Tramadol, a synthetic opioid painkilling drug is not banned in sport under World Anti Doping Agency regulations. It is however, rather controversial. Over the past five or so years there have been several calls for it to be banned. This week it has been reported to have been used in…
Tag: cycling
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Doping and AntiDoping, Pure Doublethink – Icarus Film Review
Film Review – Icarus by Brian Fogle I was fortunate to be given a pass to go to DocFest to see the film Icarus, by Brian Fogle. On Tuesday 13/6/17 I will be talking about this in Sheffield (DocFest Link) please come along. Brian Fogle finished the Haute…
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Doping Round Up: SKY, TUEs and More Grey Areas
This year has had it’s fair share of doping stories and they keep on coming. The year started with a bang – Maria Sharapova failed a drugs test at the Australian Open tennis tournament for the little known (at the time!) drug meldonium (Mildronate). I wrote a few bits…
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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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Athletes competing in Rio who have previously served drugs bans
I have now added a link to 101 athletes previously banned at the foot of the page. Following the decision of the IOC to not allow any Russians to complete in the Rio Olympics who had previously served a drugs ban, I thought I’d have a look for any…
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Russia, doping and Rio 2016
Doping issues have been front and centre during the build up to the 2016 Olympic Games, even more so than previous years. Along with Zika, water quality and questions around the readiness of the host cities facilities, drugs have threatened to scupper Rio 2016 before it has begun. Usually the roster…
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Cycling reform report anti doping thoughts
This week the “Cycling Independent Reform Commission” report was released this week and has caused a lot of fall out in cycling. The Commission was tasked to investigate both the governance of the cycling and it’s anti-doping effort, by the incoming UCI (cycling governing body) Chairman Brian Cookson in late…
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The Science of Cycling – event review
On Monday evening Sheffield Hallam University hosted an evening of cycling chat with headline names Nicole Cooke and David Walsh, as well as three sports Profs from the Uni. There was also a surprise visit from a three time Tour de France Champion! David Walsh spoke openly and eloquently about…
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TUE – Therapeutic Use Exemptions or legitimised drug taking?
This week there has been a lot of sporting headlines over Therapeutic Use Exemptions and whether they are legitimate in sports, particularly cycling. This may be a confusing area… What is a TUE? A Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) is a certificate, signed by a medical doctor, which allows…
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Cycling and the athlete biological passport
This week Team Sky, the poster boys of the new clean cycling, have hit the headlines for the wrong reasons. Firstly John Tiernan-Locke (JTL), a British rider who won the Tour of Britain in 2012, was charged with an offence picked up by the athlete biological passport. Last night it was…