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[DontBeThatGuy]

One of the most popular tennis stars of the generation has been suspended following a failed drug test is a non-story now?

It's definitely a story, which will lead to a ban for a period of time, and it does put into question some aspects of her career. Sure, it wasn't always banned, but it's banned now, which means there were some definite benefits there. Of course, it's professional sports, so everyone is doing something, legal or not, so forget about what I said.

It could be a hell of a lot worse, no doubt, and I doubt she'll be gone for long.

 

[perfectchaos007]

She took a nootropic that was perfectly allowed and legal for 10 years that just got banned 2 months ago and got caught.

If anything I think it's silly there's not some sort of grace period when it comes to banning previously legal substances like that. It's a definite routine changer to take something for that long and then suddenly be expected to stop it like that.

Its important to note that the drug has never been an approved substance in the country she has been living in for the past 25 years.

 

[BajiBoxer]

What is unusual for me isn't that she manages to obtain that drug, it's that her doctor, who I assume is American, considering she's been living there since her childhood, is prescribing her an obscure latvian drug, one that is usually prescribed to "patients with chronic heart failure".

At that level, I assume athletes have teams of people researching to find any kind of advantage through supplements/drugs.

 

[Pedrito]

At that level, I assume athletes have teams of people researching to find any kind of advantage through supplements/drugs.

Yeah the health issues excuse is most likely bullshit. But then, it was legal until recently so it was fair game to take it.

 

[Champagne]

Its important to note that the drug has never been an approved substance in the country she has been living in for the past 25 years.

Lol, so is the FDA suddenly supposed to be the paragon of morality and safety now?

As one poster has already pointed out with a personal anecdote, there's plenty of weird shit that the FDA "doesn't approve".

The bottom line is that she's a competitive tennis player. The substance was perfectly legal for her to take and play with for 10 years. That suddenly changed 3 months ago. She got caught. Oh well.

 

[Champagne]

It's definitely a story, which will lead to a ban for a period of time, and it does put into question some aspects of her career. Sure, it wasn't always banned, but it's banned now, which means there were some definite benefits there. Of course, it's professional sports, so everyone is doing something, legal or not, so forget about what I said.

It could be a hell of a lot worse, no doubt, and I doubt she'll be gone for long.

......are we really going to start retroactively penalizing athletes for taking substances that were perfectly legal for a long time?

Do I have to explain to you why that's stupid?

 

[AstroZombie]

I hope Serena's clean. I'd really like to think that Serena's complete domination is what led Sharapova to dope, and it still wasn't enough.

That's probably bad of me, but I just like Serena.

If you think Serena is clean, I got a bridge to sell you. Lol

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

......are we really going to start retroactively penalizing athletes for taking substances that were perfectly legal for a long time?

Do I have to explain to you why that's stupid?

lol, do whatever you want, who cares.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meldonium

It's weird that she's been taking a drug not sold in the US for 10 years, while living in the US all that time.

Well that got updated quickly.

 

[Hasphat'sAnts]

I said to my brother, "a high-profile tennis star got popped for banned substances," his first guess "Nadal."

Spoiler

His third or fourth guess he said Federer :O

Federer getting popped would ruin the sport. Like literally invalidates everything in the last 15 years.

On topic, it's not a surprise. I'm sure she'll have a nicely rehearsed story, but most of us aren't that naive about PEDs.

Maybe she can turn this into a "Should we even care about PEDs?" type of story since everybody likes her.

 

[FuturusX]

She should ask for a refund....

 

[perfectchaos007]

Lol, so is the FDA suddenly supposed to be the paragon of morality and safety now?

As one poster has already pointed out with a personal anecdote, there's plenty of weird shit that the FDA "doesn't approve".

The bottom line is that she's a competitive tennis player. The substance was perfectly legal for her to take and play with for 10 years. That suddenly changed 3 months ago. She got caught. Oh well.

The list of country's it's approved in:

Amazing that athletes from all around the world were taking a drug only available in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

.

I wonder why only Eastern Europe finds the drug appropriate. I guess the West is behind the curve?

 

[Ganzlinger]

She's still good in my books.

 

[Champagne]

lol, do whatever you want, who cares.

Come back to this thread when people start retroactively questioning Kobe's career because he went and flew out to Germany specifically to have experimental procedures performed on his knee that at the time couldn't be done here in the U.S. These procedures were not banned by the NBA in any way.

This procedure clearly offered some level of "benefit" to him, so according to your logic his career should also be looked at in a different light.....

Except nobody is doing that, because frankly nobody cares. What he did was legal, and it was perfectly within his means to go do it if he so desired, which he did. I'm really failing to see how this is any different.

 

[Pedrito]

Something tells me she got wind of a story brewing that was prepared to specifically oust her or perhaps even blackmail her so she took a proactive stance to come out with it first.

Why would she have any reason to announce this?

I guess the ITF would have made it public.
Saying that, it's been suspected that the ITF is pretty big on silent bans so maybe not.

 

[kottila]

......are we really going to start retroactively penalizing athletes for taking substances that were perfectly legal for a long time?

Do I have to explain to you why that's stupid?

She took advantage of a loophole by using a drug that gave her advantage compared to clean athletes and failed to stop using it even after being told to stop using it. Poor girl.. They have caught at least thirteen others for this drug since it was banned, but I'm sure they all had serious heart conditions

Ps. The drug was already on the wada monitoring list, so they knew it was in high risk of being banned

 

[Dr.Acula]

Something tells me she got wind of a story brewing that was prepared to specifically oust her or perhaps even blackmail her so she took a proactive stance to come out with it first.

Why would she have any reason to announce this?

She was told she was suspended. I guess she wanted to announce it before WADA or the WTA/ITF announced it.

Basically, she'd be banned from tournaments, so people would put two and two together pretty quickly.

 

[mcfrank]

Seems like she is doing good to get out in front of the story and frame it in the best possible way. Seems like no big deal to me since they just banned it.

 

[Jay Sosa]

I hope Peru is okay.

This further proves my point that almost everyone is doping.

Also ignore the fact NO ONE can beat Serena.

 

[mr jones]

This Meldonium stuff sounds awesome.

It seems to be able to bring down blood glucose levels, helping folks with diabetes.
It is shown to aid in weight loss.
It is said to help with neurological disorder.
It is supposed to help with seizures, and alcohol intoxication.
It increases oxygen absorption, helping with exercise.
It also improves sexual performance.

What the hell. I need to get some of this stuff, STAT!

 

[perfectchaos007]

She took advantage of a loophole by using a drug that gave her advantage compared to clean athletes and failed to stop using it even after being told to stop using it. Poor girl.. They have caught at least thirteen others for this drug since it was banned, but I'm sure they all had serious heart conditions

She was using it because she was at risk of diabetes. Well, living in America, almost 90% of Americans are at high risk of

 

[Champagne]

She took advantage of a loophole by using a drug that gave her advantage compared to clean athletes and failed to stop using it even after being told to stop using it. Poor girl.. They have caught at least thirteen others for this drug since it was banned, but I'm sure they all had serious heart conditions

"Clean athletes"

The drug was legal for 10 years. She wasn't dirty for taking it. A clean athlete is someone that doesn't take banned substances. This substance wasn't banned for the vast majority of her usage.

 

[THE:MILKMAN]

The BBC have this quote:

She added: "I received an email on 22 December from Wada [World Anti-Doping Agency] about the changes happening to the banned list and you can see prohibited items, and I didn't click on that link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/35750285

Reading what the drug is/does I'm surprised it hasn't been banned sooner but I Guess WADA etc will always have a list of drugs from here to the moon that probably should be banned.

I'm sure a lot of tennis players were taking the same/similar drug and no doubt those have now just switched?

 

[Cybrwzrd]

I really don't see the difference between PEDs and Plastic Surgery for other entertainment professionals. I can't think of a single pro sport that does not benefit from PEDs. Bowling maybe?

 

[Stinkles]

What a bunch of CRAP replies in this thread. She said she's been taking it for TEN YEARS legally. It just changed January 1st this year that it was put on the WADA ban list. If you guys also listening to the conference and still make these CRAP replies I don't know what to say. Ten years she took it legally and it was not on WADA's banned list. It just changed Jan 1st. Give her a break.

Take a pill man.

Spoiler

One approved by your sanctioning body

 

[perfectchaos007]

I really don't see the difference between PEDs and Plastic Surgery for other entertainment professionals. I can't think of a single pro sport that does not benefit from PEDs. Bowling maybe?

I was going to say video gaming, but recently Adderall became an illegal PED in the sport

 

[Jay Sosa]

I really don't see the difference between PEDs and Plastic Surgery for other entertainment professionals. I can't think of a single pro sport that does not benefit from PEDs. Bowling maybe?

PROFESSIONAL BOWLER TESTS POSITIVE FOR STEROIDS

 

[Champagne]

The BBC have this quote:



http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/35750285

Reading what the drug is/does I'm surprised it hasn't been banned sooner but I Guess WADA etc will always have a list of drugs from here to the moon that probably should be banned.

I'm sure a lot of tennis players were taking the same/similar drug and no doubt those have now just switched?

Lol they sent the email out with the updated list 9 days prior to the ban taking place?

Seems silly of me to not have some sort of grace period considering all kinds of different substances can have their own unique side effects for quitting them cold turkey, especially a substance that someone has been taking for 10 years straight.

 

[KingSnake]

The fact the drug was just now banned makes it fine from a legal point of view, but not for a moral point. The sport unfortunately has become a cat and mouse game between the cheating athletes and the WADA.

 

[chuckddd]

Part of the Russian Olympic steroid program, no doubt.

I feel terrible for Peru.

 

[MThanded]

What a bunch of CRAP replies in this thread. She said she's been taking it for TEN YEARS legally. It just changed January 1st this year that it was put on the WADA ban list. If you guys also listening to the conference and still make these CRAP replies I don't know what to say. Ten years she took it legally and it was not on WADA's banned list. It just changed Jan 1st. Give her a break.

Banned or not it clearly was being used as a PED.

 

[AyaisMUsikWhore]

Well I guess now O really doesn't matter and she can just like chill for a while since it was just like the beginning of this year. Whatever the reason for her taking it... It really doesn't matter. The drug clearly isn't doing that much for her in the first place.

 

[Smellycat]

Oh wow, I didn't expect that. I thought it was a retirement announcement to be honest.

 

[oti]

Part of the Russian Olympic steroid program, no doubt.

I feel terrible for Peru.

See, this is the problem her "brand" (she really is a human brand tbh) will face now. Yes, she did take a prohibited substance but did you even read about what it was and why she did it? Could've been a lot worse and is somewhat understandable on a human level. Although it still should not have happened. She's a pro. She has a team around here that should know this stuff.

 

[Dr.Acula]

https://jakegshelley.wordpress.com/2016/03/03/what-is-melodoniummildronate/

Meldonium was added to the WADA list of banned substances on January 1st, 2016 because of “evidence of its use by athletes with the intention of enhancing performance.” Therefore, none of the athletes banned for this substance will have performances prior to that date removed from the records and Aregawi will keep her 2013 world title.

The process by which WADA adds a substance to the banned list involves the substance first being placed on the WADA monitoring program. The addition of a substance to the monitoring program usually comes about as a result of athlete statements and any other evidence that WADA collects. The “other evidence” in this case was that WADA repeatedly detected Meldonium in urine samples during the validation of their new high resolution/high accuracy mass spectrometry multi-target screening assay. A peak at 147.1128 appeared in the MS spectra of many but not all urine samples during the validation process, indicating that the peak represented an exogenous substance. WADA determined that this peak indicated the presence of Meldonium. This evidence, coupled with athlete statements on sample use control forms reporting the use of Meldonium, led to the addition of Meldonium to the WADA monitoring program a year prior to its ban, on January 1st, 2015.

https://wada-main-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/resources/files/wada-2015-monitoring-program-en.pdf

So she should have known about Meldonium being looked at since Jan 1st, 2015. And she should have learned of the decision to ban it in December.

edit:

Here's is WADA's list for monitored drugs 2015. It's a single page.

Here's the relevant column from the 9-page prohibited list:

These documents are very clear and easy to read.

 

[Champagne]

Banned or not it clearly was being used as a PED.

...and since it wasn't banned, it was perfectly fine that it was being used as a PED.

The issue has always been the usage of banned of PEDs. If it's legal to use, then you can't blame an athlete for seeking it out because they feel it might give them an edge. There's nothing stopping another athlete from doing the same.

That's literally the entire point of having an agency to regulate what is and isn't banned.

It seems silly to me that this might be used as some slight against her career when nobody has nor ever will bat an eye at other athletes that have gone overseas to get treatment that isn't FDA approved. If those treatments suddenly get banned are we going retroactively start re-examining and re-contextualizing the careers of those athletes? That would be a mess and it makes no sense.

 

[chuckddd]

See, this is the problem her "brand" (she really is a human brand tbh) will face now. Yes, she did take a prohibited substance but did you even read about what it was and why she did it? Could've been a lot worse and is somewhat understandable on a human level. Although it still should not have happened. She's a pro. She has a team around here that should know this stuff.

Lol. Yes, I'm going to take her explanation at face value. She thought it was ecinacea tea. :rollseyes

 

[PS3GamerKyle]

wow, just got home and saw the news. just finished the video. at least she owned up to it

the past few years have been tough for her.

 

[kottila]

She was using it because she was at risk of diabetes. Well, living in America, almost 90% of Americans are at high risk of

There's not a single human trial or case report using meldonium or mildronate to prevent diabetes that I could find, only a few papers on its use in already diabetic rats. Pretty weird that she would be prescribed a latvian drug for ten years, epsecially when the first of the rat studies only appeared in 2011

The BBC have this quote:



http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/35750285

Reading what the drug is/does I'm surprised it hasn't been banned sooner but I Guess WADA etc will always have a list of drugs from here to the moon that probably should be banned.

I'm sure a lot of tennis players were taking the same/similar drug and no doubt those have now just switched?

The list was published september 29th 2015 (https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2015-09/wada-publishes-2016-prohibited-list), and it was already on the watch list

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

There's not a single human trial or case report using meldonium or mildronate to prevent diabetes that I could find, only a few papers on its use in already diabetic rats. Pretty weird that she would be prescribed a latvian drug for ten years, epsecially when the first of the rat studies only appeared in 2011

It's mighty peculiar, isn't it?

 

[PS3GamerKyle]

There's not a single human trial or case report using meldonium or mildronate to prevent diabetes that I could find, only a few papers on its use in already diabetic rats. Pretty weird that she would be prescribed a latvian drug for ten years, epsecially when the first of the rat studies only appeared in 2011



The list was published september 29th 2015 (https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2015-09/wada-publishes-2016-prohibited-list), and it was already on the watch list

oh damn, good looks. this does seem mighty peculiar doesn't it?

 

[perfectchaos007]

There's not a single human trial or case report using meldonium or mildronate to prevent diabetes that I could find, only a few papers on its use in already diabetic rats. Pretty weird that she would be prescribed a latvian drug for ten years, epsecially when the first of the rat studies only appeared in 2011



The list was published september 29th 2015 (https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2015-09/wada-publishes-2016-prohibited-list), and it was already on the watch list

Yeah maybe she shouldn't have mentioned her diabetes risk as reason for using the drug.

 

[DSN2K]

potentially up to 4 years banned. That could end her career imo, will she want to come back at 32 ? I doubt it.

 

[King Gilga]

If it wasn't banned who cares?

 

[Princess Carl]

There's not a single human trial or case report using meldonium or mildronate to prevent diabetes that I could find, only a few papers on its use in already diabetic rats. Pretty weird that she would be prescribed a latvian drug for ten years, epsecially when the first of the rat studies only appeared in 2011



The list was published september 29th 2015 (https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2015-09/wada-publishes-2016-prohibited-list), and it was already on the watch list

Calm your tits Captain Due Diligence!

 

[jett]

lol at her taking it for diabetes. Fuck off Sharapova.

I guess all of these motherfuckers are on some form of PED, legal or not.

 

[RootCause]

I hope Peru is okay.

This further proves my point that almost everyone is doping.

Yeah, with millions of dollars at stake, you'd have to be more than naive to believe athletes aren't using. Hell, I bet some of my favorite athletes are doping. Don't get me started on the NBA.

 

[MIMIC]

Well, I guess the "silent ban" myth is busted. If they're going after Maria for a newly added drug, then they'd go after anyone.


edit: wait, I forgot that it went unannounced that some umpires were banned for match fixing.

 

[Futureman]

I don't see why the drug being recently banned should matter? Was it kept secret from her that it was banned? Or is it possible it stays in your system for a long time so you could test positive now if you were taking it before it was banned?

 

[Pedrito]

I don't see why the drug being recently banned should matter? Was it kept secret from her that it was banned? Or is it possible it stays in your system for a long time so you could test positive now if you were taking it before it was banned?

She hasn't denied taking it after january 1st so it really doesn't matter.