A Kenyan literally the fastest man on earth this year , must be the altitude, or ugali or something.
Or am I being cynical 
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Interesting pod and story, i actually believe her story and that she is innocent. No room at WADA for common sense as strict liability has to be adhered to but seems harsh, especially the burdon of proof being put on the athlete if they have an AAF.
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Very sad.
I know nothing about elite swimming and what drugs are an issue.
But as you say unless she comes up with some form of “ explanation “ she should be sanctioned, very sad but those are the rules.
The problem in combat sports recently seems to be Ostarine.
A ped that retains muscle mass whilst you lose weight / water ( weigh in) it’s banned for obvious reasons
The big problem is quite a few over the counter / internet supplements contain trace amounts of it put there illegally by the company’s that make it to make there tablets “ stronger”
Hence fighters take it and have an excuse ready made if they get popped, which when you consider is unlikely as drug testing in boxing in paticular is a joke even at the elite level.
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she tested in competition 4 days before, this random whereabouts test and another a few days later. this was the only positive, and the amount she said was like one shake of a salt shaker into an Olympic sized swimming pool 0.05 nanograms! The drug was, at that time, unavailable in the US as it hadn’t been approved by the FDA and she’d not left the country for 3 months, all proven. You think common sense should prevail, a warning or reduced sanctions, BUT they cant be seen to bend the rules slightly or where does it stop, tainted beef?
that’s why 0 tolerance is needed! It common knowledge to always, if required, use Informed Sport batch tested supplements only. whilst its not a defence if still popped, at least you have some levels of protection
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The ufc now provide there own supplements ( you have to buy them still)
This has actually reduced the number of pos tests in mma, boxing is considering something similar.
The latest pis test is on Ryan garcia a hollywoood look alike boxer who has 2 million Instagram followers … he’s loaded
A similar case we’re he was neg for two tests and pos for 3 substances in a test just before the fight (all three tests were taken over a 3 week period) in again very very small amounts similar to the swim girl.
But once we start second guessing amounts it’s a slippery slope as if you “let one slide” the next one could use it as a defence of some sorts
STRICT liability seems very harsh in this case but those are the rules
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And yet:
It just depends how deep your lawyers pockets are it would seem.
I believe there have been some discussions about ignoring ‘trace’ findings because 9/10 times WADA lose on appeal. This would seem to be the 1/10.
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USADA V CHINADA
One actually wants clean sport, one is paying lip service to keep their IOC status. The worrying thing is WADA just accepting the CHINADA explanations
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I listened to that podcast
Did she get a 4 year ban ?
“ I was hoping for 2 is grim”
The money involved in boxing Garcia will get 6 months ( but I hope not!)
Back dated to the test
They only fight twice a year now so a pointless exercise
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yep 4 years, although its from the date she was notified of the failure, last July, not the date of the hearing in May.
“In cases involving a positive test for a non-specified substance such as vadadustat, an athlete is required to prove that their use of the prohibited substance was not intentional in order to qualify for a reduction from the default four-year sanction under the rules. McMahon received a four-year sanction because she was unable to establish through concrete evidence that her violation was not intentional. The arbitrator did not conclude that McMahon intended to cheat, only that she could not meet her burden of proof under the rules.”
so they agreed it wasnt intentional cheating but tough shit you cant prove how it got into your body!
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Heard this story this morning too, not looked into it yet.
Not judging this case at all as I know nothing about it but think that is less of an alibi than it looks. IIRC Roche had but a biomarker in their EPO and a cyclist or two tested positive for it before it was on the market. They tried to deny it but the Roche marker was there.
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That really is a grim one
A fighter called Tete got a 4? Year suspension IIRC ?
Point to note is he had no promotor and didn’t have millions to bankroll a hot shot lawyer.
Whilst the multimillion pound superstars Canelo earned 50 million Us for his last fight …! Get a pass basically Canelo is still known as Clenelo due to the 2017 clen saga which was just corrupt to the very core.
You really have to feel for that swim girl, life is just crap sometimes “ I could swim 25 k! “
Jesus
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on the RSOS podcast they were talking about this and not sure if im combining two podcasts in my memory but part of the issue is the level of proof required in sports court vs legal court.
In the sports court the level of proof required is ‘did they probably cheat’ because if you employed the normal court level of ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ then no one would ever get banned because there are always silly excuses
Problem comes I guess if countries threaten to sue then sporting bodies which isn’t particularly wealthy will fold because get cast afford the court costs.
Im no legal expert but it holds some logic to me
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Not quite, its strict liability, so anything in your system, banned unless you can prove unequivocally that it got into your system by contamination / without your knowledge. The Chinese proved that (Chris and I posted a link to a doc on the reasons why China got away with it, both the official line and the supposed actual reasons) , this swimmer (and a number of others Brett Hawke alluded to) couldnt prove that.
Money definitely comes into it, both who is funding WADA and who can afford to pay for lawyers
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Easy to say, not so easy to do 100% in practice I can tell you that.
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There you go !
He’s officially retired as of today ( he’s mid twenties I think ?!)
He smashed a hotel up the weekend and has been literally going crazy since the fight / test
A point to note is he’s always stated “ I don’t take any supplements “
6 month back dated ban and we’re back in the game !
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its not so difficult, if your livelihood depends on it.
But who pays for the testing ?
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I’m guessing the supplement manufacturers, but that is why its not foolproof and as coaches we have a duty to try and advise athletes of the risks of any supplement use, even batch tested.
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Absolutely. So any chance of a small or new nutrition manufacturer breaking in to the market?
i guess that will be tough, depending on the costs involved
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