Doping in China and the USA
"People who start out with puffers.."
Until my late teens I tried combining competitive sport with asthma and learned that sustained exertion is pretty much impossible, even with medication. But non-asthmatic friends who puffed my bronchodilator said it gave them wings.
The US Justice Department and the FBI have subpoenaed the head of the International Swimming Federation because they wish to issue arrest warrants for Chinese or Russians whose ‘crimes’ happened neither in the US, under US jurisdiction, against any US national and who have been tested and found innocent by WADA. WADA describes the allegations as “Highly charged, politically motivated”.
The Rules
WADA doping rules: During international competitions, WADA staff test participating athletes and, during non-competition times, randomly fly to countries and test athletes without prior notice.
USADA doping rules: The United States Anti Doping Agency is not affiliated with WADA, but tests American athletes outside international competitions and submits the results to WADA. WADA only tests US athletes during the international competitions so 90% of them are not randomly tested between international competitions. When they all undergo the same tests, this is the result:
What is a TUE?
An athlete who obtains a TUE, Therapeutic Use Exemption, can use an otherwise prohibited drug if he testifies that it addresses a significant health problem and won't act as a performance enhancer. TUEs are alleged to level the playing field for athletes suffering from medical concerns that can be treated with otherwise-banned drugs.
The Color Purple
Two-thirds of US swimmers are diagnosed with asthma which allows them to legally use bronchodilators and 63% of all ‘asthma’ TEUs go to the USA, Australia and France.
Salbutamol works by relaxing the muscles of the airways into the lungs, which makes it easier to breathe. Salbutamol comes in an inhaler (puffer). Exertion following Salbutamol intake causes a characteristic purple flush to the skin. So we have:
US and Aussie swimmers who didn't turn purple before, but turn purple now.
White people from EU don't turn purple, but white people from US and AU turn purple.
Asian people from China don't turn purple, but Asian people from US turn purple.
These US and AU athletes almost all had an atypical change of skin tone that they hadn’t shown in the past and is peculiar only to them.
To medical professionals it suggests a steroid analog that bypasses typical assay tests.
Why didn’t their face turn purple at other tournaments but only in recent olympic matches?
If it’s due to pool water conditions, why do not other swimmers’ faces show the same effect？
If it’s due to genetics, why does it happen to only US and AUS, but not EU and CHN swimmers?
If it’s due to genetics, why does an Asian member of the US team have the purple condition while Asians from Asia don’t?
When I remarked on our athletes’ purple faces an older friend replied, "I used to swim for health. One time I swam after using an Albuterol inhaler after having bronchitis and my partner freaked out when my face turned purple. Clearly the swimmers were using inhaler. They should be investigated”. Says Kathleen Tyson, “There should be an asterisk next to every name in Olympic records relying on a TEU. The US purple faced swimmers are an obvious, drugged up disgrace”.
Marchand, Peaty, Ledecky, Phelps et al are blessed with asthma and ADHD, which is why they puff steroid inhalers and pop amphetamines legally. Simone Biles was diagnosed with ADHD so she can legally take Adderall–a CNS stimulant given to US fighter pilots–in a sport where concentration is paramount. U.S. basketball standout Elena Della Donne obtained a four-year exemption for Adderall and hydrocortisone. Serena Williams had TUEs for various drugs, while Britain's five-time Olympic champion cyclist Bradley Wiggins and Mo Farah, four-time Olympic champion, had TUEs for drugs like salbutamol. In other words, the majority of top Western athletes use performance enhancing drugs.
The case of Erriyon Knighton
Erriyon Knighton, 20, tested positive for performance enhancer trenbolone, a banned steroid, during an out-of-competition test on March 26. But the USADA blamed contaminated meat for his positive result and allowed him to represent the US at the Paris Olympics, where he qualified for the semifinals of the Men's 200m.
In fact trenbolone, an anabolic agent, is an uncommon contaminant that strongly enhances strength and explosiveness and, in hundreds of trenbolone cases in recent years, athletes using the drug usually got four-year bans. Te USADA didn't start its investigation until two months after an arbitrator concluded that the contaminated meat came from a restaurant in Florida. Then it claimed to detect trenbolone in a different batch of beef purchased from the same restaurant, but didn't warn other athletes about the contamination or carry out studies on how much contaminated meat can cause a positive test.
WADA Loses Patience
WADA: “In one case, an elite level athlete, who competed at Olympic qualifier and international events in the United States, admitted to taking steroids and EPO yet was permitted to continue competing all the way up to retirement. Their case was never published, results never disqualified, prize money never returned, and no suspension ever served. "The athlete was allowed to line up against their unknowing competitors as if they had never cheated. In that case, when USADA eventually admitted to WADA what had been going on, it advised that any publication of consequences or disqualification of results would put the athlete’s security at risk and asked WADA to agree to non-publication. "Being put in this impossible position, WADA had no choice but to agree (after verifying with its Intelligence and Investigations Department that the security threat was credible). The athlete’s doping was therefore never made public.”
What did we learn today?
Says four-time Olympic medallist, Canadian Denny Morrison,"I’d like to believe that TUEs level the playing field, but you see a heck of a lot of athletes with puffers, which seems statistically unlikely. People who become world-class athletes don’t start out with puffers."
Can you verify that the images of purple-faced athletes have not been retouched?
The purple face thing is hilarious. Roger Boyd has a good article out that compliments this one well