Archive for the ‘Steroids’ Category

Four Indian athletes who were banned for one year have received a brief reprieve after the anti-doping appeals panel pushed back the date of commencement of their bans.

The four athletes who challenged the one-year suspensions imposed by the anti-doping disciplinary panel are Asian Games double gold medalist Ashwini Akkunji, Sini Jose, Tiana Mary Thomas, and Priyanka Panwar.

From Dailymail.co.uk:

The IAAF will club the cases of these four athletes with those of Mandeep Kaur and Jauna Murmu, who too had flunked dope tests and were suspended for a year each.

All these will be put before the CAS. In fact, the order, which came out on Tuesday, says very clearly that the dates of commencement of the sentences have been pushed back only to allow the athletes ‘to train and compete at the London Olympics’.

Bans generally don’t start from the date of sample collection and either begin from the date of provisional suspension or from when the order is pronounced.

The athletes had challenged the one-year suspensions imposed by the antidoping disciplinary panel to which the World Anti-Doping Agency had filed a counter appeal before the appeals panel seeking a two year ban.

The latest verdict gives the tainted athletes another chance to qualify for the London Olympics.

The medical reports of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the U.S. soldier charged with killing 17 Afghan civilians on March 11, will be examined by his attorney, John Henry Browne to find out if the medications caused any side effect. According to an internal Pentagon document, investigators discovered suspected anabolic steroids were hidden in Bales’ living quarters.

“We have to order his medical records, and they haven’t given them to us yet,” he said. “He was taking medications, but we don’t know whether it was aspirin, heart medicines. We don’t know what it was.”

From Pbs.org:

Browne said that in some previous legal cases, he has cited the side effects of a prescribed drug in a client’s defense.

“There are a lot of medicines that can backfire,” Browne said. He pointed, in particular, to recent reports about Lariam, an anti-malarial medication.

NewsHour viewers have their suspicions as well. “I can tell you that I personally ruined my life because of that substance in July 2011 and I have no memory of my actions,” one viewer said of the sleeping medication Ambien in an email to the NewsHour.

“After any unexpected violent act, we search for rational explanations. Sometimes the best explanation is that reason was turned off and primitive, predatory parts of the brain took over,” said Dr. Frank Ochberg, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Michigan State University.

The mixed martial arts community may learn from their experience after Lawal tested positive for steroids, said Mike Kogan, “King Mo” Lawal’s manager.

“We were very transparent about all of this and the biggest reason was because we want to make sure people have a chance to do their own research,” Kogan explained to MMAWeekly.

From Fightline.com:

Lawal tested positive for anabolic steroid, Drostanolone after his Strikeforce victory over Lorenz Larkin earlier in January, prompting Kogan to speak out about the unusual circumstances surrounding the incident.

According to Kogan, Lawal was taking a commercial supplement called S-Mass Lean which contained the banned substance—something the pair claims to have been unaware of. The longtime manager calls for better regulation of supplements and increased awareness to prevent similar instances.

“The problem is that these materials and this research and information usually becomes available retroactively, not proactively, not ahead of time,” said Kogan. “Can this be prevented? Yes, it can be prevented by regulation through the FDA. But then they have to take on the big lobbying group of the nutrition companies.”

Some budding baseball players may resort to unethical behaviors, such as taking performance enhancing drugs (PED).

This is primarily attributed to the fact that competition is intense in the world of professional sports, especially baseball, and a high-paying career gets easy with the use of PEDs.

From My.hsj.org:

According to the IHSA, a baseball team is eligible for random drug testing once they reach regionals. The penalty for a positive test is a forfeit of player eligibility for a full year and any individual awards.

Varsity head baseball coach Darren Orel feels that there are problems with this current IHSA policy.

According to Orel, taking PEDs without getting caught would “probably not be too difficult because it’s so random. If you look at all the teams in all the regionals and in all the different levels, the odds are probably small to get caught. I’m sure if they want to [use PEDs], they can get away with it. It isn’t easy, but fairly easy.”

The slim chance of being caught, under the IHSA policy, along with the recent suspicion that Milwaukee Brewer left fielder and reigning National League Most Valuable Player (NL MVP) Ryan Braun tested positive for PED use but escaped consequences enhances the temptation.

According to the Steroid Abuse organization, anabolic steroids are “synthetic versions of the male sex hormone testosterone. Testosterone, along with the synthetic steroids, has anabolic and androgenic characteristics. The anabolic effects are those that involve the growth of lean muscle mass and the androgenic effects are those having to do with male gender characteristics.”

Alberto Contador has decided not to appeal against the two-year ban given to him after failing a dope test in his victorious 2010 Tour de France campaign with the Swiss Federal Court.

In February, a retroactive ban was imposed on the Spaniard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

From Timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

“Last Friday, I spoke to my lawyers and they told me they didn’t see it as an option to appeal to the Swiss Federal Court because it could be a waste of time and it wouldn’t have a future,” Contador said.

“With such little chance of success we have decided not to appeal, because in the best case scenarios, they would return the case to CAS and to the same judges.”

The Saxo Bank rider is taking some days off from his training schedule over Easter to rest and said he had not yet decided which race he would return at when his ban finishes on Aug. 5.

Contador was stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title by CAS in February and all his victories from last season, including the Giro d’Italia, were nullified.

The cyclist tested positive for the banned anabolic agent clenbuterol while competing in the 2010 Tour de France.

Brenton Philip Dowell, 25, of Reservoir, has received a two-year wholly suspended sentence for importing anabolic steroids.

Dowell imported steroids more than $11,000 worth from China in 2010, the Victorian County Court heard.

From News.ninemsn.com.au:

Judge Graeme Hicks said on Tuesday that Dowell had intended to use the steroids for his own body building as well as to sell to friends and acquaintances to recover his expenses, in a “misguided way of trying to improve your body”.

Dowell grew up in a dysfunctional family. He left home at 14 and took refuge in a youth homeless shelter.

“As a result of being bullied and being overweight, you’d decided to take up body building,” Judge Hicks said.

The steroids were imported by Dowell along with 300 vials of human growth hormone from September to November 2010.

Four men have been arrested by the Drug task force agents after the agents discovered some marijuana, anabolic steroids, firearms, and cash from them at a residence in Pittsburg.

The Pittsburg police and the Crawford County Drug Task Force searched a residence at 2204 Timber Lane and made the discovery.

From Joplinglobe.com:

Arrested were Stewart Merritt, 20, Austin Atkins, 19, and Jacob Delks, 21, all of Pittsburg; and Tanner L. Rankin, 20, of Spring Hill, police said. All four were charged with possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of stolen property. Merritt also was charged with possession of the steroids and criminal use of a firearm.

According to the Pittsburg Police Department, undisclosed amounts of marijuana and steroids, two firearms, $2,600 cash and some stolen city street signs were seized.

The son of Caroline Spelman, Environment Secretary, has been barred from participating in any rugby match or tournament until October 19, 2013.

Jonathan, t he 17-year-old, was banned after he admitted to the banned substances, the sport’s ruling body confirmed.

From Mirror.co.uk:

Jonathan admitted taking a number of drugs, including anabolic steroids and a growth hormone, when he appeared before an independent disciplinary tribunal on March 26.

In February the Spelman family tried to suppress details about the case being published through a High Court injunction but later issued a statement saying Jonathan was “deeply sorry” for taking the substances.

Panel chairman Christopher Quinlan QC said: “In fixing the appropriate period of suspension, the tribunal had regard to all the relevant matters advanced during the course of the hearing, including the player’s youth, immaturity and admissions.

“It therefore reduced by three months the otherwise applicable period of ineligibility of two years and imposed a period of ineligibility (suspension) of 21 months.”

“Our prime concern now is to support Jonny with his studies and coping with the ban,” the Cabinet minister said.

Two teenagers who tested positive for banned anabolic steroids at Craven Ruby Week in June 2011 have been sentenced by the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport.

An independent anti-doping tribunal imposed two year bans on both teenagers after they tested positive for the anabolic steroids, Nandrolone and Methandienone.

From Health24.com:

Galant says that the Craven Week positive drug tests were not a complete surprise as recent research and intelligence information continues to indicate a high prevalence of doping behaviours among teenagers in schools.  “Doping in schools is not exclusive to rugby or to scholar athletes,” he says. “A large number of teenagers are participating in doping activities predominantly for the aesthetic appeal of a bigger and more muscular body.”

While generally statistics reflect a 100% increase in doping offences, Galant says that doping in schools was now beyond serious. “With the widespread availability and use of sports supplements that contain banned substances like anabolic steroids, pro hormones and stimulants, it is no longer just a doping problem but a public health issue,” he adds.

“The Institute has sent correspondence to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to seek clarity on the South African approach to in-school testing so that we can proceed without falling foul of international sport regulations,” said SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport’s CEO, Khalid Galant.

Six samples contained either anabolic steroids or a diuretic in the 60th All India Police Athletics Championship held at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in New Delhi last month.

Results from the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) had revealed that six samples had stanozolol, nandrolone, methandienone (steroids), or the diuretic furosemide, as per the National Anti Doping Agency.

From Timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

“In percentage terms, this is 11, which is much higher than the national average of four,” NADA director general Rahul Bhatnagar said. “These athletes get into the force through sports quota. We have written to the authorities regarding the prevalence of doping in sportspersons belonging to their force and requested them to take effective measures to curb this menace.”

Stanozolol and methandienone have been in the news for the past few months after six of India’s women quartermilers tested positive for either steroid or a combination of both.

“In all 47 urine and 12 blood samples have been collected. The report of NDTL is awaited in respect of this 47 samples. Samples collected include wrestling (10), boxing (17), weightlifting (15), judo (3) and gymnastics (2). Blood samples were collected in wrestling (3) and boxing (9),” Bhatnagar added.

The athletes involved belong to Punjab Police, BSF, ITBP, CRPF, and Odisha Police.