Drugs in UK sports....

[Tony Baloney]

If she finds herself at a loose end now she knows how to find me.

[RealSpiritof98]

ive come to believe that 99% of sports are as flawed as capitalism is in the western world ie whiter than white but darker than dark, ( interput that as you wish) the media dont report any dark truths until there is someone easy to take the rap or 'public opinion' swings - professional sport is corrupt as anything!!!! When huge sums of money are involved then win at all costs becomes the reality just like the floor of the stock market, the street markets or any person who wants to succeed financially - cheat the system until you get caught or exploit every loophole until its closed. Legally Maria didnt cheat until the drug was re-classified in January but it was still a fecking PERFORMANCE ENHANCING CHEMICAL being taken by many athletes. Sharapovas media stint the other day stunk of the Tiger Woods presser and irrespective of how he is now he successfully recovered from his big scandal. From now on for me all athletes are on PEDs until proven otherwise, tbh i dont really care that much as a fan/consumer the truth is i like to be entertained, but to make all PEDs legal is just not rational. I dont have the answers and i dont even know if im accurate with this rant but its just my feelings on the issue.

[Milltown Row2]

ive come to believe that 99% of sports are as flawed as capitalism is in the western world ie whiter than white but darker than dark, ( interput that as you wish) the media dont report any dark truths until there is someone easy to take the rap or 'public opinion' swings - professional sport is corrupt as anything!!!! When huge sums of money are involved then win at all costs becomes the reality just like the floor of the stock market, the street markets or any person who wants to succeed financially - cheat the system until you get caught or exploit every loophole until its closed. Legally Maria didnt cheat until the drug was re-classified in January but it was still a fecking PERFORMANCE ENHANCING CHEMICAL being taken by many athletes. Sharapovas media stint the other day stunk of the Tiger Woods presser and irrespective of how he is now he successfully recovered from his big scandal. From now on for me all athletes are on PEDs until proven otherwise, tbh i dont really care that much as a fan/consumer the truth is i like to be entertained, but to make all PEDs legal is just not rational. I dont have the answers and i dont even know if im accurate with this rant but its just my feelings on the issue.

That's kinda where I'm coming from too....


The list of things an athlete cant use must be massive!! If they do have a condition that requires a drug to help the condition they have and its banned, what are their options?? I don't think for one second that Maria is whiter than white (Christ she is smoking in that pic Tony!!) but for to keep on top of this is impossible for the WADA

[AQMP]

ive come to believe that 99% of sports are as flawed as capitalism is in the western world ie whiter than white but darker than dark, ( interput that as you wish) the media dont report any dark truths until there is someone easy to take the rap or 'public opinion' swings - professional sport is corrupt as anything!!!! When huge sums of money are involved then win at all costs becomes the reality just like the floor of the stock market, the street markets or any person who wants to succeed financially - cheat the system until you get caught or exploit every loophole until its closed. Legally Maria didnt cheat until the drug was re-classified in January but it was still a fecking PERFORMANCE ENHANCING CHEMICAL being taken by many athletes. Sharapovas media stint the other day stunk of the Tiger Woods presser and irrespective of how he is now he successfully recovered from his big scandal. From now on for me all athletes are on PEDs until proven otherwise, tbh i dont really care that much as a fan/consumer the truth is i like to be entertained, but to make all PEDs legal is just not rational. I dont have the answers and i dont even know if im accurate with this rant but its just my feelings on the issue.

That's kinda where I'm coming from too....


The list of things an athlete cant use must be massive!! If they do have a condition that requires a drug to help the condition they have and its banned, what are their options?? I don't think for one second that Maria is whiter than white (Christ she is smoking in that pic Tony!!) but for to keep on top of this is impossible for the WADA

They can apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) which basically means you are cleared to take an otherwise banned substance if you have a particular condition.  These are common in high level sport.  The amount of asthmatics who are world class athletes is amazing

[deiseach]

The amount of asthmatics who are world class athletes is amazing

I've really come to enjoy tennis more in recent years. If they don't come down on Sharapova like a ton of bricks, I'm done.

[Asal Mor]

The amount of asthmatics who are world class athletes is amazing

I've really come to enjoy tennis more in recent years. If they don't come down on Sharapova like a ton of bricks, I'm done.

Interesting. I watch NFL and really enjoy it, but although it's safe to assume that a substantial proportion of the players are drug cheats, it doesn't affect my enjoyment of it. If a few GAA players started testing positive it would certainly affect how I look at the sport and would take away a lot of the joy I get from it, but with professional sports it wouldn't for some reason. I even love watching the 100m, and I assume they're all cheats.

[Asal Mor]

Though I should add it does annoy me when I read about Szabo and the Chinese athletes who beat Sonia. They were doping and robbed a great athlete of gold medals she deserved.

[muppet]

Though I should add it does annoy me when I read about Szabo and the Chinese athletes who beat Sonia. They were doping and robbed a great athlete of gold medals she deserved.

I looked before to see if there was smoking gun on Szabo but never found one. What did I miss?

I know about this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/3031535.stm
And this odd one: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2002/apr/03/athletics

[deiseach]

My enjoyment of tennis is pretty shallow. I used only follow Wimbledon (natch) but in era of 24 hour coverage I'd follow the other Grand Slam events with a lot of interest. It's a golden age in the men's game in particular. I'm conscious through it all though that doping is likely widespread. Jacques Anquetil's line about not being able to ride Le Tour on mineral water could be applied to those five-set blockbusters that Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray have been treating us to for the last decade or so. If tennis can't deal severely with what is the doping equivalent of an open goal, or a simple volley when your opponent has crashed into one of the line judges, then any illusions about those contests are going to be stripped bare as far as I'm concerned.

[Declan]

All elite level professional sports are medicalised to within a millimetre of what's currently legal

Always remember Maurice Green's coach on the BBC when asked about doping in athletics and he asked the reporter did he drive a car? Reporter said yes and told him he drove a family saloon. Coach smiled and said would you say that your car and a Formula 1 car are the same just because they are both cars? Reporter said obviously not and then the Coach said do you think you'd put the same type of fuel in to both cars?? Enough said no more questions from reporter

[deiseach]

Always remember Maurice Green's coach on the BBC when asked about doping in athletics and he asked the reporter did he drive a car? Reporter said yes and told him he drove a family saloon. Coach smiled and said would you say that your car and a Formula 1 car are the same just because they are both cars? Reporter said obviously not and then the Coach said do you think you'd put the same type of fuel in to both cars?? Enough said no more questions from reporter

I can think of plenty of follow-up questions.

[NAG1]

Funny that Nadal has spoken out now on the issue, it wasnt that long ago that he was being linked with the dodgy Spanish doctor in the case in which the Spanish Courts ruled for the destruction of the blood bags from the clinic.

I wonder is it any coincidence that since around that time he has not been the force that he once was and it was also strange to note at the time that Murray and Fed basically called him out on it.

[Asal Mor]

Though I should add it does annoy me when I read about Szabo and the Chinese athletes who beat Sonia. They were doping and robbed a great athlete of gold medals she deserved.

I looked before to see if there was smoking gun on Szabo but never found one. What did I miss?

I know about this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/3031535.stm
And this odd one: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2002/apr/03/athletics

I should probably have checked back on the Szabo story before I posted muppet. I had it in my head that she'd been caught driving a car with PED's in it but never faced sanction for it.   
Sounds like she deserves the benefit of the doubt on this one.

[muppet]

Though I should add it does annoy me when I read about Szabo and the Chinese athletes who beat Sonia. They were doping and robbed a great athlete of gold medals she deserved.

I looked before to see if there was smoking gun on Szabo but never found one. What did I miss?

I know about this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/3031535.stm
And this odd one: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2002/apr/03/athletics

I should probably have checked back on the Szabo story before I posted muppet. I had it in my head that she'd been caught driving a car with PED's in it but never faced sanction for it.   
Sounds like she deserves the benefit of the doubt on this one.

I had thought the same as you until I went looking a few years ago and couldn't find much. In fairness she did come out and accuse people in her own country of doping, which makes me think it would draw attention to herself if she was at it. So probably the benefit of the doubt as you said.

[Declan]

Nice change to see from the usual omerta within sports Murray speaking out

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/mar/10/maria-sharapova-andy-murray-ban-drugs-test-meldonium?CMP=twt_gu

Murray said it was ethically wrong to take a drug just for performance. "I think taking a prescription drug that you don't necessarily need, but just because it's legal, that's wrong, clearly. That's wrong. If you're taking a prescription drug and you're not using it for what that drug was meant for, then you don't need it, so you're just using it for the performance enhancing benefits that drug is giving you. And I don't think that that's right."