Doping in Sport - Bi-Weekly Press round-up #86
Ex-Chelsea footballer says he was offered performance enhancers by friends, a tennis player tests positive for meldonium and 'suspicions of mechanical doping' directed towards former cyclist.
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The next Bi-Weekly Press Round up will be published a week today (29th) as this coming Thursday is Boxing Day in the UK. Merry Christmas to all!
In case you missed it last week, I published a new article on the meldonium case involving the Chelsea footballer Mykhailo Mudryk. One of the club’s doctors had to face two contamination cases involving rugby players earlier in his career. “We've stopped all supplements until we get to the bottom of this, both our own supplements as well as those that players take individually,” (link).
The Daily Mail (link) and The Guardian have published articles about doping in football in the context of Mudryk’s case; “But football has long struggled to bring many successful or high-profile anti-doping prosecutions. For all of the FA’s testing, the last significant ban it handed out was for nine months in January 2022 for a player using a masking agent. The player’s name has never been revealed,” (link).
The president of Ukraine’s football committee Oleg Luzhnyi has commented on Mudryk’s case. “For now, we can only hypothesize about Mykhailo: whether he took something, whether it was contaminated, or whether it was a mistake. For example, he could have accidentally taken someone else's cup, and so on,” (link).
Meanwhile, the former Ukraine national team coach Yozhef Sabo has put forward an entirely unfounded theory. “We have never had anything like this in our time. I thought about it, and here is what I think. Maybe there are ‘fans’ who do not like something about the player and think: how to get rid of him so as not to have to pay a lot of money, his salary. Anything is possible. In the case of a four-year ban, they will not have to pay anything. So that is the situation,” (link).” Ukrainian football has however had doping cases in the past. For example, the Director of Football at FC Shakhtar Donetsk, Mudryk’s former club, tested positive for the anabolic agent DHEA in 2017 and was suspended for 17 months (link).
The former Chelsea player Mikel John Obi said on his podcast that he refused performance enhancers offered to him by friends during his career. Mikel also implied he has little sympathy for players who claim contamination. “People around will offer you stuff - friends, friends of friends - they will tell you that this will give you this or it will give you one or two more percent in your performances, and I’m like what is this? Is this legal? I tell them to go away, I don’t want to talk about it. We have to take responsibility for our actions and what we eat,” (link). You can watch a clip of Mikel’s comments here (link).
The Argentine World Cup winner Papu Gomez told Relevo that FC Sevilla left him ‘completely alone’ when he failed a doping test in 2022. “In my case, imagine, living the best moment of my career, for being in a World Cup final, I open my email and see CELAD. I see the email there: Alejandro Gómez, CELAD, antidoping, positive, terbutaline,” (link).
A footballer player in Ecuador’s first division has reportedly tested positive for a diuretic (link). Only last week the Ecuadorian player Oscar Zambrano, who is now on loan at Hull City, was banned for 16 months after also reportedly testing positive for a diuretic (link).
Given the recent doping cases in football, I gathered a collection of articles on doping in football in a X thread (link).
Der True Crime German-language podcast has published an episode on doping in football (link).
The Russian tennis player Daniil Savelev, who has a career high ranking of 1580, has been suspended for two years after he also tested positive for the heart medication meldonium. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted that the player had taken his granny’s meldonium pills by accident. “In his interview on 17 September 2024, the Player's father stated that he has mistakenly put tablets of Meldonium into the Player's pill tray, thinking that they were another supplement which the Player had been advised to take. The Player's grandmother had used Meldonium which is why it was present in the family medicine cabinet,” (link). You can read the full decision here (link). According to Instagram (link), the player was coached in 2023 by the former assistant coach and hitting partner of Maria Sharapova (link) who also inadvertently tested positive for meldonium in 2016 (link).
The ITIA has provisionally suspended the 2022 Wimbledon Doubles champion Max Purcell from Australia, after the player admitted to a breach of article 2.2 of the WADA code related to the use of a Prohibited Method (link). The press release would suggest that Purcell has not failed a doping test otherwise he would have breached article 2.1 of the WADA code - ‘Presence of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an Athlete’s Sample’ (link).
Two of the three Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) arbitrators, Kevin Lalo and Jeffrey Benz, have now been appointed for Jannik Sinner’s appeal hearing. “The heavy hand of the Israeli judge has also been felt in other proceedings, including the one against Mauricio Fiol Villanueva, a Peruvian swimmer, who was severely sanctioned,” (link). The article states that Lalo is known for his ‘rigidity’ citing his tough decision to increase the Italian tennis player Sara Errani’s suspension from two to ten months. Lalo accepted that the player’s mother had dropped her cancer medication in her tortellini (link). Benz, affiliated to Four New Square Chambers (link), was one of the arbitrators who recently cleared Simona Halep in her Athlete Biological Passport case after he placed evidential weight on the results of a private blood sample the player had provided. The sample, unlike traditional doping samples, had not been collected under the chain of custody criteria mandated by the WADA code (link).
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In relation to Sinner’s CAS appeal, an Italian sports lawyer said it would not be unusual for Sinner and WADA’s legal team to come to a case settlement agreement. “There is a risk of conviction, but at the same time it is possible that the parties will talk to each other in the last months and it will be possible to reach a settlement agreement on something that is good for both and to suspend the judgment of the hearing since it will not happen before the spring of 2025,” (link). El Confidencial has published an article titled ‘Jannik Sinner, the Anti-Doping Agency and the appeal that could shatter tennis into a thousand pieces’ (link).
The seven-time grand slam champion Mats Wilander said that Sinner is ‘completely innocent’ (link). During his career, Wilander tested positive for cocaine at the 1995 French Open (link). At the same tournament, Karo Novacek, who was coached by Wilander in 1994 (link), also tested positive for the same drug.
The world number one player Aryna Sabalenka says that there is an overreaction to Iga Swiatek’s recent doping contamination case. “People are really used to overreacting before figuring stuff out, so I don’t want to leave any comments. I believe in clean sport and nothing else I can add,” (link). Sabalenka’s former physical trainer Vadim Sashurin (link) was a Soviet Union biathlete who served a doping ban during his career (link).
A Tennis Channel commentator has complained about the lack of transparency surrounding both Swiatek and Sinner’s cases. “With Iga’s, the back of the US Open we were told she is just having a little bit of time with her coach working on different aspects of the game. That wasn’t the case. That was just a blatant lie,” (link). You can watch a video of the comments here (link). Meanwhile, the head of tennis’ anti-doping agency was interviewed by Tennis365 about both cases. “In relation to Swiatek, the contaminated product was a medication. So it was not unreasonable for a player to assume that a regulated medication would contain what it says on the ingredients,” (link).
Forbes reports that Iga Swiatek was the second highest earning female tennis player in 2024 (link).
The former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli engaged in a French radio debate about the recent doping cases in tennis on RMC Sport (link).
The Czech tennis player Jakub Mensik, who is ranked number 48 in the world, was drug tested mid-match during a toilet break at the ATP Next Gen Finals last week (link). The ITIA are yet to comment on whether the doping control officer had assumed the match was over.
The Spanish 1500m world championship medallist Mohamed Katir has been suspended for an additional two years after he was found to have falsified travel documents in an attempt to cover up missed doping tests (link). You can read the decision in Katir’s initial whereabouts case here; “The Athlete’s father who informed the DCO that the Athlete was not present as he had travelled to Portugal. The DCO called the Athlete who confirmed that he was indeed in Lisbon, Portugal for a few days and that he would return to Spain,” (link). The Irish Examiner has published an opinion piece on the case titled ‘Catch him if you can - Katir case tells us something of athletics culture’ (link). 20 Minutos (link) and Relevo have also reported on the case (link).
An amusing Instagram post has re-emerged of Katir responding to a fan who did not believe he was a ‘clean’ athlete. “What hurts friend? while you criticize me that this is normal it is the nature of men when there is another man better than him they envy him, ask your wife if Katir is handsome or not surely your wife would be delighted to be with a winner not a loser,” (link). In the past, Katir publicly endorsed a legal ‘blood booster’ on social media (link).
The AIU has provisionally suspended two Kenyan runners, including one who tested positive for the same substance as Iga Swiatek (link). The AIU has also banned the Ethiopian runner Aberash Mutala Amena who tested positive for testosterone; you can read the full decision here (link).
Talangana Today has published an article about the Indian Olympic javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra’s ability to shine despite the country’s ongoing doping crisis. “The country last year expressed its interest to host the 2029 World Championships, and the bidding process is likely to start early 2025. But with issues like doping still a massive problem with no firm solution in sight, it remains to be seen whether the Indian athletics story manages to find success beyond Chopra’s individual brilliance,” (link). Earlier this year, the world-ranked Indian javelin thrower D P Manu was provisionally suspended after he reportedly tested positive for an anabolic steroid. Manu’s coach has had three of his throwers fail doping tests (link).
Athletics Weekly interviewed the British sprinter Dwain Chambers, who was recently voted Masters Male Athlete of the Year by the magazine’s readers. “A rollercoaster career ensued with a much-publicised brush with the anti-doping authorities,” (link). In the mid-2000s, Chambers admitted to systematically doping after he was caught in the BALCO scandal (link). You can watch a Netflix documentary about BALCO here (link).
Lord Sebastian Coe told The Times that he will “strengthen anti-doping systems” if he is elected as the new president of the International Olympic Committee. The article provides no further detail on how Coe plans to do so (link).
The former Belgian Tour de France cyclist Tom Boonen has directed ‘suspicions of mechanical doping’ towards the Swiss cycling great Fabian Cancellara. “At one point I saw him doing everything possible to stay on the right side of the road before a left-hand bend, then he changed bikes and within a few seconds he was at my side again. “I thought it was a bit strange to do that right then, but I didn’t think much of it. When Cancellara showed up for the doping control and the podiums, he did it on foot. The finish line in Ninove is far from the podiums, the press room, etc. so the usual thing was to go there by bike. His bike had disappeared and I remember seeing him struggle to get through the crowd,” (link). You can listen to the full interview with Boonen in Dutch on the Het Nieuwsblad podcast here (link).
The Colombian Cycling Federation announced that four of the country’s cyclists have been provisionally suspended (link). In February, L‘Equipe published an investigation about doping in Colombia and alleged that the country’s cycling federation offered to cover up positive drug tests in exchange for money. “After my test, I was contacted by a reputable person in the Colombian cycling community, a manager, who told me that he could make the result disappear in exchange for 50 million pesos (around €12,500)” (link).
Several former cyclists who have failed doping tests, such as Alberto Contador (link), Chris Froome (link), Perico Delgado (link) and Laurent Jalabert (link), were honoured at the unveiling of the official route of the 2025 Vuelta a España (link). They are all past winners of the event.
The Team Sky and British Cycling doctor Richard Freeman’s doping ban has expired (link). Freeman was banned for four years ordered testosterone to the Manchester velodrome ‘knowing or believing’ it was for a cyclist (link). In February, I wrote about six other testosterone cases at British Cycling; “The Manchester Velodrome has been the home of British Cycling since 1994. It is also the location at which another Team Sky Doctor, who has administered testosterone to cyclists on a Dutch cycling team, was interviewed for the role,” (link).
The legendary baseball player Sammy Sosa, who according to the New York Times failed a doping test in 2003 (link), has cryptically admitted to making ‘mistakes’ during his career in attempt to repair his relationship with his former club the Chicago Cubs. “I understand why some players in my era don't always get the recognition that our stats deserve. There were times I did whatever I could to recover from injuries in an effort to keep my strength up to perform over 162 games. I never broke any laws, but in hindsight, I made mistakes and I apologise,” (link).
The Polish publication Sportowefakty reports that the Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who tested positive for trimetazidine at Beijing 2022, has appealed to the Swiss Federal Court to have her doping ban overturned (link).
I missed this last month, but the 15-year-old Russian skater Nadezhda Ponteleenko has reportedly failed a doping test. The article states that the teenager suffers from heart problems similar to Valieva. “In June, she underwent an in-depth examination due to heart problems, and in August, she announced a career break. Nadya made this decision because she needed to undergo treatment, which will last until December of this year,” (link).
Tages Anzeiger reported on the US Alpine skier Breezy Johnson’s return to competition after serving a doping ban for three ‘whereabouts’ failures. “Abplanalp, who coached the Americans around Lindsey Vonn from 2014 to 2016, says he has looked into the case in detail. ‘If it had been a doped athlete, I would not have been available’,” (link). You can read the US Anti-Doping Agency press release about Johnson’s case here (link).
The French toxicology expert Jean-Claude Alvarez, who often acts as a witness for athletes charged with doping offences, says that WADA’s ‘strict liability’ rule is no longer ‘viable’. The comments were made as part of a TF1 French-language broadcast on inadvertent doping cases. “Often, they don't understand; they don't even know the name of the molecule. They wonder where it comes from and insist that they have never taken this product,” (link). However, the expert also testified in the recent Simona Halep case that blood doping is not beneficiary to tennis players. “In tennis you don’t need to have oxygen,” (link – para 360).
Ouest France has published an article on the widespread use of anti-inflammatory drugs in trail running (link).
The Portuguese Para powerlifter Simone Fragoso has been handed a three-year ban by the International Paralympic Committee after he tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol (link).
UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) suspended a lower division rugby union player for nine years for trafficking doping substances in 2018 (link).
A Brazilian volleyballer, playing for Neurologia Ativa, has failed a doping test (link).
The New York Equine Drug Testing and Research Laboratory has rented an ion-mobility mass spectrometer which could vastly expand regulators' testing capacity. “The state’s testing regimen did not catch a slew of prominent thoroughbred and standardbred trainers and other horsemen who were recently convicted after racing in New York and elsewhere while doping, Palmer noted. The Federal Bureau of Investigations used wiretaps and subsequent searches to build their case against the horsemen,” (link).
A scientific paper has been published in JSAMS titled ‘Antidoping testing and testicle cancer diagnosis: An unexpected helper’ (link). Another paper has been published in Wiley titled ‘β-Hydroxy β-Methyl Butyric Acid (HMB) and Its Potential Doping Relevance: A Pilot Study on Its Urinary Excretion Profile’ (link).
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