Blog details :: Steroid Nation

Latest Posts:

1.  Morgan Hamm takes shot in the dark; corticosteroid shot may not be OK.  (San Fran Chronicle) (LA Times)

2.  Toronto cops in trouble for large drug ring, including steroids.  (CTV) (UPI)

3.  Former 100M world record holder and BALCO cheat Tim Montgomery pleads guilty to heroin charges.  (Sporting Life) (AP)

4.  The PGA kicks off dope testing.  (AP)

5.  Lord Coe not happy with Dwain Chambers's legal challenge.  (The Telegraph)

6.  Was Hawaiian firefighter selling Chinese steroids?  (Honolulu Advertiser)

In a terse statement, Turkish gold medalist 4ft 11inch Halil Mutlu withdraw from the upcoming Beijing Olympics suddenly.  In 2005 he was suspended for a doping offense (nandrolone).  Now he says he is missing the lifts.

Strength athletes must be either scared of the dope testing, or physically weaker if their doping regimen needed modification to avoid detection. To the Guardian:

ANKARA, July 3 (Reuters) - Turkish Olympic champion Halil Mutlu's aim of becoming the first weightlifter to win four gold medals ended on Thursday when he announced his withdrawal from the Beijing Games, broadcaster CNN Turk reported.

The triple-gold medallist, a winner in the 54-kg category in Atlanta and the 56-kg at the last two Games, made the announcement after a meeting with the country's sports minister.

Mutlu, who will turn 35 before the Aug. 8-24 Games begin, had said two weeks ago he was unable to lift his targeted weights in practice and that it would be difficult for him to take part in the competition.

Mutlu was banned in late 2005 for taking steroids but had planned to defend his title in the 56-kg group.

1.  Former Pittsburgh Steeler Steve Courson wrote a letter decrying steroid use before his death.  (Baltimore Sun)

2.  Dopers at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing expect to be banned for 2012 too.  (Globe and Mail)

3.  Chinese swimmer and wrestler banned from Olympics. (CNN)

4.  Floyd Landis's final futile plea, and Michael Rasmussen's court actions taint the start of the 2008 Tour de  France (Sporting Life)

5.  Ex-Seal gets 7 years for weapons and steroids.  (new band?  Guns and Roids)(Daily Press)

6.  Our friend Robin Parisotto interviewed on Australian Anti-Doping efforts.  (The Age)

7. The PGA tries to catch some of the many juiced golfers out there. Fore! (Washington Times)

8.  South African double amputee Oscar Pistorius runs a 47.78, misses Olympic qualifying in 400 (Sporting Life)

10.  Brian McNamee asks court to dismiss Roger Clemens's suit.  (AP)

11.  Admitted steroid user and WWE wrestler "Mr. Kennedy" urges Minnesotans to support Republican National Convention.  (City Paper) (mpg here)

1.  Rabobank must pay cyclist 1.1 million for kicking fibbing Michael Rasmussen out of the 2007 Tour de France  (AFP)

2.  Australian sprinter booted from race for asthma medication.  (IHT)

3.  Dara Torres (photo), the 41 year-old swimmer, dates an endocrinologist, so what?  (Denver Post)(NY Times)

4.  Chinese ban 8 in doping crackdown.  (AFP)

5.  Shot putter says hypnosis, not HGH.  (Chicago Trib)

6.  Barry Bonds asterisk ball arrives at Cooperstown HOF (San Diego Trib)

Those rascally scientists...always making life difficult.  Probably all they want is more government grant money.

Wilhelm Schanzer, director of the Laboratory for Doping Analysis in Cologne, Germany, says that the EPO study released last week in the Journal of Applied Physiology goofed up: "It's absolutely non-scientific"

Dang.  The International Herald Tribune carries the bad news.

A scientist involved in a study questioning the validity of testing for the performance-enhancing drug EPO called the research "factually wrong" and is calling for the paper to be retracted.

"It's absolutely non-scientific," said Wilhelm Schanzer, director of the Laboratory for Doping Analysis in Cologne, Germany. The lab is accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency and regularly tests samples of professional athletes.

The study was published last week in the Journal of Applied Physiology. Carsten Lundby and colleagues of the Copenhagen Muscle Research Center in Denmark gave the oxygen-boosting hormone EPO to eight college students who were not athletes. They collected samples which were tested by two labs accredited by WADA, including the German lab.

The Danes are taking this stance:

Lundby and colleagues concluded that the two labs studied had contradictory results, and that athletes could theoretically take EPO without being caught.

"The test does not work as it should," Lundby said.

Their study was funded largely by Denmark's anti-doping agency.

The Germans counter:

Schanzer said on Tuesday the Danish authors misinterpreted his results, and that because his lab and the other lab used different reporting criteria, their results could not be compared.

What the other lab reported as a positive result, Schanzer's lab reported as "suspicious." Schanzer said that because this was a research project, they did not do all the confirmatory tests that would have been done under normal testing guidelines.

"It's not true that you could take EPO and not be detected," Schanzer said. The study's main finding, that labs cannot accurately identify EPO, is "outright false," he said.

None of this explains anything.  Hopefully Schanzer will document what he means.  The situation appears clear as cholesterol right now.

Lundby stood by his findings and said the test was flawed.

1.  Big Mark McGwire stays quiet outside of baseball.  (USA Today)

2.  Dwain Chambers runs a 10.05 100M, the UK's best.  (The Independent)

3.  Catching drug addiction before it starts.  (TransWorldNews)

4.  Terry Bradshaw clarifies remarks about steroids: he meant anti-inflammatory steroids, or was did he mean aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid, but Terry knew that) (I-Team, NY Daily News)

5.  Two of 10,000 Texas boys tested positive for the juice.  (KFDA)

6.  Jailer caught selling steroids to undercover cop.  (Wicked Local)

7. Disipio.com discusses the regenerative powers of Albert Pujols seen to the right in his high school freshman portrait (pronounce the 'j').

Just in: In the longest contest in world sports history (slightly shorter than World War 2), the official results of the 2006 Tour de France are in.  Floyd Landis lost his appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Amazing.  You all know about the history of the deal.  Landis wins the '06 Tour.  He tests positive for testosterone (high T:E ratio).  Landis is disqualified, resulting in a huge uproar from Landis fans.  Landis takes his defense to the people with the Wiki-Defense.  Landis loses a split decision at the USADA hearings in Malibu CA.  Landis loses appeal at the the CAS.  Books are written.

Is the Landis saga over?  Doubt it.  Next up: The 1985 World Series will be decided by the end of July at the CAS -- Denkinger's bad call to be debated.

  Guardian link here.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has dismissed Floyd Landis' appeal to regain the 2006 Tour de France title and upheld his two-year drugs ban.

Landis was stripped of the title - which passed to Spaniard Oscar Pereiro - and handed a two-year ban from the sport after testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone.

CAS' verdict sees the 32-year-old disqualified from the 2006 race and banned from cycling for two years from January 30, 2007. He has also been ordered to pay US 100,000 (£50,000) to the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Landis has always maintained his innocence and appealed the decision against him at every stage.

Today's ruling was his last hope of clearing his name and his failure to do so means he is the first rider in the 105-year history of the Tour to be stripped of a title for doping.

Landis' first appeal failed last September when the USADA upheld the original ruling after agreeing his sample from Stage 17 of the Tour was positive for exogenous testosterone.

Within three weeks of that ruling, Landis announced he would appeal to CAS, saying: "I hope the CAS panel will review my case on the basis of the facts and the science, and to approach my appeal from the principle that the anti-doping authorities must uphold the highest levels of appropriate process, technical skill, science and professional standards to pronounce judgment on matters that hold an athlete's career, accomplishments and livelihood in the balance."

That appeal was heard behind closed doors in New York in March this year, with CAS hearing 35 hours of evidence.

Such was the volume of evidence, CAS immediately warned that it would require several months to reach a verdict.

The two-year ban imposed on Landis applied from January 2007, meaning he faces another seven months out of the sport in the wake of today's verdict.

CAS' verdict comes just five days before the start of the 2008 Tour de France. 

1.  Today we find out if Floyd Landis won the 2006 Tour de France.  (Velo News)

2.  It "happened so quick"...Tyson Gay sets world 100M record at 9.68 (tailwind 4.1).  (Oregon Register-Guard)

3. Should Dwain Chambers be banned from running, even down to Quick Trip?  (The Times)

4.  The American Statistical Assoc meetings begin, including this discussion on steroids (ASA)

The Washington Post, with other outlets, reports on HOF swimmer Gary Hall's thought about doping in swimming.  Hall displays a  pragmatic viewpoint of the topic.

Gary Hall Jr. realizes that new technology in swimsuit design will receive much of the credit for the slew of world records that have fallen -- and are likely to fall -- during this Olympic year. But the brutally frank Hall, who has spent many of his 33 years rankling those who run his sport, said Sunday he suspects the use of performance-enhancing drugs in swimming is far more rampant than most athletes and coaches admit.

Hall points out that sport in general appears inundated with drug-cheating, pushing anti-doping agencies to the limit to keep up.

Doping has existed in the sport in the past, that's true," Hall said. "Do I think it's getting worse? Yeah, I do."   Hall, the two-time defending gold medal winner in the 50-meter freestyle, is at the U.S. Olympic trials trying to make his fourth Olympic team. He said he understands that as sports such as track, baseball and weightlifting have been dragged down by drug scandals, swimming has remained largely unscathed. Though he stressed he has no direct evidence, he clearly believes that cleanliness runs only so deep.

"Unfortunately, we rely on an inadequate doping system -- doping agencies -- for the proof," Hall said. "We live in a society where you're innocent until proven guilty -- the key word being 'proven.' We don't have any way of proving people are cheating."

How is testing in the swimming world?

Hall pointed out that many athletes who have been discredited have been swept up in other scandals, such as that involving the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Balco), rather than caught by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Athletes at the trials will be randomly tested for banned substances, and officials from USA Swimming said they believe their athletes are clean because the sport demands they be so...

Hall countered that, "I have no idea where the sport is, but to think that it doesn't exist would be foolish," particularly with more money pouring into the sport.  

Even with such strong words, Hall said he would reserve full judgment until after the eight-day event here, in which he will only swim the 50 freestyle, and sees performances with Speedo's new technologically improved suit. But he also brought up the women's teams from 1970s East Germany, long suspected of doping, who broke records that were then attributed to new swimsuits.

Was Hal ever thinking of Dara Torres?

1.  Steroid era fallout: 41 year-old mother swims faster now than younger years...brings out the questions.  Dana Torres attempts to qualify for her 5th Olympiad.  (St Louis Post-Dispatch)

2.  More on Julie Coram, Canadian fitness competitor.  (Winnipeg Sun)

As one poster on steroidnation.com opined, "This is going to hurt her career, unless the Preakness is up next on the agenda."

3.  Mark Zeigler looking at steroid connections in the Olympic Trials. (Finally got this link to work)(San Diego Union-Tribune)

4.  We saw the women's 100 finals last night.  How in nature's green earth do women develop traps like a linebacker?  Torri Edwards photo above left.  Six pack anyone (she is 5-4, 127 of ripped muscles; where does that testosterone come from)?  Compare her muscle mass with Carl Lewis.

Floyd Landis also posed for a comparison.  Edwards would kick Landis' butt.

1.  Will anyone enjoy track again?  (ESPN)

2. Drug-cheat Dwain Chambers runs as low as 10.06; prepares to fight lifetime Olympic ban  (The Sun)

3.  A little older story on Brian Roberts and his faith overcoming steroids taint.  (Lancaster Online)

4.  Ex-drug suspended Torri Edwards moves closer to qualifying for the Olympics.  (SI.com)

5.  Rick Dutrow sealing his reputation as a steroid-pushing jerk.  (Daily News)

6.  On Monday, Floyd Landis (remember him) finds out if he won the 2006 Tour de France (ESPN)

Here is the abstract for the EPO paper from the J of Applied Physiology.  Actually Lab A looked pretty good on testing.

In a very secretive story, the Australian newspaper the CourierMail says an 'Australian mastermind' lies behind a huge conspiracy to export steroids out of China.  Story Here:

AUTHORITIES fear an Australian expatriate in China is the mastermind of an Olympic doping operation after a giant steroids shipment was intercepted.

Customs agents discovered 40kg of steroids in a shipment from China at Port Botany in Sydney, prompting a global investigation involving US drug investigators.

They have tracked the source of the drugs to an Australian-born man who is based in China.

Authorities fear he could be part of a syndicate attempting to supply substances to cheating athletes at the Beijing Olympics in August.

"He is possibly targeting the Olympics," Australian Customs national investigations manager Richard Janeczko said.

"Customs is working with international partners to establish his whereabouts in China. But given where the Games are being held it is a concern."

Talk about mysterious?  Who is this mastermind?  The Australian version of Victor Conte?

(The Australian Anti-Doping agency has been) working with Chinese anti-doping agents and the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

The record haul was intercepted in March last year at Port Botany.

The steroids were disguised in bulk canisters labelled "amino acids".

The shipment, in powder form, weighed 80kg, with 40kg of the active performance-enhancing substance.

"We believe there is a demand for this sort of stuff in Australia," Mr Janeczko said. "These quantities most likely would have been turned into tablets or capsules."

He said China was a logical source of performance-enhancing drugs because of its vast chemical industry.

"The Chinese are really being quite cooperative," he said. "Because of China's large chemical manufacturing sector, both it and India are the places you go to get this stuff."

ASADA chief executive Richard Ings said that while he could not comment, "as a matter of policy, there is a seamless sharing of information between ASADA and Customs on matters of mutual interest".

1.  Eleven Bulgarian weightlifters fail doping tests; dog bites man. (Reuters)

2.  A Chinese swimmer banned for life -- tested for Clen.  (Swim News)

3.  Euro 1500 M runner Sureyya Ayhan of Turkey appeals lifetime doping ban.  (USA Today)

4.  Says blaming Big Brown's Belmont loss on 'roids is a 'bunch of crap'.  (Winnipeg Sun)