Canelo Álvarez test positive again but...will be banned?

Welcome everyone to a new post. Some weeks ago we knew that the mexican wrestler Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez tested positive in a drug control ocurred in Gualadajara(Mexico). The test indicate the appearance of trace leves of the prohibited substance clembuterol which is a anabolic steroid characterise for be a powerful enhance-performance.

Now, the Nevada Athletic Comission has open an investigation and the first action has been the temporal ban although nowadays the mexician boxer can carry on his training. This temporal sanction Will be mantain until the next April 10 when a hearing on the complaint by the Nevada State Athletic has been set.

This hearing will be celebrate only 2 weeks before the figth for the middleweigth title versus Golovkin, making it doubtful the fight will proceed on that date. “Canelo” could face to a one year suspension since is the second time that test positive in a antidoping control, though it can be cut in half at the commission's discretion. Although in anychase the event could not be celebrate until August at the earliest.

On the other hand, the agent company of the mexician wrestler (Golden Boy Promotions) declare that Canelo’s positive sample was resulted by meat contamination "which has impacted dozens of athletes in Mexico over the last years".

We just have to wait for a bit more than a week to know the verdict of the Nevada Athletic Comission and know if the awaited fight wil be take place on forecast date.

Is possible the doping in the E-Sports players?

e-Sports

The e-Sports (Electronic Sports) are the new trend in the ‘gamers’ world. In the 21th century this market has grown amazingly. Nowadays, much children dream to become a famous e-Sports player such as to be LeBron James or Lionel Messi.

In October 2017, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) considered the e-Sports as a sport, like football, basketball or handball, with this text about it:

‘’The Summit discussed the rapid development of what are called "eSports", and the current involvement of various Olympic Movement stakeholders. The Summit agreed that:
·         "eSports" are showing strong growth, especially within the youth demographic across different countries, and can provide a platform for engagement with the Olympic Movement.
·         Competitive "eSports" could be considered as a sporting activity, and the players involved prepare and train with an intensity which may be comparable to athletes in traditional sports.
·         In order to be recognised by the IOC as a sport, the content of "eSports" must not infringe on the Olympic values.
·         A further requirement for recognition by the IOC must be the existence of an organisation guaranteeing compliance with the rules and regulations of the Olympic Movement (anti-doping, betting, manipulation, etc.).
The Summit asked the IOC together with GAISF in a dialogue with the gaming industry and players to explore this area further and to come back to the Olympic Movement stakeholders in due course.’’

(picked up from https://www.olympic.org/news/communique-of-the-olympic-summit)

Before this new, only two Spanish football clubs had an e-Sports team: Valencia C.F. and Alcorcón C.F. Nevertheless, so many clubs have created a new e-Sports team in their ranks after that.

In this aspect, anyone suspected that the doping could affect this sport. That was until a e-Sports player called Kory ‘Semphis’ Friesen, who played for Cloud 9 team, admitted that his colleagues and him had consume some substances to improve their performance in the competitions. The substance that they usually consumed was ‘Adderall’, which they bought in USA. Adderal is used as an athletic performance enhancer and cognitive enhancer, and recreationally as an aphrodisiac and euphoriant. It can do that people can improve and keep their concentration.

Cloud 9 team

But, there is a big problem in this aspect. There is not any agency or comittee mandated of the anti doping plan in the e-Sports. Also, you can not find any doctor in these competitions, so anypeople can do an antidoping test.

One example of the importance of the anti doping measures is the NBA 2K League, that is represented by the NBA real teams, as Golden State Warriors or Denver Nuggets, for instance. As this is an oficial NBA competition, the players have to pass some drug tests, because they have to accomplish all the NBA rules. Here you can see a video about this league.

What is your opinion about this? In a future, do you think that more e-Sports players will consume substances to improve their performance? We are waiting your answers in the comments.

Thanks for reading us,

Sergio Torreblanca.

The Kings of Doping: Russia

The last years, Russia has been appeared as the country with the largest number of doped athletes: more than 1,000 athletes and 29 olympic medallists have been accused. ‘An unprecedented fraud’ according to the WADA.

Grigori Rodchenov, who had been worked for the RUSADA (Russian Antidoping Agency) between 2006 and 2011, used anabolic agents. He has the aim to get many medals in the Olympic Winter Games of Sochi 2014, because 4 years before Russia only was the 6th country in the medals classification.

Rodchenov decided to tell the truth to the WADA some years later and uncover this story. It was a systematic plan of many years, when, for example, two female urine were discovered as male urine.

The plan had two phases. The first one was to avoid the doping control: all the athletes knew how to avoid them and what they had to do. The second one was to avoid this controls during the competition, but it was more difficult because of the WADA, but the RUSADA constructed a building near the sport facilities where they can avoid this controls. There, they had two bottles: one where they should urine and other where there were the false urine.

Nevertheless, there was a problem. One of the Russian athletes, Yuliya Stepanova, and his boyfriend, Vitaly Stepanov, picked up some tests about the plan. They sent to the AMA 200 mails that included all that Rodchenkov was doing. In 2014, all the world discovered the truth with a documentary film in the German television about the Russian doping, where Stepanova and another athlete, Liliya Shobukhova, confirmed the suspicion. They related that they had to pay 450.000 € to convert a positive test doping to negative. In 2015, Rodchenkov ran away to United States of America.

In the Olympic Games of 2016, 111 athletes were removed because of previous doping by the COI, and in 2017, they removed all the athletes for the Olympic Winter Games of 2018. Then, in 2018, before the Olympic Games, the penalty was changed and the Russian athletes could participated in this competition.

Here you can see a video that resume the Russian doping plan.

Thanks for coming,

Sergio Torreblanca.

Bibliography:

http://www.superdeporte.es/olimpiadas/2016/07/21/cronologia-escandalo-dopaje-deporte-rusia/304380.html

http://www.xlsemanal.com/conocer/20170124/dopaje-rusia-deportes-doping.html

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopaje_en_Rusia

http://www.bbc.com/sport/winter-sports/42674331

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/02/icarus-documentary-nominee-doping

Team Sky and Bradley Wiggins under suspicion - It is doping or not?

Some weeks ago, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee make public a report declaring that Team Sky and Bradley Wiggins would have used drugs allowed under anti-doping rules to enhance performance instead of just for medical need.

Concretaly, the report accuse Team Sky of had used the anty-inflammatory drug triamcionolone to prepare Bradley Wiggins for the 2012 Tour de France, that as all know, the britanian cyclist finally won.

Triamcionolone is a substance banned during competition under WADA rules, unless the athlete has a therapeutic use exemption (TUE),  but is permitted out of competition. 

According to the report, Bradley Wiggins would have taken this drug, the final day at 2011 Criterium du Dauphine. If this were true, Wiggins could be banned with two without compete and the loss of results achieved.

Apart from this drug, the report inform about the unclear use of other substances such a testosterone, salbutamol or fluimucil. Many of them drugs are consider as TUEs but Team Sky could have used it for enhance the performance of some his athletes, claiming a "medical use". On his behalf, Team Sky have strongly denied have used TUEs for anything other purpose that medical need.

At the moment, this issue is only a report without a reliable evidence, so that can not lead to any type of sanction, although is expected that UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) open a investigation trying to clarify this matter in the following days.

The end of Ben Johnson's career.

Ben Johnson (born on December 30, 1961) was a canadian athlete known fot his disqualification for doping after winning the Olympic final of 100 meters in the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988.

Born in Falmouth, Jamaica, Johnson emigrated to Canada in 1976. He made his debut at the Word Athletics Championships in 1983 and was defeated in the semifinals.


At 1988, the great referent of athletics was Carl Lewis, who had won the 100 meters in the Olympic final of Los Ángeles, where Ben was in third place, proposing to beat Carl in the following Olympic Games.


On September 24, 1988, the one known as "The race of the century" took place. It was the first time in the history of athletics in which four athletes dropped 10 seconds in the 100 meters, being the winner Ben Johnson.

Below we can see the video of the race:

From that moment, Ben Johnson becomes the first globally, being the great defeated Carl Lewis. Nevertheless, 48 hours later, it became official that Ben has given positive in doping control for stanozolol. an anabolic that promotes the development of muscle mass.

After several theories about a possible plot, Johnson finally confessed he had doped, being stripped of the gold medal, and, therefore, of the world record. He was suspended for two years, and after trying to return to racing, was suspended from lifetime to give back positive in another control anti-doping.

Not the same rules in the NBA

Does the NBA need stricter anti doping rules?

The NBA (National Basketball Associattion) is the best league in the United States and one of the most famous leagues in the world. There we can see some of the greatest players of the world, as LeBron James, Stephen Curry or Pau Gasol, who can play until four matches everyweek keeping an amazing performance. 82 matches in 6 months!! But, this is possible without taking any type of doping?

First, you should know that the NBA does not sign the World Anti-Doping Code, made by the WADA (World Anti Doping Agency), so most of the rules that are applied in the rest of the world do not appear in their own code, that sign the differents members of the NBPA (National Basketball Players Association). Moreover, the USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) can not control the doping in the league, they only can do it in the international events as Olympic Games or Paralympic Games.

Some famous ex players and ex coaches as Richard Hamilton, Travis Tygart or George Karl, has told about this topic, saying that it is a problem that need other solutions. The last one have said this:

‘’We’ve got a more thorough drug-testing program than the NFL or MLB, which we always brag about. But we’ve still got a drug issue, though a different one than thirty years ago. And this one bothers me more than the dumbasses who got in trouble with recreational drugs.I’m talking about performance-enhancing drugs—like steroids, human growth hormone, and so on. It’s obvious some of our players are doping. How are some guys getting older—yet thinner and fitter? How are they recovering from injuries so fast? Why the hell are they going to Germany in the off-season? I doubt it’s for the sauerkraut.More likely it’s for the newest, hard-to-detect blood boosters and PEDs they have in Europe. Unfortunately, drug testing always seems to be a couple steps behind drug hiding. Lance Armstrong never failed a drug test. I think we want the best athletes to succeed, not the biggest, richest cheaters employing the best scientists. But I don’t know what to do about it.’’

 (collected from https://sports.vice.com/es/article/4xj5dm/george-karl-jugadores-nba-dopaje-esteroides-baloncesto)

In the next PDF you can see some anti doping rules and the forbidden substances by the NBA.

PDF Highlights of the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement Between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA)

(collected from https://www.nba.com/media/CBA101_9.12.pdf)

The anti doping program

There is a maximum of 1525 antidoping controls during the league and 600 when they are not playing in the NBA. Each player can ‘’suffer’’ until six urine controls (only two of them in holidays). Also, they can do 3 blood controls to each player (2 during the competition) to detect the growth hormone.

The penalties change between the different players and drugs. For example, a rookie who has consume cocaine would not play for a year, while a player who has played in the league two or more years would have a penalty of two years. The drugs that have the biggest penalties are the ‘’drugs of abuse’’ (cocaine, LSD...) while growth hormone or EPO (SPED drugs) have less penalties.

Examples

One of the most known examples of permitted doping is the case of Deron Williams. The ex Nets player did not play in the 2013 All Star Game because he was taking a treatment based on cortisone. In that moment, the cortisone was forbidden by the WADA, but not by the NBA, so he did not receive any penalty.

In the other hand, the ex player of Chicago Bulls and actual player of New York Knicks Joakim Noah had a penalty of 20 matches without playing for his team because of doping. This is an example that confirm us that sometimes we can see anti doping penalties in the NBA.

To sum up, we want to know your opinion. What do you think about this topic? Are the anti doping NBA rules more flexible with the player than other anti doping rules as the publicated by the WADA?

Thanks for coming,

Sergio Torreblanca

Bibliography

https://www.nba.com/media/CBA101_9.12.pdf

https://blogs.elconfidencial.com/deportes/baloncesto/tiro-a-tablero/2017-02-07/nba-programa-antidopaje-ama-codigo-mundial-pasaporte-biologico-hormona-crecimiento_1326552/

https://www.elconfidencial.com/deportes/baloncesto/mundial-de-baloncesto/2014-09-06/dopaje-en-estados-unidos-mito-o-realidad_186517/

https://sports.vice.com/es/article/4xj5dm/george-karl-jugadores-nba-dopaje-esteroides-baloncesto

https://www.diariogol.com/hemeroteca/deron-williams-el-ejemplo-del-dopaje-permitido-en-la-nba_431451_102.html

http://www.marca.com/baloncesto/nba/2017/03/25/58d62434468aeb3d1f8b461e.html

What are anabolic agents?

Anabolic steroids, also known more properly as anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS), are synthetic variations of the male sex hormone testosterone. The terms "Anabolic" refers to muscle building, and "androgenic" refers to increased male sex characteristics.

USES:

Anabolic steroids have many uses, classified into four groups mainly: Medical, anabolic, androgenic and other uses (like male contracepcion, treatment of breast cancer in women, etc).
One of the uses more know is to improve performance.

Studies in the United States have shown that AAS users tend to be mostly middle-class heterosexual men with a medianage of about 25 who are noncompetitive bodybuilders and non-athletes and use the drugs for cosmetic purposes.

Routes of administration:

The most commons forms of administration of AAS are by oral pills, injectable steroids and creams or gels.

Some athletes and other who abuse of these sustance, think that they can avoid unwanted side effects or maximize the drugs effects taking them by differents ways:

• Stacking: Combination of two or more types of steroids.
• Cycling: Taking doses for a period of time, stopping for a time.
• Pyramiding: Slowly increasing the dose or frecuency of abuse, reaching a peak amount, and then gradually tapering off.

ADVERSE EFFECTS:

The use of AAS have some side effects  that can seriously affect health.

Known of possible side effects of Anabolics include:

• Dermatologycal: oily skin, acne vulgaris...
• Reproductive/endocrine: libido changes, reversible infertility, hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, erectile dysfunction, hirsutism...
• Psychiatric/neurological: mood swings, irritability, aggresion, euphoria, depression...
• Musculoskeletal: Muscle strains, tendon ruptures, muscle hypertrophy...
• Cardiovascular: atherosclerosis, hypertension, dyslipidemia, left ventricular hypertrophy...
• Hepatic: elevated liver function tests, hepatotoxicity, peliosis hepatis, hepatocellular...
• Renal: renal hypertrophy, acute renal failure, glomerulosclerosis...
• Others: insuline resistance, immune dysfunction, glucose intolerance.

Bibliography:

Anabolic steroid

Drugabuse.gov

A different type of doping for Samir Nasri

Ex-Arsenal F.C., Sevilla F. C., and Manchester City F. C. midfielder Samir Nasri has been accused last week because of doping by the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency). 

Here you have a Youtube video of Nasri playing for Manchester City F. C: Samir Nasri
If you do not know what is the WADA, you can read our last post ;).

It seems that Samir Nasri, who is a famous football player, received a treatment when he was playing for Sevilla F. C.  A medical company called 'Drip Doctors' treats him with a drip intravenous vitamin treatment based on a high dose of vitamins B, C, Selenium and Zinc combined with others nutrients which help people to avoid viruses and other illnesses.

This is a metod that appear in the prohibited WADA list, so the CEDB (control, ethics and disciplinary body) decided to ban Nasri for 6 months. There is a limit of 50 millilitre for active athletes, but the footballer took 500 millilitres of this infusion.

In our opinion, athletes are not informed of this not usual doping methods They have to be careful because the penalties are harder than they think. In other way, it seems that this method do not improve the performance, but it could be a good option as recovery method between matches, for example.

Here you can see some slides with pictures about Nasri:

What do you think about this type of doping? Do you consider that it improves the performance as well as typical substances? 

We are waiting for your answers in the comments.

Thanks for reading us, see you soon,

Sergio Torreblanca.

Leading the fight against Doping: The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Welcome everyone to the first post of the page. In this post we are going to talk about the organization that leads the fight against doping worldwide: The WADA.

As we can find in his website:

"The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was established in 1999 as an international independent agency composed and funded equally by the sport movement and governments of the world. Its key activities include scientific research, education, development of anti-doping capacities, and monitoring of the World Anti Doping Code (Code) – the document harmonizing anti-doping policies in all sports and all countries."

The WADA, was created after the events happened in cycling in the summer of 1998., when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) deciced to convene a World Conference on doping getting together all parts involved in the fight against doping. In this way ocurred the First World Conference on Doping in Sport held, in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 1999, producing the Lausanne Declaration on Doping in Sport. Pursuant the terms of this document, the WADA was founded in November 10, 1999, in Lausane (Switzerland). 

As we said previously, the WADA born trough the accordance between the sport movement and the international governments. This agreement have a important common point that is known as the "World Anti-Doping Code". The WADA define the Code in the following way:

"The Code is the fundamental and universal document upon which the World Anti-Doping Program is based. Its purpose is to advance the anti-doping effort through universal harmonization of core anti-doping elements. It is intended to be specific enough to achieve complete harmonization on issues where uniformity is required, yet general enough in other areas to permit flexibility on how agreed-upon anti-doping principles are implemented. The Code has been drafted giving consideration to the principles of proportionality and human rights".

On the other hand, the WADA,  every year make public "the list of prohibited substances and methods", which is valid for the whole year(from January 1 to December 31). This document classify the ilegal substances and methods in three categories:

- Prohibited at all times (in and out of competition)
- Prohibited in competition.
- Prohibited in particular sports.

Moreover, into these categories, the prohibited substances and methods are classified in groups according his roles. 

To sum up, it seems clear that with only 19 years is an agency relativalety young in comparison with the majority of sports and even nowadays some countries do not cooperate completely with this organization. Definitely appear that much work remains to be done to achieve a cleaner sport.

This is only a short summary about the main things which are important to know about the WADA. In following post we will talking deeper about the code and the prohibited list.