CAS clears Richard Gasquet over Cocaine positive

[Ferminal]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/8417167.stm

Tested positive for cocaine during a tournament.

As far as I knew, recreational stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines were banned in-competition.

But it's ok if that substance supposedly got into your system via "kissing a woman in a nightclub".

Will there ever again be a ban for a positive to these substances?

 

[US Patent Exploding Cyclist]

Boonen tested positive three times for cocaine, but he was out of competition and his excuse was that his drink was spiked... three different times.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

I think Boonen only actually claimed the spiked drink once.

As for the "kiss" -- the CAS ruled that such trace amounts of coke were found in his sample, that it was very likely that the cocaine was transferred to him in this way, rather than him having used it.

AS I recall, Boonen's last positive for coke was also for a trace amount, perhaps he should have tried using this excuse. Of course, then he would have had massive problems with his girlfriend.....

Susan

 

[Ferminal]

As for the "kiss" -- the CAS ruled that such trace amounts of coke were found in his sample, that it was very likely that the cocaine was transferred to him in this way, rather than him having used it.

Susan

As long as it shows in the testing that it's "trace" amounts then I think it's fair judgment. Not sure why it had to go the whole way to CAS (and an appeal).

But at what point do trace amounts become performance enhancing?

If they were trace elements which couldn't be deemed performance enhancing then WADA should never have counted it a positive test.

If they could be deemed performance enhancing... Competitors need to be completely careful as no legitimate excuse would be enough (carelessness is not an excuse).

 

[dopingectomy]

As long as it shows in the testing that it's "trace" amounts then I think it's fair judgment.

Guess what feels Martina Hingis today. If "trace amounts" were found in the urine sample of Gasquet, the word "picotrace" looks appropriate in her case

And jurists should take a course in toxicokinetics because "trace amounts" are always found at the end of the excretion.

 

[Martinello]

When did Ockham's razor get so rusty?

What's the most likely way to test for trace amounts of cocaine?

a) Going to a night club, meeting a girl so jacked up on coke that she excretes considerable amounts of that into her saliva. Then engaging in some serious oral exchange of bodily fluids with cocaine chick in the disco absorbing enough cocaine to test non-negative afterwards. And unfortunately, cocaine chick cannot be found afterwards to give any testimony to confirm the story.

b) take cocaine, get tested when cocaine has almost the body?

This ruling from CAS makes a mockery of all anti doping practices. I bet Dieter Baumann will try his tooth paste case again after this decision.

 

[poupou]

No trace were found in his hair. So probably not a regular user. I don't know if a single "sniff" would be detected by hair testing.

 

[Anonymous]

I remember once when they decided to test cash in Miami to see if they found traces of drugs. They wanted to see if they could identify certain places where drug money ended up. It turned out that ALL the money in Miami was contaminated. Being a cycling fan has trained me to be a skeptic, but this tennis tournament was in Miami. I buy it.

The CAS statement continued: "The panel based its ruling on the evidence provided by the experts called by both the player and the ITF, who agreed that the amount of cocaine metabolite was so minute that it must have reflected incidental exposure, rather than use in the amounts commonly taken by social users of cocaine.

"Furthermore, it was also established that the player was clearly not a regular cocaine user, even in very small amounts. As a consequence, the possibility of contamination became the most plausible explanation justifying the presence of cocaine metabolite in the player's urine.

"On a balance of probability, the CAS panel concluded that it was more likely than not that the player's contamination with cocaine resulted, as Gasquet always asserted, from kissing a woman in a nightclub in Miami on the day before the anti-doping test and that the player had met the required standards of proof with respect to the way of ingestion."

 

[craig1985]

When did Ockham's razor get so rusty?

What's the most likely way to test for trace amounts of cocaine?

a) Going to a night club, meeting a girl so jacked up on coke that she excretes considerable amounts of that into her saliva. Then engaging in some serious oral exchange of bodily fluids with cocaine chick in the disco absorbing enough cocaine to test non-negative afterwards. And unfortunately, cocaine chick cannot be found afterwards to give any testimony to confirm the story.

b) take cocaine, get tested when cocaine has almost the body?

This ruling from CAS makes a mockery of all anti doping practices. I bet Dieter Baumann will try his tooth paste case again after this decision.

An Australian sportsman a few years ago used the execuse, "My mum gave it too me" after testing positive for a masking agent for steriods.

 

[BroDeal]

What's the most likely way to test for trace amounts of cocaine?

a) Going to a night club, meeting a girl so jacked up on coke that she excretes considerable amounts of that into her saliva. Then engaging in some serious oral exchange of bodily fluids with cocaine chick in the disco absorbing enough cocaine to test non-negative afterwards. And unfortunately, cocaine chick cannot be found afterwards to give any testimony to confirm the story.

b) take cocaine, get tested when cocaine has almost the body?

I don't know which is most likely, but I want to party with that girl.

 

[Cerberus]

When did Ockham's razor get so rusty?

What's the most likely way to test for trace amounts of cocaine?

a) Going to a night club, meeting a girl so jacked up on coke that she excretes considerable amounts of that into her saliva. Then engaging in some serious oral exchange of bodily fluids with cocaine chick in the disco absorbing enough cocaine to test non-negative afterwards. And unfortunately, cocaine chick cannot be found afterwards to give any testimony to confirm the story.

b) take cocaine, get tested when cocaine has almost the body?

This ruling from CAS makes a mockery of all anti doping practices. I bet Dieter Baumann will try his tooth paste case again after this decision.

Thing is if the amount are sufficiently small that there is no performance enhancing effect is it really doping even if it is B?

 

[Martinello]

Thing is if the amount are sufficiently small that there is no performance enhancing effect is it really doping even if it is B?

Assuming first order pharmaco kinetics for the elimination of cocaine, the amount of cocaine (or the metabolite benzoylecgonine) decreases over time (half-life 6-8 hours for plasma/oral fluids). So if a solid dose has been taken at day 1, you would most likely be below the cut-off value of the immuno-assay/mass spectroscopy (300ng/ml) by day 8 or nine. When a substantial amount of the metabolite has been excreted you end up with 'trace amounts' (from now on termed. discoteque threshold).

Some studies (Ref. Drummer; Forensic Science Intl. 150, 2005 (133-142)), have addressed the pharmacokinetics of cocaine excreted in oral fluids. Doses of 20-40mg taken either IV or nasally resulted in peak oral fluid concentrations of 0,4-1,9 micrograms/ml. So a tennis player would have to expose his oral cavity to a lot of saliva to passively absorb more than say 40 micrograms of cocaine.

If the tennisplayer absorbs 40 mics cocaine then he would still have to redistribute this cocaine in his own body (thus lowering the concentration considerably), start the elimination and renally excrete it. After that, he should be a lot closer to the 0ng/ml than the lower cut off (300ng/ml).

 

[= 7 1 4 =]

is he guilty of doping? if you have coke in your urine, you're guilty of violating doping policies.

while he probably used it recreationally, stimulants still increase athletic performance. no way to tell, he could have used it in training.

let's say on your hard days you do some lines before you train. under the influence of stimulants, you will push harder and not be effected by fatigue and the mental strain of hard training, which will make you stronger at a competition a few weeks or months down the road.

if you have a single nanogram of coke in your p*ss, it means you do coke or have "done" coke. that won't happen from a "kiss." even if cocaine is detected at a very low level, an athlete could still have derived performance-enhancing benefits from using it at an earlier time, which constitutes an unfair advantage from a street drug which is also a PED. i'm tired of pathetic athlete excuses and weak organizations dismissing BS lies like this. if he said he wanted to get high to have a good time, i'd have more respect for him. no respect in lies.

 

[Mambo95]

An Australian sportsman a few years ago used the execuse, "My mum gave it too me" after testing positive for a masking agent for steriods.

Do you really think he was on steroids? Why would he need steroids to bowl leg spin?

He was fat and sensitive about it, so he took a slimming drug (quite possibly from his mum), just like he fixed his hair with transplants.

 

[Ferminal]

Do you really think he was on steroids? Why would he need steroids to bowl leg spin?

He was fat and sensitive about it, so he took a slimming drug (quite possibly from his mum), just like he fixed his hair with transplants.

Would steroids have helped to recover from shoulder injury?

If you want to use a cricket example, look at Mohammad Asif. Positive to nandrolone twice, and arrested in Dubai for rec. drugs.

Yet he wouldn't have missed 18 months of cricket all up.

 

[dsut4392]

Do you really think he was on steroids? Why would he need steroids to bowl leg spin?

He was fat and sensitive about it, so he took a slimming drug (quite possibly from his mum), just like he fixed his hair with transplants.

He tested positive for a diuretic, IOW a masking agent for anything that's excreted in urine, not just steroids.

Probably needed to dope to increase his texting and sledging power and endurance...

Such shenanigans are just not cricket...

 

[Nearly]

...

Such shenanigans are just not cricket...

He's entitled to a wrongun every now and again - after all he could not bowl them

 

[Nearly]

... and to spin the thread back to cycling perhaps he had his eye on the Warny!

 

[joe_papp]

is he guilty of doping? if you have coke in your urine, you're guilty of violating doping policies.

while he probably used it recreationally, stimulants still increase athletic performance. no way to tell, he could have used it in training.

Not in anyway saying that you're wrong or that it couldn't happen, but why mess around with a DEA scheduled narcotic when you could get the same effect from the prescription drugs usually given to treat ADHD/ADD? You're still cheating and, if the script isn't yours for a legit condition, then you're probably outside the law, but far less so that having to carry an eight-ball of coke next to your protein powder and carbohydrate gels.