Today it was announced that the American athlete Sha’Carri Richardson had tested positive for carboxy – THC (the main metabolite of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis), during the Olympic trials in Oregon in May. Sha’Carri Richardson admitted to using cannabis after finding out that her mother had died. Unfortunately…
Category: Sport
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Jamaicans and footballers: how to interpret a single urine sample
This blog post has been written after seeing many comments on a footballers drug test results and also the news that some Jamaicans had low levels of clenbuterol detected in their samples from Beijing. So what does it all mean… Earlier this week there was a quote from Siado…
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WADA report on Rio dope testing flaws
At every Olympic games there is a drug testing programme, coordinated by the local organising committee on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). For the past few games there has also been a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) “Independent Observer Team” to monitor these tests. Their report was released…
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Transparency and missed doping control tests
Recently there have been increasing calls for transparency in sports drug testing,one issue being around missed tests. The Armitstead affair brought this issue to the fore last month. Should athletes have a right to privacy or should all such test statistics be freely searchable on the internet? British cyclist and current…
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Doping: black and white or shades of grey
In the fall out from the Sharapova Meldonium case much has been made of what is and what isn’t cheating or doping. This is not such a certain area, containing many shades of grey. People caught doping are often said to have crossed the line. But what is the line and…
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Maria Sharapova and Meldonium Doping
Yesterday the worlds richest sportswoman announced she had tested positive for a banned performance enhancing drug at the first ‘Grand Slam’ of the year in Australia. The drug – meldonium. Maria Sharapova sprang to prominence as a teenager winning Wimbledon in 2004. Since then she has rarely been…
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Methylhexaneamine – still a problem in UK sports
One year ago an athelte died while completing the London Marathon. Subsequently she was found to have used the controversial supplement Jack3d, containing methylhexaneamine (DMAA). Then in August last year the drug was banned from sale, so why are we still seeing positives now? As I reported in…
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How to get skinny and get cancer – GW1516
Around this time of year there starts to be a rush of articles in magazines and newspaper supplements on ‘getting skinny for summer’ – this one is a tip that wont appear on those articles – the experimental drug GW1516. This experimental compound now appears to be the drug of choice for…
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Hair testing for sport and social drugs
Following the tragic death of the cricketer Tom Maynard there has been a recommendation that hair testing should be carried out on sportsmen and women to enable the detection of drug use. Is this feasible and what are the benefits? A young man on a night out takes…
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Operation Puerto
For those interested in pro cycling one ‘Operation’ has been of massive interest and intrigue over the past 7 years – Operation Puerto. Currently this case is in court – what have we learnt in the last couple of weeks and why should it be of interest to more than just…