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Hope Solo

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jmnikricket

Apr 28, 2009
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I searched and could not find anything more than a brief mention in the Olympics thread... If I'm wrong, moderators do your thing!

Is no one else angry that Hope Solo, the US womens soccer (football) goalie was allowed to compete after testing positive for a banned diuretic? I feel that any cyclist short of Armstrong would get absolutely reamed and completely disgraced for a positive masking agent (as Frank Schleck will likely soon find out).

But she gets less than a slap on the wrist; US media dismisses it with a simple PMS med explanation (e.g. tainted beef, the kind of explanation cyclists pay litigation teams tremendous amounts of money to come up with and still fail). What happened to athletes being responsible for everything they put in their body? Since when has 'I didn't know what was in it' ever flown as a valid excuse in cycling?

Am I the only one that thinks that she got off because she is an attractive female and a Dancing With The Stars celebrity on the cover of ESPN and Fitness magazines? Is this a case of too big to fail? I feel the US gold is tainted with her positive test...
 
JRTinMA

JRTinMA

Jul 29, 2010
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jmnikricket said:
I searched and could not find anything more than a brief mention in the Olympics thread... If I'm wrong, moderators do your thing!

Is no one else angry that Hope Solo, the US womens soccer (football) goalie was allowed to compete after testing positive for a banned diuretic? I feel that any cyclist short of Armstrong would get absolutely reamed and completely disgraced for a positive masking agent (as Frank Schleck will likely soon find out).

But she gets less than a slap on the wrist; US media dismisses it with a simple PMS med explanation (e.g. tainted beef, the kind of explanation cyclists pay litigation teams tremendous amounts of money to come up with and still fail). What happened to athletes being responsible for everything they put in their body? Since when has 'I didn't know what was in it' ever flown as a valid excuse in cycling?

Am I the only one that thinks that she got off because she is an attractive female and a Dancing With The Stars celebrity on the cover of ESPN and Fitness magazines? Is this a case of too big to fail? I feel the US gold is tainted with her positive test...
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To the bold, yes, you are the only one.

She was found with a non-performance enhancing diuretic in her blood. She immediately cooperated with USADA and provided the source of the the Canrenone, a prescription supplied by her doctor to aid in the pre-menstrual cycle. She made a mistake, she was appropriately warned, end of story.
 
TylerDurden1

TylerDurden1

Jul 10, 2012
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JRTinMA said:
To the bold, yes, you are the only one.

She was found with a non-performance enhancing diuretic in her blood. She immediately cooperated with USADA and provided the source of the the Canrenone, a prescription supplied by her doctor to aid in the pre-menstrual cycle. She made a mistake, she was appropriately warned, end of story.
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schleck should use that excuse ...
 
M

Merckx index

Jul 27, 2010
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JRTinMA said:
To the bold, yes, you are the only one.

She was found with a non-performance enhancing diuretic in her blood. She immediately cooperated with USADA and provided the source of the the Canrenone, a prescription supplied by her doctor to aid in the pre-menstrual cycle. She made a mistake, she was appropriately warned, end of story.
Click to expand...

I’m not sure it’s quite that simple. Athletes take supplements that are later found to be contaminated, but they still get a sanction. It may be reduced if they cooperate, but it isn’t eliminated. Not unless the athlete is at no fault whatsoever, and if I understand the situation, that doesn’t seem to be the case here.

As far as I can tell, the only thing different about Solo’s situation from a contaminated supplement case is that the medication she took contains canrenone as one of its known components, rather than being a contaminant. Either that, or it contains another prohibited diuretic, spironolactone, which can be metabolized to canrenone. I’m not certain of that, but that’s how I read what has been publicized about the case. In fact, diuretics, for obvious reasons, are frequently components of this kind of medication.

But if that is indeed the case, one could argue that that makes the situation worse. An athlete has no way of knowing that a supplement or medication that is supposed to be free of some contaminant may actually have it. They are warned that they take it at their own risk. But if canrenone or spironolactone was a known component of the medication, all Solo had to do is read the label—as any athlete is supposed to do—and she would have known that. Every athlete knows they are supposed to be responsible for everything they put into their body. How a world class athlete can take some medication without even checking to see what it contains is beyond me. Particularly when that class of medication commonly contains diuretics, many of which any athlete is supposed to know are banned.

You might argue that this wasn’t a supplement, it was a necessary medication. But she could have requested a similar-acting medication that didn’t contain canrenone or spironolactone, that perhaps contained a non-banned diuretic (there are some on WADA’s list). Or she could have gone to USADA and asked for advice.

I think it’s pretty clear that she didn’t intentionally take canrenone in order to mask some other substance. I understand that you don’t want to sanction an athlete for a substance that wasn’t enhancing performance. I understand that many fans are sick of seeing athletes busted for harmless chemicals or harmless doses of chemicals, just because they could signify use of some other substance. But this sure sounds to me like preferential treatment for a vital member of the team. I have very little trouble imagining a less accomplished or important athlete getting sanctioned for this.
 
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JMBeaushrimp

Jul 6, 2010
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Dr. Maserati said:
Exactly, and it was pretty obvious he had a bad period at the Giro.
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Not to mention the fact that the Schleckies are infamous p*ssies.

Oh, that one may have got me in trouble...
 
Catwhoorg

Catwhoorg

Aug 24, 2011
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She really should have at a token suspension at least.

The US system (since before USADA was formed) however has a habit of overlooking positives, treating them favorably when its a big name in an Olympic year.
 
9

9000ft

Feb 4, 2010
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You know, she's probably dating the evil one Lance Armstrong. I'll bet she's also a client of Dr. Ferrari. Don't go half way with this one boys.
 
Dr. Maserati

Dr. Maserati

BANNED
Jun 19, 2009
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9000ft said:
You know, she's probably dating the evil one Lance Armstrong. I'll bet she's also a client of Dr. Ferrari. Don't go half way with this one boys.
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I was running out of good lines about Schleck, but here is something humorous - you bringing up Armstrong, when you write things like this....


9000ft said:
I put myself as someone who doesn't know how clean or not clean LA is/was and isn't too worked up about it one way or another and would be surprised one way or another. This is pretty much how I look at all professional cyclists. I have never met the man and certainly do not know him so I do not pretend to know what kind of a person he is, whether a saint of the cancer world or the biggest a$$hole that ever lived. Don't really consider it my business since I look at him as a bke racer and not a personal friend. I do admire his athletic achievements. Clean or not, the man owned what is probably the hardest test of endurance, will, and guts in the world for 7 years against a field of the worlds most elite -clean or not - cyclists.

What really amuses me though is how worked up so many people get about the guy. How many people who think they know him, what he does, who he sleeps with, etc. The reaction, more so from the haters than from the fanboys is facinating.
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D

Dalakhani

Sep 18, 2010
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She's a goalkeeper, so I'm not sure if there are a lot of avenues for her to make drug-related improvements.

If she got a bit lardy, fat loss drugs could help, I suppose. Maybe some muscle builders, but she wouldn't need much muscle for the job, so she'd have to be pretty lazy to not just go to the gym. (Unless she was injured and lost strength because she couldn't work out for a while.)

Or am I missing something?
 
O

Oldman

Jun 19, 2009
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pedaling squares said:
Isn't that, in other words, a masking agent like all other diuretics?
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My wife has similar "issues". Trust me...the scrip she and Solo takes does not enhance performance. Solo is local here and the best thing we can say is that this might make her less b*tchy.
 
JRTinMA

JRTinMA

Jul 29, 2010
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pedaling squares said:
Isn't that, in other words, a masking agent like all other diuretics?
Click to expand...

I just can't accept a goalie needs to dope, I just don't see any possible advantage. To this end, I accept her explanation and the facts she presented.
 
D

Dalakhani

Sep 18, 2010
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hrotha said:
Fun fact! Alessandro Nista, Parma's third goalkeeper in the second half of the 90s, allegedly had a hematocrit of 63%.
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Couldn't save a shot but, boy, could he run around for along time...
 
leftover pie

leftover pie

Jul 13, 2010
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before i leap to any conclusions i will study the evidence. .

hope-solo-pictures-sexy.jpg
 
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9000ft

Feb 4, 2010
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Dr. Maserati said:
I was running out of good lines about Schleck, but here is something humorous - you bringing up Armstrong, when you write things like this....
Click to expand...

Well Doc, in the clinic everything circles back to he who shall remain nameless. One doesn't want to disappoint the orthodoxy.
 
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