Sharapova Shock

[-SharonA-]

She has failed a drug test. I am so surprised, she who projects a squeaky clean image.

She reckons she has diabetes and her medication was banned as of 1st January.

[-SharonA-]

Jennifer Capriati is bitter as she made exactly the same mistake and her tennis career was effectively ended. She is waiting to see what outcome Maria gets.
In Russia they all take this drug which is banned is USA. Wouldn't you be worried about putting a banned drug into your body???

[Sqad]

She has been taking a drug for 10 years which has been though to be exercise performance enhancing.

The fact that she has diabetes and takes the drug for health reasons....doesn't wash.

Up until January of this year it was not on the banned substances list, but was entered and she was notified.

She knew......she will be banned.

[agchristie]

Prudie > I just find it impossible to believe that tennis players at that level don't pay their medical team damned good money to keep abreast of these changes.

You would think that the medical experts would keep abreast of changes and act accordingly as they are best placed to discuss the science aspect to the player.

It is not always the case that a player intends to deliberately seek an advantage. You often get howls of 'drug cheat' and 'ban them for life' but each case needs to be carefully assessed.

Sharapova can beat anybody when on her game, she does not need to cheat nor do I believe that she attempted to do so.

[agchristie]

@ Sqad

Not exactly. From the link:

With career earnings from tennis alone amounting to almost £26m, she claimed she had taken meldonium "for the past 10 years" after being given it by "my family doctor" but had known the drug as mildronate.

"A few days ago, after I received a letter from the ITF, I found out it also has another name of meldonium, which I did not know," she said.

We don't all have a medical background you know!

[Prudie]

My point was I would expect her medical team to know, I don't think she did it deliberately.

[Sqad]

ag.......I would imagine that when she was informed of the banned drug last January, all trade and generic names would have been mentioned so that there was no confusion for those with "limited medical background."

[Sqad]

Prudie......her medical team would know and would have told her, but they couldn't stop her taking it if she wanted.

[agchristie]

Sqad > ag.......I would imagine that when she was informed of the banned drug last January, all trade and generic names would have been mentioned

'Imagining' and 'knowing' are two entirely different concepts of course. It may have been an oversight on the part of the medical staff which has proven very careless. However, Sharapova's lawyer seems confident that there are plenty of mitigating circumstances.

[Sqad]

ag....we shall see.

[agchristie]

Sqad > Prudie......her medical team would know and would have told her, but they couldn't stop her taking it if she wanted.

If she did not know they were the same substance then of course she would take it. It does not make her a cheat. She had been taking it for a decade.

[Cloverjo]

I really don't believe she meant to cheat. Her medical and legal teams should have been wiser, though.

[Sqad]

ag

\\\It does not make her a cheat. She had been taking it for a decade.\\\

Because she thought it was "performance enhancing" and was not a banned substance.

Could that be the reason?

[agchristie]

I think that some folk will never trust the Russians given all the revelations in the world of athletics.

It is a massive shame that important as it is to drugs test in sport and root out those who have knowingly and deliberately cheated are exposed and given lengthy/lifetime bans, that armchair fans have less faith in the integrity of sportsmen/women at large.

[agchristie]

Sqad > Because she thought it was "performance enhancing" and was not a banned substance.

Could that be the reason?

I don't believe so. It is easy to jump to a negative conclusion. Throughout her career Sharapova has had many ups and downs and many injury setbacks. She has lost many matches against far inferior opponents so it's unlikely she was cheating then!

[jim360]

Unlikely, perhaps, but despite my sympathy for her case she does have to pay the penalty. I hope, for her sake and the sake of tennis, that it is found that this was negligence and not cheating, and that she is only banned for the remainder of this season.

[agchristie]

Jim > I hope, for her sake and the sake of tennis, that it is found that this was negligence and not cheating

I think that's an important distinction. Not all cases of failed drug tests come from a desire to cheat and I believe that given these circumstances Sharapova has not intended to deliberately deceive.

[agchristie]

Good on her.....

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/goodwillambassadors/maria_sharapova.html

[DTCwordfan]

She's Russian, say no more. Probably sponsored by Vladimir Putain.

[agchristie]

DTC

You are lucky there isn't an award for worst answer. Deary deary me!

[Gromit]

And the drug has two names and the banned name was in her medicines ingredients.

Sounds like an honest error.