The Olympic gold medalist Fani Halkia was banned from competition for a period of two years by the Greek Athletics Federation for using the banned anabolic steroid methyltrienolone (”Halkia banned for two years for steroid use,” November 26).
Greek hurdler Fani Halkia has been suspended for two years, the Greek Athletics Federation (SEGAS) said. Halkia, who won the gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, was barred from competing in the Beijing Games this year after testing positive for the banned steroid methyltrienolone. SEGAS said that at a board meeting on Wednesday, SEGAS ruled the ban was effective from August when Halkia was expelled from the Olympics.
Greek prosecutors initiated misdemeanor doping charges against Halkia several weeks ago. Halkia is one of 15 Greek athletes charged with using the banned steroid methyltrienolone. The head of the Greek Olympic Committee believes that the steroid use is a part of an organized doping effort in Greek athletics. Some of the accused have blamed the failed drug tests on a Greek doping conspiracy.
The most amazing performance-enhancing substance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics was the material used to make the Speedo LZR swimsuit. The LZR has been called a form of “technological doping” by Italian swim coach Alberto Castagnetti. Marshal Cohen of the NPD Group says the LZR Racer is comparable only to anabolic steroids in its performance enhancing effects leading to world records.
Several are saying that the “technological doping” allowed in swimming has led to a serious lack of credibility more damaging than the steroids in baseball asterisk catastrophe … Read the rest of this entry »
Gary Hall Jr., Olympic swimmer and outspoken anti-steroid crusader for the sport of swimming, has retired from competition. Hall has been quick to point fingers at his fellow competitors for suspected steroid use and has not hesitated to share his suspicions with the media.
“Do I think it (doping) is getting worse? Yes, I do. It’s here, it’s in the United States. I train with an international group of swimmers and all of them have stories and a few of them have had offers and I’m not at liberty to say (any more).
“To think that it doesn’t exist is foolish,” Hall said. “All doping scandals are not a direct result of positive tests. They’re usually somebody getting caught by some other means. I don’t think that we can rely on a doping agency to really catch the people that are so far ahead of where the testing is.”
Gary Hall suggests that the massive number of world records in swimming during 2008 were most likely the results of steroids and not necessarily the revolutionary swimsuit technology used by so many elite swimmers.
“Clearly we know now it wasn’t the suit that was causing all these world records to be broken, it was copious amounts of steroids,” Hall told the assembled reporters. “Can the suit technology distract from another issue? I think it’s pretty convenient for those that are indulging the other issue.”
The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) is objecting to new steroid testing rules that will apply to footballers in England’s Premier League beginning in July 2009. The Barclay’s Premier League has been touted as the most watched sporting league and the most lucrative professional football (soccer) league. The new anti-doping rules will subject 30 top players to as many as 5 random drug tests throughout the year.
At issue is the new “whereabouts ruling” requiring tested players to provide anti-doping officials with advance notification of their whereabouts for a particular hour each day even on vacations and during the offseason. … Read the rest of this entry »
International Olympic Committee President Dr. Jacques Rogge is running for re-election on an anti-steroid and anti-fat people campaign. Rogge has been the president of the IOC since 2001 when he succeeded Juan Antonio Samaranch (”Rogge targets doping and obesity,” October 31).
“My top priority will be the fight against doping. I will fight against doping as hard as I have ever done and you know my resolve in this matter which is the number one priority in the world of sport,” Rogge told Reuters in an interview.
“The second priority is to bring young people back into sport and I would like to launch an initiative with all the Olympic committees and international federations…to combat inactivity that is leading to a rise in obesity. We must combat obesity,” he said.
Big Nation Radio hosts Special Ed and Blockhead discuss drug testing at the Olympics with Ali Amini. They explore the methods in which athletes using banned performance enhancing drugs and still avoid detection. The guests feel that doping is widespread at the Beijing Olympics in spite of the 4,500 tests that officials plan on administering to athletes. The podcast episode can be downloaded here. (”How Athletes Beat Olympic Drug Testing,” August 19).
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is desperately seeking to enhance its historically disastrous performance in the cat-and-mouse game between anti-doping agencies and athletes who use performance enhancing drugs. WADA committed $6.6 million to fund forty research initiatives to improve their drug detection abilities including the next generation of performance enhancing techniques involving “plasmid vectors” and “RNA interference” to regulate gene expression … Read the rest of this entry »
The Texas Steroid Summit, sponsored by the Baylor Medical Center at Frisco, was held at the Liberty High School on August 10, 2008. We liked some of the messages presented at the summit but were disheartened by others tending to demonize steroids.
It was the first time Hooten was speaking directly to coaches who have such a meaningful and lasting impact on high school athletes. He concluded the hour-long speech highlighted by a poignant video by specifically addressing the coaches in attendance.
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“They’re in the power position,” Hooten said. “They make the decision who makes the team and who sits on the bench. We hope they exercise that power to get this problem stopped.” (emphasis added)
To reduce Ms. Jones’s sentence or pardon her would send a horrible message to young people who idolized her, reinforcing the notion that you can cheat and be entitled to get away with it. A pardon would also send the wrong message to the international community. Few things are more globally respected than the Olympic Games, and to pardon one of the biggest frauds perpetuated on the Olympic movement would be nothing less than thumbing our collective noses at the world. (emphasis added)
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With her cheating and lying, Marion Jones did everything she could to violate the principles of track and field and Olympic competition. When she came under scrutiny for doping, she taunted any who doubted her purity, talent and work ethic. Just as she had succeeded in duping us with her performances, she duped many people into giving her the benefit of the doubt. (emphasis added)
She is not in prison for doping. Her sentence is not based on cheating in sports or the Olympic Games or the Olympic movement. Thus, she should not be punished by the criminal justice system for anything more than perjury. She was convicted and sentenced for this crime and this crime alone.
Her doping offenses have been penalized by anti-doping agencies, etc. already. Mr. Logan feels that her sentence for perjury should take into account her use of banned substances. She was not indicted for using steroids; she was indicted for lying about her use. This is an important distinction. Justifying harsh sentences based on factors not directly related to the crime is an abuse of the system. It should not be used to make an example of athletes who use steroids.
Forty-four out of 48 world records have been set since February 2008 by swimmers using LZR. What is LZR? Is it the next generation of designer steroids superceding THG?
LZR is different from THG in many ways. First, LZR is not a closely guarded secret. It is openly promoted and marketing by its creators. The athletes openly display their use of LZR to all of their competitors and the general public. Secondly, LZR has been officially approved by FINA (the international governing body of swimming) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has no problem with it! Most importantly, LZR is not an anabolic steroid - it is a swimsuit.
Even though FINA and the IOC have approved the Speedo LZR Racer for Olympic competition, it has stirred controversy nonetheless. For example, Italy’s head swim coach Alberto Castagnetti calls the swimsuit “technological doping.” … Read the rest of this entry »
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