The new IAAF rule and how it will affect Caster Semenya.

International Association of Athletics (IAAF) published on April 26 a new regulation  that will prohibit competing women in distances between 400 meters and a mile that have excess endogenous testosterone. This rule will will take effect on November 1 and it is justified by the fact that womens with these characteristics would have an advantage in the competition.

The problem of this rule is not the cases of doping, but it is about women who have been born with these characteristics. This is the case of Caster Semenya, three times world champion in 800 meters, who have elevated levels of testosterone on his organism.

Because of this new rule, the athletes who have elevated levels of testosterone on his organism must undergo a medication that returns to normal levels. An athlete should take continuous medication for six months with hormonal contraceptive treatment if she has more than 5 nanomoles of testosterone in her blood.

Sebastian Coe, IAAF president's, defends the new norm with this affirmation: "As an International Federation of our sport we have to guarantee equal conditions for athletes, as in other sports, we choose to have a male and a female classification for competitions, we must be clear about the criteria to compete in each category. and data show that testosterone, produced naturally or artificially inserted in the body provides an important advantage in the performance of female athletes.We are not talking about cheating or not, but to level the conditions for a competition fair in athletics, where success is due to talent, dedication and hard work instead of other factors. "

Although this new standard may have certain ethical connotations, the rule will come into force on November 1, and athletes with these characteristics who want to continue competing, must undergo medical treatment to lower these levels of testosterone.

Then we leave you with the complete regulation published by the IAAF.



Bibliography:
https://as.com/masdeporte/2018/04/25/atletismo/1524676898_950249.html
https://as.com/opinion/2018/04/27/blogs/1524826088_286033.html
https://www.iaaf.org/

The case of Marco Pantani: Doping or sports fraud?

Marco Pantani was a Italian profesional cyclist between 1992 and 2003. This won a Giro of Italy, a Tour of France and a bronze medal in the road cycling world on 1995.

Marco Pantani, nicknamed “El pirata” got his best results in cycling trials in stages, and it was until 2014 the last italian to win the Tour of France and the last cyclist to win the Giro of Italy and Tour of Italy in the same year.

In the Giro of 1990, after winning in four stages and being a leader in the race, was disqualified to find high levels of hematocrit in his blood, what it a case of doping with EPO. Specifically, 52% of blood hematocrit was found, more tan 50% allowed.

The tests were made by surprise in Touring of Madonna di Campliglio Hotel. Later, a counter analysis confirmed the positive, so Pantani was suspended of his activity as cyclist.

This case of doping has led to great controversy, since from the beginning believed that this case could have been rigged by the mafia. In 2014, the italian prosecutor’s office reopened the case of Pantani to try to clarify if this had really been a victim of the mafia.

It was suspected that the Camorra could be behind of this case, so they would have extorted the doctor who performed the tests to alter the results, so that the Pantani sample was positive in the hematocrit concentration. The modification of these tests was carried out because the Camorra had made large bets against Pantani, and because it had many chances to win the turn for the path that had led during the last stages, the last option was to set aside to Pantani of the competition.

After the investigation, there were not enough evidence to determine a definitive resolution, and this, along with already made had prescribed, it was decided to close the case again.

Finally, on February 14, 2004, Pantani died at the  hotel Le Rose in Rimini, for an alleged overdose of cocaine, although like the case of doping, his death is also full of doubts about whether it was a suicide or a murder by the Mafia.

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 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.

Welcome!

Hi everyone!

We are Alberto Palao, Javier Díaz-Madroñero and Sergio Torreblanca, three students of Sports Sciences degree from the University of Alicante, and we want to welcome all of you to our new blog, where we will discuss some topics about illegal substances, doping and other methods to improve the sport performance.

In this blog we will review the most used illegal substances, remember historical cases of doping,
collect the breaking doping news, and more gossip stuff. Also, we want to comunicate with you, so we are going to do some forms, debates, questionnaires...

This topic has been selected because is controversial, so many people usually avoid to talk about it. Moreover, little information exists about this, that is why people unknow how these substances and methods work.

We are delighted to receive your support and comments.

See you soon!