BREAKING NEWS!!! WINNER OF MEN'S EVENT WAS ACTUALLY...A MAN!

[acroyear]

Tour de France winner Landis tests positive - Yahoo! News:

Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone, the U.S. rider's Phonak team said on Thursday

Yes the article says they haven't finished the main tests of determinine if it was natural or "doped", but still, they DON'T expect a man (or even a woman) in intensive training, to have occasional bursts of that hormone? While they're at it, they're not aware that men can go through cycles of hormone ups and downs as women do (same genes, people), merely not as drastic or noticeable because of the lack of visible physical effects that go with them?

I'm against "doping" as much as any, but the standards for what is and isn't are far too extreme for my tastes, as is the reaction of having such events become "world headline news" ruining the reputation of the athlete even when they are themselves innocent of any wrongdoing either due to nature (the likely cause in this instance) or a lazy doctor who doesn't pay attention to what they're doing (the gymnist in the olympics those years ago who had to give up her medal over f'in' pseudofed when she was fighting a cold).

Hell, for all we know, he may have just gotten laid the night before...it IS France, after all...

Comments

[iamtim.livejournal.com]

It was only the "A" sample, taken right after the momentous stage where he went from 00:10:00 behind to about 00:00:30 behind. The "A" sample doesn't prove anything, it just holds the rider up from any further competing until the "B" sample is tested. If "A" and "B" agree, then he's hosed. If "B" comes back negative, then he's cleared.

[faerydusted1.livejournal.com]

Its probably all the manly-man beer.

I tell you what, didn't hurt him in the race. ;P

[kowari.livejournal.com]

They take several samples. The first sample runs the gamit of tests for "indicators". His tested positive to having abnormally high levels of testosterone than "normal". They then take the second sample and do the proper testosterone tests. They compare the levels of testosterone to other hormones in his sample. There are certain ratios your hormones should be in. So they test that they are within a certain range of a ratio to other hormones to determine if the abnormally high level is normal for him. In other words, are his other linked hormones abnormally high too? in which case, its probably just him and not doping.

That is how the testosterone test works.

Given his event, generally they will have done these tests on him before, and chances are, he has been caught. But you never know.

The Tour de France is a massive event. It is definately worth the news. What WASN'T worth the news was telling people before the final results come in.

Pseudofed is an illegal drug in events. It just is. You play the game, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE AND ARE NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE! Its freaking speed! If you test positive, then tough. If you are sick, you cant have the drugs. You just cant. It is not the doctors fault, it is yours as the athlete. It's your body, your choice. It is your responsibility to be informed. No one else's.


if you are interested
www.wada-ama.org
www.asada.gov.au (the Aus one, and the one I pay attention to)

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

In my opinion, the girl was too young (or too sick) to know, but at the same time, she should have learned to be more skeptical at that level, and more importantly the american coach and american olympic committee rep should have been informed and involved in the decision process.

but yeah, i'm aware pseudofed is just artificial ephedra and is quite the stimulant. clariton is even stronger as a stimulant. i've had to tell my mom the reason she loses sleep is 'cause she forgets that "non-drowsy" cold and allergy pills tend to be stimulants rather than depressants and she needs to take 'em in the morning. of course, i actually remember my high school psychology classes ;-)

[kowari.livejournal.com]

Too young/too sick is not really an excuse. She should be having all her drugs vetted by her coach/parent who does know the rules and she shouldn't be having anything at all until it is approved. I tend to take a very hard line on this issue, because I have to. In the end, it comes down to what you put in your body.

Also, in Australia all doctors have a book called MIMS which has all the drugs listed and their classification. You simply tell your doc you are in a drug testing pool, and they can look up their MIMS to see if the drug they are prescribing/recommending is on the banned list.

The only time I have sympathy for athletes who test positive is when they are genuinely unaware that they are taking drugs, a la the Eastern Block programs of the 80s. There, the athletes lived in communities and were fed their drugs through their food (which they had no control over). BUT, the coaches were aware. In the end, someone knows that they drugs are being ingested, because they put them there. Which makes everything very black and white.

It is very common knowledge amongst athletes that 90% of cold and flu tablets are on banned lists. Because they are so easy to get and accidentally take. To the point that this year one of our top swimmers had to pull out of the commonwealth games because he had a virus and couldn't take anything at all for it so he could train through it.