Turkish Lab retracts doping +

[BotanyBay]

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/02/diana_taurasi_cleared_of_turki.php#more

Now it's Instanbul (not Con-stan-tinople)...

Remember last year when Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi tested positive for doping agents while playing for a team in the Turkish Basketball Federation? You probably don't -- it is women's basketball. In any event, about that...

The lab that claimed Taurasi was doping has now retracted its report on the WNBA star, and she's since been cleared to play.

"The Federation has decided to lift the precautionary ban imposed on player Diana Lorena Taurasi to prevent the club and the player from being aggrieved further," the TBF says in a statement.

Taurasi's maintained her innocence since the allegations first surfaced last December. She recently told the Associated Press that "there's no way I've ever taken anything. ... Only thing that I'm guilty of is taking too many jump shots."

The TBF wouldn't say whether the lab made a mistake, only that after an "evaluation" of Taurasi's statements in her defense, it's retracted its report.

The substance for which Taurasi was said to have tested positive is called Modafinil, which has been banned in several professional sports after athletes like cyclist David Clinger and sprinter Kelli White used it as a performance-enhancing drug.

The drug is commonly used to treat sleep disorders but is also used to help athletes train. It was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's prohibited list in 2004 as it has "been shown to prolong exercise time to exhaustion while performing at 85 percent of VO2max and also reduces the perception of effort required to maintain this threshold."

Taurasi's led the WNBA in scoring four times, including the past three seasons. She was named league MVP in 2009 after leading the Mercury to a championship.

The big news about Taurasi being cleared of the doping charges is that she's now eligible to participate in the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Because of the doping allegations, Taurasi's eligibility for the Games was called into question. Now that she's been cleared, she should get the OK to join her teammates in London.

Joe, looks like you should have made some "statements in your defense" (In Turkish)

 

[Granville57]

The TBF wouldn't say whether the lab made a mistake, only that after an "evaluation" of Taurasi's statements in her defense, it's retracted its report.

I can appreciate the fact that something may have been lost in the Turkish translation but...

Now they don't "evaluate" samples or test results just...statements?

That must have been one helluva lexicon she had in play!

 

[Berzin]

Diana Taurasi is worth more money on the court than she is sitting home serving a suspension.

That's what the "statement" should have said.

 

[altark123]

Guys, I highly doubt this woman would be doping in the freaking Turkish league, give me a break.

 

[BotanyBay]

I just don't often see Modafinil mentioned. That's why I posted it.

 

[Merckx index]

after an "evaluation" of Taurasi's statements in her defense

It worked for Bert, why not for her?

 

[Autobus]

Diana Taurasi is worth more money on the court than she is sitting home serving a suspension.
That's what the "statement" should have said.

Except she's left Turkey and quit the team. According to today's New York Times, she currently has no intention on going back after what happened to her.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/02/16/sports/basketball/AP-BKL-Doping-Taurasi.html?ref=sports

BTW, women's basketball is very big in the countries around Turkey. Some of the biggest leagues are in Greece and Russia. WBA doesn't pay much, relatively, so some of the best players also play outside the U.S. during the WBA offseason. There would be the same motivations to improve their performance there as there is any professional sport.

 

[ksmith]

Positive cyclist "I went over a speed bump"

U.C.I. "Well you should have said, not guilty"!

 

[joe_papp]

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/02/diana_taurasi_cleared_of_turki.php#more

Now it's Instanbul (not Con-stan-tinople)...



Joe, looks like you should have made some "statements in your defense" (In Turkish)

lol...maybe you had to be there, but I'll never forget the incredulity that greeted me when I told Christiane Ayotte that I'd been "caught" for testosterone by the Turkish lab. She was like, "Whaaa? They declared you positive for whaaaaat? In Turkey? lol"

I felt like she was saying that there was a likelihood that the lab had screwed up (and remember, testosterone was not a substance that I was actively doping with at the time, and I'd not done any blood transfusions that could have shown the presence of synthetic T, either). I told her that I decided to accept the positive because although they were wrong about my having testosterone in my system, I was using at least three other doping products (which the lab couldn't detect) and thought it was time to throw-in the towel and that they were close enough.

 

[Greyhound Velo]

I told her that I decided to accept the positive because although they were wrong about my having testosterone in my system, I was using at least three other doping products (which the lab couldn't detect)...

Floyd said essentially the same thing about his test. positive, and that was from a somewhat more reputable lab. Maybe there is something to his claim that the lab screwed up? Not that he was clean, but still, they could have at least busted him for one of the techniques he was actually using .

 

[joe_papp]

Floyd said essentially the same thing about his test. positive, and that was from a somewhat more reputable lab. Maybe there is something to his claim that the lab screwed up? Not that he was clean, but still, they could have at least busted him for one of the techniques he was actually using .

Correct. Whether you believe him/me/us is of course an individual decision, but I can assure everyone that I didn't intentionally or knowingly take testosterone, and FLandis attests to the same thing. Unfortunately, none of this is fool-proof science that can be done by robots without the risk of false positives or human-like (lol) error.

 

[galaxy1]

Joe
if you were taking all sorts of other products, how do you know they were not contaminated with T? i'm guessing you weren't getting them from a reputable source?

as for Landis, throwing in the towel and confessing was his last resort, not his first.

 

[BotanyBay]

Do you think that it's possible that positives are being generated for the purposes of extortion?

Joe, think back now. After the supposed positive, did anyone ever say anything to you that might have been a "subtle" attempt at soliciting a payment from you?

 

[joe_papp]

Do you think that it's possible that positives are being generated for the purposes of extortion?

Joe, think back now. After the supposed positive, did anyone ever say anything to you that might have been a "subtle" attempt at soliciting a payment from you?

Ha. If they thought that was a possibility in my case, they certainly didn't do their research.

 

[BotanyBay]

Ha. If they thought that was a possibility in my case, they certainly didn't do their research.

So, do you think they're just inept, or do you think you might have had environmental contamination of some sort?

 

[joe_papp]

So, do you think they're just inept, or do you think you might have had environmental contamination of some sort?

I don't know honestly and I try not to think about it so as to avoid any what-if's. I don't think the EPO, growth hormone or cortico's were contaminated w/ steroid metabolites, but it could have come from a recovery drink or protein shake or been an error made by the lab. But as I thought then, "oh well, they got me for something - it wasn't what I was taking - but they finally got me."

 

[mwbyrd]

I don't know honestly and I try not to think about it so as to avoid any what-if's. I don't think the EPO, growth hormone or cortico's were contaminated w/ steroid metabolites, but it could have come from a recovery drink or protein shake or been an error made by the lab. But as I thought then, "oh well, they got me for something - it wasn't what I was taking - but they finally got me."

So do you believe that Landis is telling the truth that he didn't take Testosterone?

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

Any of this soud familiar, a la AC? Not exactly inspiring confidence...

 

[mwbyrd]

Any of this soud familiar, a la AC? Not exactly inspiring confidence...

Have to agree with you! Regarding Floyd, I couldn't believe how much effort went into proving a Testosterone positive. Thousands and thousands of pages of documents. Shouldn't it be much simpler. And why Test of all things? Heck, the results weren't even conisitent.

And for AC, the minute amount of clen in his system that only showed up in one day's test, not the other days he was tested (from my understanding).

If the guys are going to get busted, bust them on something solid and easy to prove.

 

[joe_papp]

So do you believe that Landis is telling the truth that he didn't take Testosterone?

I've had frank conversations with him during the past year when we've both been truthful about subjects that one or the other could have lied about to maintain some shred of dignity, perceived advantage or for political correctness, and we didn't - so I don't have any reason to believe he would lie to me personally about not having (knowingly or intentionally) taken testosterone

Of course he might have (lied to me). No, I'm not a scientist and despite testifying there I didn't follow the hearing in detail. I don't know his test data backwards and forwards, and I don't now support doping (that's a disclaimer for the haters who are waiting for something to pounce on). But all that said, I know from personal experience that you can test positive for steroids without having taken them within the time frame usually associated with the risk of a positive test. Likewise, you can be exonerated and found negative in controls even while doping with "heavy" agents like EPO or HGH.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the primary difference relevant to this discussion in this thread is that he's not said that it's possible he accidentally ingested something contaminated, whereas I've said that I could have been doped unknowingly by my team or consumed a contaminated nutritional product. Both are within the realm of possibility, but likewise one can't discount a false positive and poor analysis by the lab. Hence why I don't know exactly how the Turkish lab found me positive for 6α-OH-androstenedione or 6β-OH-androsterone but not for EPO or corticoids.

Any of this soud familiar, a la AC? Not exactly inspiring confidence...

How this applies to the current situation with Contador I'll let you all decide. Cheers.

 

[Granville57]

I felt like she was saying that there was a likelihood that the lab had screwed up (and remember, testosterone was not a substance that I was actively doping with at the time, and I'd not done any blood transfusions that could have shown the presence of synthetic T, either). I told her that I decided to accept the positive because although they were wrong about my having testosterone in my system, I was using at least three other doping products (which the lab couldn't detect) and thought it was time to throw-in the towel and that they were close enough.

Joe, I'm wondering if your confusion about the labs findings was ever brought up during the Landis hearing? It's my understanding that one of your roles there was to corroborate the fact the cyclist did, in fact, use testosterone and what the specific benefits of such use were. Correct?

(It's quite revealing now to look back on how many "expert" opinions were being bandied about at that time in regards to it being "unlikely" that a cyclist would use testosterone at all, as that is a substance usually viewed [by the general public] as something taken only to gain muscle mass, which is contrary to the idea of cyclists trimming themselves down as much as possible. Oh, how times change!)

But, was your own dilemma, of testing positive for something that you hadn't knowingly been using (at that time), ever revealed to either side during those proceedings?

Obviously, such a revelation would seem to substantiate the possibility of Landis' claims of a "false positive" as much as the rest of your testimony would contradict his defense. It would seem like quite the legal labyrinth either way.

I totally respect the fact that you may not be able to even to comment on this for any number of reasons.

 

[joe_papp]

Joe, I'm wondering if your confusion about the labs findings was ever brought up during the Landis hearing? It's my understanding that one of your roles there was to corroborate the fact the cyclist did, in fact, use testosterone and what the specific benefits of such use were. Correct?

(It's quite revealing now to look back on how many "expert" opinions were being bandied about at that time in regards to it being "unlikely" that a cyclist would use testosterone at all, as that is a substance usually viewed [by the general public] as something taken only to gain muscle mass, which is contrary to the idea of cyclists trimming themselves down as much as possible. Oh, how times change!)

But, was your own dilemma, of testing positive for something that you hadn't knowingly been using (at that time), ever revealed to either side during those proceedings?

Obviously, such a revelation would seem to substantiate the possibility of Landis' claims of a "false positive" as much as the rest of your testimony would contradict his defense. It would seem like quite the legal labyrinth either way.

I totally respect the fact that you may not be able to even to comment on this for any number of reasons.

Well, that I hadn't used it during the race I was declared positive for it still didn't alter the fact that testosterone is very effective and used widely (or was used, up until when I left in late-2006) - and that was the theme of my testimony. IIRC Landis's team was aware of the details of my actual lab data but its being all in Turkish and not translated made it not very useful in that compressed time.

I wouldn't put much significance on the fact that I was positive for something that I hadn't intentionally taken, at least with respect to its impacting other cases. The anti-doping agency would just argue that I was either lying or had consumed the substance then inadvertently.

I just hope things get better and cycling gets back to a place where it's interesting for the racing and not the potential for doping scandals.

 

[Granville57]

Thanks for the respsonse.

I just hope things get better and cycling gets back to a place where it's interesting for the racing and not the potential for doping scandals.

With the season underway and the Spring Classics just around the corner, I think it already has!

 

[Boeing]

And I was hoping for a "all dopers go to Turkish prison" type of post. come on botnayboy I expect more