Sharapova fails drug test

[teddytennisfan]

I was shocked initially that she and her doctor weren't on top of this, but reading that it was a newly banned drug, and the fact that she came out on top of the information, I have to say, she ought to be given a bit of a pass. As she tested positive within weeks of the initial banning, for a drug she's taken for 10 years, that should be given some consideration. Who hasn't missed an email, or failed to click on the boring link? And she takes responsibility for being cavalier. Also, the drug has two names, and the banned one isn't the name she knew it by. I think any ban that was career-ending would be overly punitive. It seems that the ITF is finally taking a stricter course, with drugs and match-fixing, and if she gets swept up by it, so be it. I can't see how top athletes can't be completely scrupulous about the medications they take. It's part of the job, or should be. But I think a 6-month ban would be fair, as it was a newly announced drug. It would tell people to take it all seriously, without ending her career.

this IS A POLITICAL WITCH HUNTED CONCOCTED from wtihing the USA end of the ''authorities" ..

in keeping with the RUSSIA BASHING "it's all russia's fault" meme that goes around nowadays.

mark my word. that is what it is.

Jet fuel can't melt steel beams,

AS I COMMENTED on the other article that came before this...

THIS SMELLS of an american ploy -- using every tool to get at russia. and smear

the SOCHI OLYMPICS -- was trash-talked by the USA and west -- and the white house went so far as to ''invite" the tennis ''legend" Billie Jean King and have her use the white house as a ''megaphone" to announce that

Sochi "should be boycotted" due to ''they hate gays and lesbians in russia"...

MARIA has always been a dignified player -- one of MY favorites --

and that medication is what it is -- MEDICATION to treat her long-term health condition.

then SUDDENLY 'SOMEONE" -- very likely from the AMERICAN ruling WTA/USTA associations that rule the 'tennis ethics" of the world --

found it TIMELY to have it be banned by january 1 -2016 ?

something is VERY fishy about THAT.

are they now going to tell MARIA that she can't take care of her HEALTH which that medication was legal for YEARS -- and how she ''should have known better? " as that AMERICAN brad gilbert puts it - AS IF it is that simple to just change medication to something else that might not even be good for HER -- as well. as already suggest she was ''on performance enhancers?"

what about HIS former ward ANDRE AGASSI and all those big muscled students of HIS over the decades? they NEVER took steroids?

this is AN AMERICAN WITCH HUNT for RUSSIANS -- mark my word.

 

[teddytennisfan]

the problem with the argument

"she should have known better" is -- it applies to plenty of players that one day -- even if completely innocent -- will be CAUGHT in the ''oh so high and mighty and pure and clean"

WITCH HUNTS that are going in the western world.

connect the dots if people dare>

the SYRIAN DEBACLE WAS CREATED by the UNITED STATES with its mionions, vassals , and ''allies" in the west --

as an attempt to not just DIVIDE syria up into smaller 'spheres' of influence (saudi arabia, gets a piece, turkey gets a piece for its neo-ottomanism ambitions, israel gets a piece, qatar gets a piece - -

while the ISIL AND terrorists THEY COLLECTIVELY SPAWNED

who have bene EXPOSED by RUSSIA for what they are -- CONNIVERS AND THE REAL sponsors of terrorism (the usa actually calls them ''moderate rebels" -- what a LAUGHABLE concept) --

AND HAVE been REMOVED from ANY moral rectitude for their attempt to destroy a country by removal of its legitimate , POPULAR government of assad --

in order to CREATE THROUGH ISIL AND terrorists --

their DEARLY dreamed "PIPELINISTAN" FROM QATAR and saudi arabia

THROUGH SYRIA -- TO the europeans! and push out RUSSIA

which had CENTURIES of cultural, religious, diplomatic and economic and trade ties with syrian people --


this is in keeping -- as a WITCH HUNT which is what it is --

like the way OBAMA used the WHITE HOUSE to ''invite" the HYPOCRITE billie jeabn king -- to PROCLAIM ''boycott the SOCHI OLYMPICS| 2 YEARS ago -- in order to further ''isolate" russia

FOR RUSSIA'S standing UP to the USA'S plans to INVADE SYRIA

IN FALSE accusations (like with IRAQonexistent wmds) --about 'chemical warfare on assad's OWN people"

which -- AGAIN the RUSSIANS -- at the request of the syrian to hlep investigate.

PROVED were the TERRORISTS that formed OUT OF THE DESTRUCTION OF IRAQ by the USA !

THAT HAD USED the chemical weapons and point fingers at the syrian government


to JUSTIFY another -- ANOTHER AMERICAN INVASION.


all that lying

has been BLOWN RIGHT OUT OF THE WATER BY THE RUSSIANS!

and THAT'S why THEY RULE the skies of the middle east now -- because the AMERICANS nad NATO KNOW

the russians are MONITORING -- THEM !!!

for any more schemes of AIDING AND PROTECTING TERRORISTS!


having their FAVORITE TOYS OF DECEIT -- they are now continuing on their ''evil russia meme...: "

by ''OTHER MEANS|

WHICH MEANS -- SUDDENLY THIS JANUARY 1 2016 BANNING of a MEDICATION that just about ANYONE might need if that is the condition?



that SMELLS OF THE STINKIEST AMERICAN/WESTERN CABAL

ANTI-RUSSIAN WARMONGERS SCHEMING USING TENNIS

JUSt LIKE they tried on SOCHI (WHICH despite american and western trash talk about ''unfinished buildings, bad service, bad this and bad that" --- turned out to be a SPECTACULAR SUCCESS -- even the FORMULA ONE has named their tracks the BEST in the world )

just like they did with the president of the SOCCER ''due to corruption"

when the USA LOST THE BID TO RUSSIA to host a soccers the next turn around...

just like they ACCUSE russia of ''bombing civilians"

when it is THEY that hafve done that and AIDED AND PROTECTED THE TERRORISTS....

fully exposed by the russians -- with complete satellite and video

showing AMERICAN HELICOPTERS AND PL;ANES L;ITERALLY

just dozens of feet above MILES of vans BOUGHT FROM THE USA -- CARRYING STOLEN OIL!

ACCOMPANYING ISIL TERRORISTS with their STOLEN oil from iraq to SMUGGLE out openly on the syrian highways -- to TURKEY TO be put in ships owned by turkeys president\s SON -- TO ""disappear into the EUROPEAN MARKET!

FOLKS THAT is what this is about.

it's about RUSSIA ..and MARIA is just the ''little road" to get BACK at russia


FOR HUMILIATING the EMPIRE USA -- into EXPOSURE

as the REAL author and ''central nervous system"

of the TERRORISTS like ISIL -- included AMONG them the ''moderate rebels" the USA wants to ''preserve " from being BOMBED to smithereens by the russians --

that the USA and west TERRORIZE their own populations into SUBMISSION FOR!

SO -- RUSSIA MUST PAY for humiliating the USA

1) SIMPLY for STANDING UP for russian sovereignty that the USA has obsessively attempted to undermine and sabotage to '''privatize" russia into small 'manageable pieces under US management" (that's REAL talk from the LIKES OF MADELEINE ALBRIGHT AND ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI ) ..

2) FOR having the temerity to STOP the USA from invading and destroying syria 2 years ago -- conceivably creating ANOTHER destroyed country likke iraq that SPAWNED terrorists ISIL - that were ALSO used to destroy LIBYA! and back to SYRIA and NORTH to europe! through OTTOMAN TURKEY AND its ''oil and terrorist smuggling operation" ...
3) to justify YET another MASSING OF NATO FORCES at russias doorstep

PRETENDING ''russian aggression and expansionism"

when the MAP SHOWS WHO IS SOMEONE DOORSTEP that SHOULDN'T BE THERE -- THE USA uinder the mask of ''NATO Protection"!

and all that RUSSIA FINALLY HAS SAID :

''enough -- there will be NO MORE regime change or color revolutions that destroy countries with your so-called DEMOCRACY EXPORTS".

AND BOY -- IS UNCLE SAM PLENTY MAD...

so IMPOTENT AS HE IS to actually CONFRONT RUSSIA militarily

ONE ON ONE !!!

and instead HIDES behind OTHERS (called the ''doctrine of leading from behind!": ) -- he now resorts to --

MARIA SHARAPOVA ''the russian cheat -- cheat -- RUSSIAN"!!

THAT -- dear folks IS what this is about -- as i long ago warned in OTHER tennis websites when they banned me for talking AND CONNECTING global events, geopolitics, history, culture s--

AND THE USA EMPIRE OF CHAOS

to TENNIS!

heck -- right NOW -- THE SERBIAN PEOPLE ARE UP IN ARMS --

becauise their PRESIDENT who was 'chosen" by the USA AND EU as OBEDIENT to the EMPIRE that destroyed YUGOSLAVIA ALSO under false pretext about ''serbian brutality" --

who is trying to DRAG them INTO NATO FORCIBLY without THEIR permission...

having SEEN what HAPPENS TO 'democracy" GIFT WRAPPED from WASHINGTON

BY USA undersecretary VICTORIA NULAND -- the chocolate chip cookie handout mistress of KIEV that UNLEASHED instead the GENOCIDAL RACIST FASCISTS !

I REPEAT -- THIS is what it is about.

it's not about MARIA'S MEDICATION ''being banned since january 1 , 1016.

it is about THE USA being VENGEFUL towards RUSSIA AND PUTIN


because RUSSIA SUCCESSFULLY BOMBS THE TERRORISTS the USA ITSELF ENABLED - !! and RUSSIA ADJUSTS TO THE USA-LED SANCTIONS

WHILE improving its DOMESTIC MARKET - AND RELATIONS WITH ASIA --

AND -- OOOPSS -- it's the EUROPEANS that are getting HURT as a result of


swallowing AMERICAN PRESCRIPTION

BWAHAHAHAHA.....

 

[HawkEye]

Sorry but the comments by most of you are ridirulous. First of all I should say I am not her fan, but her explanation seems to me quite possible. Nowadays there are so many restricted substances in sport, that to find a medicaments for your helth problems and comply with all the rules is sometimes impossible.

For me she (her team) made a mistake and she is taking entire responsibility for this. In my view she should be banned for 6 months. There've been other cases in the past which were similar...

 

[Federberg]

wow! From Sharapova and PEDS to Syria in one post?? Just wow...

 

[Bert]

Isn't this going a bit too far ? Are we still talking about tennis ?

 

[Federberg]

I have a lot of sympathy for Capriati's tweet. She reckons all of the titles should be stripped. It's other peoples lives as well. We don't blink these days when an Olympic athletes medals are stripped. Wonder when that methodology will be applied to other individual sports?

 

[Bert]

So you are saying that she should also be punished for a period in which this product was legal ? not looked for in drug tests ? Even if she cheated on purpose, she would have only cheated for 3 weeks...

 

[Federberg]

I have sympathy for the sentiment. Of course in this case it's only been illegal since the start of this year, so it wouldn't have any impact. To be honest the bit about Capriati's comment I really liked is her point that other peoples lives are impacted by the cheating. Titles denied etc

 

[britbox]

I have sympathy for the sentiment. Of course in this case it's only been illegal since the start of this year, so it wouldn't have any impact. To be honest the bit about Capriati's comment I really liked is her point that other peoples lives are impacted by the cheating. Titles denied etc

I don't share Capriati's sentiments because it was legal before the turn of the year. We might not like it... but it was not a banned substance. I'm sure all the top players take supplements and various concoctions of stuff we might not like if it was in the public domain... heck, there are plenty of people not liking the use of CVAC devices... but for arguments sake, if WADA banned them in 2017 would that render Novak Djokovic's majors null and void? No, it can't. These things can't really be retrospective.

 

[Bert]

I got it and agree with that too.
I remember an article that I read about a marathon runner who finished second. Few days later he was declared as the winner because they found out that the first runner had cheated. He was explaining that he was angry because he missed the media attention he should have had on the finish line, the podium ceremony etc... everything that was stolen from him and that the retroactive correction would not give him back.

If you consider top sports such as tennis, money advertising contracts, etc... the impact is even bigger. 100% agree.

On the other hand, I found Capriati's comments very easy and not related to Sharapova's case on which nobody knows much. She hasn't been a model of conduct during her life and should have been the first to understand that people can do mistakes. Even if Sharapova did it on purpose, I still feel that Capriati talked too much on this.

 

[Vince Evert]

How is the drug that she has, by own admission, been taking for 10 years come to be considered a performance enhancing and why was it not outlawed before ?

 

[the AntiPusher]

Even before my good friend Tossip (I hope she considers me a friend), there has always been a very low opinion of Pova's character especially from females. Being a man who has daughters, I never had an opinion about her character good or bad. I actually likes the way she competes especially when she is not facing Serena. I think she darn well knew that she was taking a banned substance but she needed something she felt could help level the playing field against Serena. She was Wrong.Hopefully now Serena will get some of her endorsements because we all know the reason Why but I don't this will change the minds of advertising .This is truly "Maria Fall from Grace".

 

[isabelle]

What a schock, Masha banned !! I never thought she was a cheater

 

[Federberg]

I don't share Capriati's sentiments because it was legal before the turn of the year. We might not like it... but it was not a banned substance. I'm sure all the top players take supplements and various concoctions of stuff we might not like if it was in the public domain... heck, there are plenty of people not liking the use of CVAC devices... but for arguments sake, if WADA banned them in 2017 would that render Novak Djokovic's majors null and void? No, it can't. These things can't really be retrospective.

You misunderstand me... I agree with Capriati that if an athlete has been found to have been doping over a period of time then they should be stripped of titles in that period. I then went on to say that in this case it doesn't apply because the substance became illegal at the start of this year so it doesn't affect Sharapova's titles. The specific Capriati sentiment I support is that cheating affects other people. It denies them titles

 

[tossip]

Even before my good friend Tossip (I hope she considers me a friend), there has always been a very low opinion of Pova's character especially from females. Being a man who has daughters, I never had an opinion about her character good or bad. I actually likes the way she competes especially when she is not facing Serena. I think she darn well knew that she was taking a banned substance but she needed something she felt could help level the playing field against Serena. She was Wrong.Hopefully now Serena will get some of her endorsements because we all know the reason Why but I don't this will change the minds of advertising .This is truly "Maria Fall from Grace".

you know I was banned from several boards for posting my observations during Wimbledon final 2004...just before the match she took a potty break and on her way to the toilet the camera caught her popping a pill into hr mouth.I was vilified and banned from several boards.2006 USA Open she took something right in front of the camera from a little brown bottle and ESPN jokingly said its some elixir from Yuri...her eyes were glassy like she was high and some posters said thats a reaction of someone on amphetamines...never been a fan and my feelings were spot on and intuition was correct.

 

[britbox]

You misunderstand me... I agree with Capriati that if an athlete has been found to have been doping over a period of time then they should be stripped of titles in that period. I then went on to say that in this case it doesn't apply because the substance became illegal at the start of this year so it doesn't affect Sharapova's titles. The specific Capriati sentiment I support is that cheating affects other people. It denies them titles

Sorry.. my bad. Yeah, definitely agree that the player should be stripped of titles if they took a banned substance at the time of winning a title. I believe Maria will have to pay back the prize money she won at the AO.

 

[britbox]

How is the drug that she has, by own admission, been taking for 10 years come to be considered a performance enhancing and why was it not outlawed before ?

There are probably that many drugs used for medicinal purposes and combinations that they struggle to keep up. They did latch onto it in time and they monitored it in 2015 without actually banning... I guess they were made aware sometime before that but had to go through certain processes, research etc.

 

[Federberg]

How is the drug that she has, by own admission, been taking for 10 years come to be considered a performance enhancing and why was it not outlawed before ?

I think you'll find that there are many drugs which are not yet on the doping list but will be in time. Doping agencies will always be playing catch up.

As an aside I suspect it's been well known by those predisposed to finding an edge whether ethical or not that many drugs which aren't on the doping list can give athletes an edge.

I find it stretches credulity in Sharapova's case to believe that her organisation (and it really is a business around her, unlike most of the other players) could allow her to be caught out like this. That's what seems so fishy for me. I almost wonder if there have been situations like this in the past where the really big swingers in tennis have dared the sports authorities to ban them and the authorities have backed down, like they did with Agassi

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Just read on Twitter,Porche,Sharapova's car sponsor like Nike is postponing further activities,also Watch maker Tag Heuer released a statement saying they will not renew their contract with Sharapova.

 

[Federberg]

Just read on Twitter,Porche,Sharapova's car sponsor like Nike is postponing further activities,also Watch maker Tag Heuer released a statement saying they will not renew their contract with Sharapova.

Yup. It would be a mistake to just look at this in terms of current sponsorships. After all, look at someone like Arnold Palmer who still gets paid in the tens of millions annually. Over a life time this could be a billion dollar hit for Sugapova