhancing substances get out of control and harm athletes and the amateurs that emulate them. Granted, it's not perfect, plenty of people cheat and plenty get caught. However, I would counter that turning this into the wild west would be far worse.
1
WADA once banned caffeine as well and then later back-pedaled out of the decision. Everything we ingest is, in some way either improving or depleting our physical abilities. Soon they will be insisting all these athletes eat the exact same diet for a level playing field. I don't think you're far out with the bubble gum.
Most Russian trainers insist the drug provides no benefits, and of course that explains why most Russian athletes use it. I'm sure they wouldn't use it if they thought it was beneficial.
19
The article doesn't say that "Russian trainers insist the drug provides no benefits." It says that they don't consider it "performance-enhancing." Those two things are not the same.
Watch out, here goes Maria, jumping on the hotel carpet, shrieking with joy...
3
Who cares?
They WERE doping.
Then the drug they were doping with became officially recognized and banned.
And then they were not smart enough to stop taking it in time before being caught.
SO they are guilty of doping, getting caught and they are stupid to boot.
They WERE doping.
Then the drug they were doping with became officially recognized and banned.
And then they were not smart enough to stop taking it in time before being caught.
SO they are guilty of doping, getting caught and they are stupid to boot.
12
Can someone tell me why such a high concentration of athletes would use this anti-ischemia medication, other than to improve their performance? HOw large a market is there for this drug, outside of athletes? What percentage of the general population would benefit from this drug excluding athletes, and what is the percentage of sales that goes to athletes?
8
This is just Step One in allowing the Russians to be in the Olympics. Justifications are already no doubt drafted and the bureaucrats and executives of sports and TV are so happy that nothing will really be done that might affect the spectacle. The only collateral damage, as always, will be the clean athletes pushed off the podiums in favor of the forgiven and blameless Russians (and others). Business as usual in big-time sports-land.
7
Athletes should be able to take what ever drugs they choose. What if we disallowed musicians or authors from publishing until they passed a drugs test?
2
Sure - because speed-skating is the exact same as writing a sonnet.
7
Musicians and authors are not competing head to head for a job.
My son is a Major League baseball player. He has to compete every day for his paycheck. I don't want him to have to damage himself to get an equal shot at being the best.
I'll offer you a job Mike. I'll pay you a million dollars a year. You will have to work only seven months of the year. The work will be fun though physically and mentally taxing. There will be lots of laughs and great times. There is only one catch. Every day when you arrive at work you have to pick up a gun that has 5000 chambers in it. Only one chamber has a bullet in it. You must spin the barrel, point it at your head and pull the trigger. Then you can punch in.
Do you want the gig?
PED's are not vitamins. There are all sorts of serious debilitating health consequences attached to their use. No one should have to spin the gun barrel to compete.
My son is a Major League baseball player. He has to compete every day for his paycheck. I don't want him to have to damage himself to get an equal shot at being the best.
I'll offer you a job Mike. I'll pay you a million dollars a year. You will have to work only seven months of the year. The work will be fun though physically and mentally taxing. There will be lots of laughs and great times. There is only one catch. Every day when you arrive at work you have to pick up a gun that has 5000 chambers in it. Only one chamber has a bullet in it. You must spin the barrel, point it at your head and pull the trigger. Then you can punch in.
Do you want the gig?
PED's are not vitamins. There are all sorts of serious debilitating health consequences attached to their use. No one should have to spin the gun barrel to compete.
5
Young athletes emulate their role models. Are you sure you want your High School or College athlete to take whatever drugs they want?
2
I just hope this new move is not another white-wash to save the face of Russian sports.
11