jackson vile
G.O.A.T.
Doping: Jones tests positive for a blood-booster
Lynn Zinser and Juliet Macur The New York Times
Published: August 20, 2006
Marion Jones, one of the world's best-known female athletes, tested positive for the blood-boosting agent EPO in an initial test of her urine sample from the U.S. track and field championships, which were held in June in Indianapolis. If her second sample, or B sample, also tests positive for any banned substances, she will face a two-year suspension.
Jones found out about her A sample Friday while preparing to compete in a meet in Zurich. Her B sample is expected to be tested in the next two weeks.
Jones had never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and has always adamantly denied using them.
Jones's coach, Steve Riddick, told Reuters that he had received a text message from Jones telling him that traces of EPO had been found in her failed drug test. Richard Nichols, one of Jones's lawyers, said in a statement to Reuters on Friday, "Marion Jones has always been clear, she has never taken performance-enhancing drugs, not now, not ever."
Victor Conte Jr., the founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, previously said he had provided Jones with a range of banned substances, including human growth hormone, insulin, THG and EPO.
The positive test for EPO revealed how anti-doping officials are using information about the drug gleaned from the Balco steroids investigation to take aim at possible drug violators.
Before the Balco case, EPO was largely considered an endurance drug, more often associated with illegal use by long- distance runners or cyclists. Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti- Doping Agency, said Saturday that he had not heard of sprinters using EPO until the sprinter Kelli White admitted that it was part of the regimen she used before she was caught during the Balco inquiry and agreed to help investigators.
"If you get a 1 percent boost from it, well, that's open water in the 100 meters," Pound said.
"You can see why it's one more thing they'd try."
White, who received a two-year suspension, explained at a board meeting of the anti-doping agency in 2004 that sprinters never worried about being caught using EPO because no one who ran shorter distances than 400 meters was ever tested for it, Pound said.
Pound said the EPO test had been improved since it was introduced in 2000, when a blood and a urine test were needed to detect it, and that labs had gotten better at reading the test.
According to some experts, other tests have also been adjusted, including the carbon-isotope ratio test that detected testosterone in the urine samples of the sprinter Justin Gatlin and the Tour de France winner Floyd Landis. That test, like the EPO test, is more complicated and expensive than most, so it is usually used only where it can be most effective.
Jones's case also signals a change in how positive tests become public in an era of increased scrutiny of drug use. Track and field's international federation, the IAAF, expects to be informed of a failed drug test after the A sample has been shown to test positive.
The United States' anti-doping procedures, however, do not call for notifying the federation until after the B has been tested and the case has been confirmed by a review board.
When Gatlin, who shares the world record and is the reigning Olympic champion in the 100 meters, tested positive for testosterone in April, the international federation was not informed until after the B sample had also come up positive, in late July.
Many in the international sports community were upset by that delay, and some complained publicly.
Sports officials in Europe have been particularly aggressive about the drug issue. Several meet directors refused to invite Jones to meets in 2005 because of implications of drug use that came out of the Balco investigation. After Gatlin tested positive in July, several said they would not invite any athletes who had trained under Trevor Graham, who coaches Gatlin and who previously coached Jones. Six other runners he coached have served or are serving doping suspensions.
Gatlin competed in the nationals even after his A sample from the Kansas Relays had come up positive. He won the men's 100, and Jones won the women's 100.
Dr. Gary Wadler, an anti-doping expert and an associate professor of medicine at New York University, said that drug testers might have caught up for now but that the recent positive tests were more likely to be a sign of athletes becoming bolder, thinking they would never be caught.
"It's a very disheartening coincidence, because you'd think they would see other athletes getting caught and they'd learn from each other," Wadler said, being careful to point out that Jones's test should not be labeled a failed test before the results of her B sample come back.
"But what binds these cases together is the mind-set that would enable somebody to dope, knowing that they are going to get caught, and knowing they are going to get caught for known doping agents," he said. "They're not using product X that nobody ever heard of. We're talking EPO and testosterone, bread-and-butter doping agents."
Lynn Zinser and Juliet Macur The New York Times
Published: August 20, 2006
Marion Jones, one of the world's best-known female athletes, tested positive for the blood-boosting agent EPO in an initial test of her urine sample from the U.S. track and field championships, which were held in June in Indianapolis. If her second sample, or B sample, also tests positive for any banned substances, she will face a two-year suspension.
Jones found out about her A sample Friday while preparing to compete in a meet in Zurich. Her B sample is expected to be tested in the next two weeks.
Jones had never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and has always adamantly denied using them.
Jones's coach, Steve Riddick, told Reuters that he had received a text message from Jones telling him that traces of EPO had been found in her failed drug test. Richard Nichols, one of Jones's lawyers, said in a statement to Reuters on Friday, "Marion Jones has always been clear, she has never taken performance-enhancing drugs, not now, not ever."
Victor Conte Jr., the founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, previously said he had provided Jones with a range of banned substances, including human growth hormone, insulin, THG and EPO.
The positive test for EPO revealed how anti-doping officials are using information about the drug gleaned from the Balco steroids investigation to take aim at possible drug violators.
Before the Balco case, EPO was largely considered an endurance drug, more often associated with illegal use by long- distance runners or cyclists. Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti- Doping Agency, said Saturday that he had not heard of sprinters using EPO until the sprinter Kelli White admitted that it was part of the regimen she used before she was caught during the Balco inquiry and agreed to help investigators.
"If you get a 1 percent boost from it, well, that's open water in the 100 meters," Pound said.
"You can see why it's one more thing they'd try."
White, who received a two-year suspension, explained at a board meeting of the anti-doping agency in 2004 that sprinters never worried about being caught using EPO because no one who ran shorter distances than 400 meters was ever tested for it, Pound said.
Pound said the EPO test had been improved since it was introduced in 2000, when a blood and a urine test were needed to detect it, and that labs had gotten better at reading the test.
According to some experts, other tests have also been adjusted, including the carbon-isotope ratio test that detected testosterone in the urine samples of the sprinter Justin Gatlin and the Tour de France winner Floyd Landis. That test, like the EPO test, is more complicated and expensive than most, so it is usually used only where it can be most effective.
Jones's case also signals a change in how positive tests become public in an era of increased scrutiny of drug use. Track and field's international federation, the IAAF, expects to be informed of a failed drug test after the A sample has been shown to test positive.
The United States' anti-doping procedures, however, do not call for notifying the federation until after the B has been tested and the case has been confirmed by a review board.
When Gatlin, who shares the world record and is the reigning Olympic champion in the 100 meters, tested positive for testosterone in April, the international federation was not informed until after the B sample had also come up positive, in late July.
Many in the international sports community were upset by that delay, and some complained publicly.
Sports officials in Europe have been particularly aggressive about the drug issue. Several meet directors refused to invite Jones to meets in 2005 because of implications of drug use that came out of the Balco investigation. After Gatlin tested positive in July, several said they would not invite any athletes who had trained under Trevor Graham, who coaches Gatlin and who previously coached Jones. Six other runners he coached have served or are serving doping suspensions.
Gatlin competed in the nationals even after his A sample from the Kansas Relays had come up positive. He won the men's 100, and Jones won the women's 100.
Dr. Gary Wadler, an anti-doping expert and an associate professor of medicine at New York University, said that drug testers might have caught up for now but that the recent positive tests were more likely to be a sign of athletes becoming bolder, thinking they would never be caught.
"It's a very disheartening coincidence, because you'd think they would see other athletes getting caught and they'd learn from each other," Wadler said, being careful to point out that Jones's test should not be labeled a failed test before the results of her B sample come back.
"But what binds these cases together is the mind-set that would enable somebody to dope, knowing that they are going to get caught, and knowing they are going to get caught for known doping agents," he said. "They're not using product X that nobody ever heard of. We're talking EPO and testosterone, bread-and-butter doping agents."
:mrgreen:
