American Sprinter Uses ‘Passionate Kissing’ Defense in Doping Case. And It Worked.

Would the American public accept a Russian athlete, using the same defence, to escape a similar doping offence?

If you want to worry about doping, worry about something serious, something of genuine importance, not athletes, who are essentially first class entertainers, but about the third-rate entertainers currently occupying the White House and Congress, people whose behavior and decisions have direct consequences on the rest of us These are the people who should have to pee into a cup regularly so America knows that if we go to war or gut our parks or diminish health care or give advantages to the wealthy, the decisions were not made by a bunch of drunk or stoned monkeys. Worrying about doping and athletes is to a significant degree about your own disillusionment. I would add that those of us who are (or were in are younger days) athletes have a a participatory, not spectator, appreciation for their accomplishments and thus look at it through a different -- though not the same for all of us -- lens.

Sounds like an excuse provided by the American gymnastic board of trustees. We've entered an world where anything goes as long as it leads to more medals and a host of enablers surrounding the sport. Shame, shame

Viva junk science !

What next - THC in my sample because a user sneezed in the next room and it crept vapour-like under the door and into my system.

A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) secretary failed a drug screening test back in '92. Secretary said she tested positive for cocaine in her urine from having oral sex with her boyfriend. DEA Fired her. Of Course, no one was making money off her that we know of.

Do you ever wonder why the Russians get so sore at the Americans over the Olympics?

Besides the US ally Georgia's tanks invading the Russian protectorate of South Ossetia at the beginning of the Beijing Olympics and the violent coup in Ukraine during the Sochi Olympics?

How original - the Adam Defense: "Almighty God the Father and Creator of All Things, it was the woman's fault. She gave me the forbidden fruit from which I ate."

Mr. Roberts is contributing to the demise of olympic sports. They should just start awarding medals for the athletes who can use the most performance enhancing drugs and get away with it.
The end of the Olympics.

The world, or is is just America, has come completely unhinged.

1. It is easily established if this drug can be transferred through soft tissue. Check with the FDA and the manufacturer. Forensic labs can also test for it. If this one can they all can. (Do I sound doubtful?)

2. Sinus infection. Everyone has a sinus infection. The antibiotics required aren't that strong.

3. Why are antibiotics a banned substance in the first place? Aren't you allowed to compete with a sinus infection?

4. When will celebrities start owning up to their actions?

No one would credibly be 'prompted to empty each capsule’s contents onto her tongue'. If the appeals court bought that, they will buy anything. It is hypocritical for people to overturn this violation on such flimsy and incredible testimony, but not the systemic Russian violations.

That's EXACTLY what I want to do when my significant other is loaded with sinus-infected mucus - kiss him DEEPLY!!

This article mentions an appeals court and later it mentions arbitrators. The two are exclusive and the author needs to clearly define whether this was a court proceeding or an arbitration panel.

Oklahoma is one of those places where sports is an obsession. In Paradise, angels from Oklahoma, Indiana, Ohio, etc can be spotted wearing their football shirts. Other more evolved angels will giggle and steer clear.

Ricard Gasquet had the same problem and excuse-the drug in question was cocaine

If Mr. Roberts was a Russian athlete he would have been barred for
years.

Sad. The court siding with such a false defense, throwing the science aside, makes drug testing and athletics all a farce.

As a lifelong fan of track and field, I have little tolerance for athletes who use prohibited drugs to enhance their performances. But we do have to remember that athletes are people with lives too, and sometimes life can trip up the most careful among them.

I was aware of the prior, similar ruling in favor of Shawn Barber and satisfied his case was handled properly, with evidence that checked out. With so many young, socially and sexually active people being athletes, why is it so implausible that similarly derived drug positives could occasionally happen?

It’s one thing for an athlete to exert personal self-control, awareness and discipline on PEDs and quite another, more difficult task to expand it to social contacts as well. We don’t own the people around us.

While I hope these rulings don’t bring an epidemic of “Love Drug” cases, I’m fine with these few getting off for now. It’s not gullible to believe accidental exposure to banned drugs can sometimes happen.

Since a trace amount of banned substance can be detected from a kiss and cause an athlete to be banned, when will we take seriously the traces of medications readily detectable in drinking water?

If it is too much for an athlete and considered performance altering, why is OK for the rest of us?

Seems credible to me.

They should make them replicate the same encounter and see if the samples are elevated then. I can’t believe these athletes aren’t embarrassed for putting up this kind of defense.

The saddest is that millions of Americans will believe that is true.

Something tells me Ms. Salazar is the bright bulb of this bunch. "Of course I love you, Gil. And, yes, I will gladly provide the passionate kissing statement...in exchange for 15% of your future endorsement revenue. Just sign here, Love. Hugs and Kisses!!!"

Wow, is this similar to a girl claiming to get pregnant due to some rogue sperm in a public swimming pool?

Really? After the Russian national team's state-sponsored doping scandal? Please...

Competitors like me are sick of this never ending circus. The use by any athlete of any PED needs to incur absolute liability. Then if you kiss a person, etc, etc, it won't be an excuse. You're banned for life. You give back all medals and trophies. You pay back all prize monies. You pay back all grants. You pay back all sponsorships. You pay. And then, and only then, you rue the day you decided to cheat.

Athletes are entertainers. That's all. Not to be confused with the faux entertainers currently occupying the White House and Congress, people whose behavior and decisions have direct consequences on the rest of us, the people who should have to pee into a cup regularly so America knows that if we go to war or gut our parks or diminish health care, the decisions were not made by a bunch of drunk or stoned monkeys.

Isn’t the point that athletes who have drugs in their systems might have an unfair advantage? Shouldn’t matter how the drugs got there. I’m sure he could still have a rewarding life and career without all of the hype, endorsements, and excess money. What’s unfortunate is that his girlfriend never mentioned that she was taking the antibiotics. And I guess he never mentioned to her that he needs to be extra careful about keeping his system clean. And ignorance, if that applies here, used to be no excuse.

Athletes are entertainers. That's all. Worrying about doping is about your disillusionment, little more, except for those of us who are athletes and have a a participatory, not spectator, appreciation for their accomplishments. If you want to worry about doping, worry about something serious, something of genuine importance, namely the third-rate entertainers currently occupying the White House and Congress, people whose behavior and decisions have direct consequences on the rest of us These are the people who should have to pee into a cup regularly so America knows that if we go to war or gut our parks or diminish health care or give advantages to the wealty, the decisions were not made by a bunch of drunk or stoned monkeys.

This story will keep comedians in work for months.

Ludicrous. I used to work at a law firm that represented members of a law enforcement agency when they faced termination for failing drug tests, and they would, out of desperation to try and save their jobs, concoct the most ridiculous stories of unintentional ingestion. Among the stories I heard were "My friend asked me to walk his dog and I didn't know the brownies in the fridge had hash," "somebody spiked the mustard at the (well-known) hot dog place with LSD," and "my girlfriend didn't tell me she put cocaine (use your imagination, although this one was even more illogical than most)." Bottom line, the administrative law judges who heard these arguments NEVER fell for them. It was a little sad in those instances, as these were not people who were cheating, but people who had substance abuse issues. Yet here, it seems that these sports panels frequently fall for the arguments when they come from cheaters, albeit often financially powerful cheaters.

At some point we should just stop drug testing. There's already the problem that athletes with biotechnological advantages--in many cases the same advantages that give them access to PEDs in the first place--can beat the testing system. Now, we've got successful legal defenses that reach to absurdity.

Does drug testing just ensure that athletes who can get around the testing get an advantage over those who can't?

As long as my wife doesn't start checking my pee it's all good.

oddly enough his defense attorney is none other than johnnie cochrane...

Well, THAT'S a creative workaround.

It is used to treat gout?

The fact is, sports is a crooked commercial business.

And, where there is money, there will be corruption, as the Russians so amply demonstrated.

If the sports authorities were honest, they would try to deal with such matters as the drug test a number of years ago that found the US Attorney for the Southern District of NY, Rudy Giuliani in possession of drugs (heroin, as I recall).

The Don Con is amassing an impressive record of success across our fake, multi-disciplinary reality.

"You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything."