Sharapova fails a dope test

[Janik]

Pretty sensational news on a global sports scale.

We are discussing it on the rolling Tennis thread, for those who don't bother checking that normally. Some of the cycling crew might want to add their two pennies worth...

[ursus arctos]

Sharapova fails a dope test

Shameless attempt to drive traffic to one of "your " threads, thereby increasing your "metrics".

Well done.

[Janik]

Sharapova fails a dope test

Masha would appreciate it, obviously. Always got to be looking for the promotional opportunity! ;-)

[ursus arctos]

Sharapova fails a dope test

Obviously very early, but the "mainstream sports media" reaction so far looks to me to be VERY different from what would have happened had this been one of the Williams sisters.

[Janik]

Sharapova fails a dope test

I hope and pray that will forever remain speculative. The only thing more disastrous than Sharapova being proved a doper would be Serena or Federer being so.

I've always found it rather odd that Sharapova wasn't one of the main targets of the wild innuendo brigade, mind. A major star, known for her powerful play and stand-offish attitude, hailing from Russia and very close to the national authorities (poster girl for the winter Olympics and all that)? Yet she never seemed to be the main one in the crosshairs.

[ursus arctos]

Sharapova fails a dope test

There's an interesting disconnect in the US sports media about sports figures who have linked themselves with Putin.

The ice hockey star Alexandr Ovechkin gets a similarly easy ride, with the only media who raise his very close relationship with Vlad generally being Russian expats.

[Borracho]

Sharapova fails a dope test

She has apparently been taking this stuff for ten years, for her "angina". It was announced in September that it was going on the banned list. She kept taking it. What a moron.

Good news, anyway – may she be the first of many, many big fish to get nailed to the wall.

[Bored Of Education]

Sharapova fails a dope test

She'll be fine. All she has got to do is show the unread email advising her that the drug had been banned.

[Janik]

Sharapova fails a dope test

That shouldn't work. Strict liability is clearly written into the code (see also Cilic). As the Woman herself said she is responsible for what she puts into her body, and knowing the rules of her sport.

[Jah Womble]

Sharapova fails a dope test

ursus arctos wrote: Obviously very early, but the "mainstream sports media" reaction so far looks to me to be VERY different from what would have happened had this been one of the Williams sisters.

Well, given that that hasn't happened...etc.

[Janik]

Sharapova fails a dope test

Jennifer Capriati has really laid into Sharapova on twitter.

Quotes are:-

"i didn't have the high priced team of drs that found a way for me to cheat and get around the system and wait for science to catch up"

"Im extremely angry and disappointed. I had to lose my career and never opted to cheat no matter what.i had to throw in the towel and suffer"

[ursus arctos]

Sharapova fails a dope test

Somewhat weird.

Capriati always had her own drug connections, she didn't need a "high priced team of drs".

[Janik]

Sharapova fails a dope test

And more. And more. Girl is ANGRY!

The world was much better before people had the opportunity to publish their immediate emotional thoughts to the world, wasn't it? A bit of time to stop, think and calm down helps enormously.

Edit - ursus, I think that is what is causing her to flip. She is reliving her own troubles and feeling a certain hypocrisy going around.

[ursus arctos]

Sharapova fails a dope test

Yes, this reads as if it has more to do with her own issues than Sharapova's.

[ursus arctos]

Sharapova fails a dope test

Hmmm, one in five Russian athletes tested positive for this drug?

[Janik]

Sharapova fails a dope test

Is 'tested positive' the right formulation for a then legal substance? Returned samples with it, more like...

Given that, though, one would think the Russian sporting authorities might have been giving their athletes a quiet nudge about the rule change. Sharapova isn't the only high profile Russian to go down for this today!

[Janik]

Sharapova fails a dope test

Oh, and Capriati kept going for a while after the report that ursus linked to. She appears to have signed off (for now) by saying that all Sharapova's titles should be revoked.

[ursus arctos]

Sharapova fails a dope test

I see your point, but would say that a test can be positive without a sanction applying.

Someone from the BBC tweeted today that when Edouard Vorganov of Katusha became the first sportsperson to run foul of this particular ban last month, he had been told by WADA sources to expect a spate of similar results.

[Janik]

Sharapova fails a dope test

Been hoping between here and the Tennis message board I lurk on. There is a handy summary of some of the Meldonium cases on there. It's already a fairly lengthy list. Not particularly geographically disparate, though.

[Janik]

Sharapova fails a dope test

Janik wrote: I hope and pray that will forever remain speculative. The only thing more disastrous than Sharapova being proved a doper would be Serena or Federer being so.

Federer has of course been out injured since the Australian Open ended, just like Sharapova. However he announced he was going in for surgery just days after losing the Melbourne Semi to Djokovic, which is surely far too fast for a test to have been processed and reported to him. Sharapova claims she got the letter from the ITF pretty recently.

And it mostly Eastern Europeans who are failing these tests. Federer has never had anything much to do with that area of the world... up until he appointed Ivan Ljubicic as his coach in December. *ulp*

[actually it's more Russia and closely related countries. Ljubicic is Croatian. So no sweat]

[ursus arctos]

Sharapova fails a dope test

It appears to be manufactured in Latvia, and is readily available in the former USSR.

The Ethiopian marathoner may be an outlier, though that's hard to be sure of without knowing about his training, etc.

[Borracho]

Sharapova fails a dope test

Jennifer Capriati was last seen appearing in court for beating the shit out of her ex-boyfriend a while back. She has huge problems.

Sharapova has been dropped by Nike, which of course still proudly sponsors Justin Gatlin and plenty of other obvious dopers.

[Janik]

Sharapova fails a dope test

They have suspended their contract with her, rather than terminating. Probably a prelude to re-negotiating rather than dropping her completely, given their seeming ambivalence to such issues.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Sharapova fails a dope test

What particular benefit is this now-banned one meant to provide, and can you tell Maria's had extra 'that' for ten years?

[Kevin S]

Sharapova fails a dope test

Janik wrote: Pretty sensational news on a global sports scale.

We are discussing it on the rolling Tennis thread, for those who don't bother checking that normally. Some of the cycling crew might want to add their two pennies worth...

Yeah, a Russian cyclist has been busted for the same within the last month.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/katushas-eduard-vorganov-provisionally-suspended-by-uci-for-doping-violation/

One of his team mates, Luca Paolini, was memorably banned for cocaine use last year, so the team now needs to prove their diligence if they are to avoid a suspension. (edit - though that's not entirely clear)

Here is cycling's current naughty step of suspended riders. This includes all disciplines, road, track, MTB, CX and so on.