If that was aimed at me, then the 50ml every 6 hour part. That was one of the key findings in the Salazar transcripts I read a while back (I didn’t get through them all to be honest)…that they actually infused more like 500ml, so significantly above what was allowed, and then doctored the evidence to try and make it seem otherwise.
I agree with your points about optics. That definitely gives it a shady view even if legitimate. As does Farah say “no sir”, then realising someone else has already said it happened (at a legal limit level) and then changing his story.
Always raises an eyebrow when a football/rugby player is lauded for “playing through the pain” after taking a cortisone injection but a cyclist doing the same is a “doper”
Yeah, agreed. I thought the no needles thing in cycling was also a voluntary sign up thing by certain World Tour teams, rather than UCI requirement? I’m certain Sky were criticised for not signing up to it.
You then get into further grey areas of blood doping, but to aid recovery rather than performance enhance. Blood spinning doesn’t sit right with me, but then others argue it’s just getting you back to 100% quicker and not taking you beyond 100%, so is ok.
its not banned but will be covered due to the general prohibited method rule :-
“The intravenous (IV) infusion and/or injection of more than 100mL per 12 hour period of any substance is a prohibited method, even if the substance itself is not prohibited, unless it is received while being treated at the hospital, during surgery, or during clinical diagnostic investigations”
For me its a grey area regardless of its allowance due to the delivery method. Its only allowed as its just an amino at the end of the day and a few pills whats that harm (although there is a massive risk with any supplement being contaminated) but clearly adding it to the body by injection for me is against the spirit of the sport and is potentially enhancing performance unnaturally.
But do we know he had the legal limit adminstered … or did he forget that he had it injected, and then forget that it was actually over the allowable limit. Like @joex said - it all makes it look very dodgy, even though it may not be.
no needles is a UCI rule, the thing sky didnt sign up to was the MPCC which just adds an extra layer, ie you don’t sign a rider banned for previous 6 months or riders sit out of races if they have a TUE for “bum cream” etc It goes above and beyond usual ADR’s
That’s my point. I think the above is the pertinent question. And I agree, the statements, and then corrected statements, make it sound like compliance with the rules is almost certainly not true.
See, that’s the bit I disagree with. It’s not a grey area as your quote specifically outlines a methodology which is expressly allowed by the rules. If you comply with that delivery method, then you have done nothing wrong under any mindset (I would apply myself).
And the use of medicines not for their normal therapeutic use is also generally covered under the code under “any similar methods…” etc.
The rules do not list everything that is forbidden, since then obviously any novel drug or procedure would be fine as it wasn’t explicitly listed because no-one but the cheat knew about it, so that is not how the code is written.
If you are injecting a supplement to make yourself recover faster or improve performance than whether the rules strictly forbid it or not, its a grey a area for me. I would tell any athlete of mine to stop taking it. The minute you are using needles for anything that isn’t a medical condition there is something wrong with your mindset.
I accept your point that it’s actually not explicitly forbidden, rather than on a list of things that are 100% allowed. However, my understanding was that all amino-acids were unrestricted. I definitely have read that somewhere.
And if you take that acceptance, and then put alongside prescribed delivery methods of infusions which are acceptable, then you get to get to what even the BBC included in their article…
L-carnitine is a naturally occurring amino acid, which, if injected straight into the bloodstream, some research suggests could help speed metabolism and boost athletic performance.
Infusions or injections were permitted within World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) rules provided the volume was below 50ml every six hours.
That’s fair enough from your position as a coach. Personally, I entirely agree with it. But from a position of what is in breach of the rules and what is not, I don’t think that really matters. At least in light of the above.
The code really isn’t that big… you could find where such an explicit allowing is.
I suspect however you’re remembering something in the context of eating amino-acids, which is quite different to injecting, also remember ironman triathlon doesn’t really care much for the doping, and allows people to get their result even when they get IV drips etc. so anything read in the context of non ITU triathlon doesn’t mean much.
IV drips should be a very rare due to the low limit of anything you can inject/iv in (50ml at the time, 100ml now) so there would be almost no need to use an iv drip rather than simply injecting, it would just be more complicated and more risky so not medically warranted.
Injections depend a bit more, and it’s likely he would be getting iron,b12 etc. vitamin injections, although the amount shouldn’t be particularly high (not least because of that 50ml limit)
But of course, contempory athletes are often doping…
12 mins in to Panorama, nothing to can hang your hat on, just characterising the story. Salazar would push everything to the limits, athletes and rules. Thyroid medication for athletes who didn’t need it. A few “spirit of the rules” type comments.
