A recent hack of the World Anti-Doping Agency has revealed that athletes are being given a "free pass" and their use of banned substances is being swept under the rug.
The information leaked by the group behind the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) hack raises lots of questions, as it revealed that some healthy athletes were allowed to use doping while the whole Russian Paralympic team was banned only on suspicion, Vladimir Putin has said."We don’t approve of what hackers do, but what they’ve done is definitely of interest to the international community, especially the sports community,” the Russian president said, as cited by RIA Novosti.
“It raises a lot of questions. It turns out that healthy athletes legally take medications that are prohibited for others, and the people who obviously suffer from serious illnesses and severe disabilities are being banned from the Paralympics only on suspicion of using some kind of drugs,” he added.
Earlier this week, hacktivists from the cyber group ‘Fancy Bears’ released files revealing that top world athletes had received the green light from WADA to take banned substances.
Prominent US sports stars - including tennis players Serena and Venus Williams, multiple Olympic gymnastics champion Simone Biles, and basketball player Elena Delle Donne - were mentioned among those who had received exemptions from WADA.
fyi - those given the green light also include Russian, US, German, UK, Czech, Danish, Polish and Romanian athletes.
The biggest question, of course, is why the entire Russian Para-Olympic Team, as well as their Track and Field Team, were banned based on suspicion, while the athletes noted above sailed through with a winning smile .....?
....................................
Christ, didn't take long for the wheels to start flying off WADA, huh? Dick Pound was smart to bail when he did. Even if he "took the credit" for his brave "expose" and such. Brave Sir Dick.
No it doesn't.
And it leaked a whole bunch of private medical records. Because of course no athlete has ever been disqualified for doping except for Russians, right?
Do they explain what this has to do with Russia's sport ministry using security forces to switch test samples to fake drug tests?
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/15/fancy-bears-leak-british-o...
Clearly, WADA is in a huge tailspin and diving towards an ignomonious end. It's "so" sad after all the "good work" they recently did.
The more of this comes out, the more the IOC will be inclined to jettison the WADA debris and detris. Of course, this had already started, with the distancing by the IOC from WADA over the Nazi-like collective punishment of the Russian athletes. Some good legal advice for the IOC there, methinks.
I'm looking forward to some of the more prescient rats parachuting from the disabled craft, before its explosive and horrific end. Again, Dick Pound was quite clever in covering himself with the "glory" of the recent expose of doping in Russia while abandoing ship at the same time. A job in TV rights should be very lucrative and none of the muck from the WADA disgrace should stick, God and MSM willing.
Round up the usual Russian suspects. Because ... if it's reported in Russian media then it "can't" be true.
So basically some athletes were caught following the rules.
There was nowhere near the amount of doping at the Rio Olympics this summer as opposed to previous Olympics. Why would that be? Oh yea, I forgot, very few Russians were allowed to compete. Humm........................
Meanwhile, back at the outhouse, things are piling up....
Nothing to see here! Move along! And those sneaky Russians! I'm sure they're responsible! Even if they're not! I mean, "Fancy Bears" ? A dead giveaway! Obviously Russian! Round up the usual suspects! And be quick about it!
There kind of isn't, though.
It's a list of athletes who followed the rules. Not particularly relevant to athletes -- or whole countries -- who broke them.
This is conspiracy theory number what today?
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-effective-ways-deal-arrogant-internet-tro...
It's not even much of a conspiracy theory, NR. It's more like a list of taxpayers who did declare any additional sources of income.
They named themselves "Fancy Bears", ikosmos. Sorry, but you can't pin that one on us Russophobes.
Don't know if they are trying to emulate MRA trolls with the funny animal name, or going all Dr. Evil with their "Greetings Citizens of the World".
Nicely done, Vlad. Seems he's popped the lid off this one. Is that a can o' whup ass I see?
Is that currently the case?
In other words, we now have a (partial) list of athletes with TUEs. How many are record holders, or medal winners?
Also, I seem to recall you believing that Maria Sharapova was unfairly penalized for taking Meldonium to correct her magnesium deficiency.
Did Putin change your mind about therapeutic use? What if you have a magnesium deficiency? What else is an athlete supposed to do about that??
Well sure, if all these other athletes are getting a free pass, why not Sharapova as well? Or is being Russian a "reason" to ban her? The way I read Putin's remarks ...he'd support applying the same standards to everyone.That's hard to understand for pathological Russophobes.
This loophole is big enough to drive a truck through. Vladimir Vladimirovich has a good point.
Performance enhancing drugs are used throughout the sports world. When you're competing against other athletes who use PED's, there isn't much you can do except more of the same. If you are one of the extremely naive who don't think PED's permeate the sports world, take a look at some NHL (for example) video from the 70's. The first thing that strikes you is the size of the players. They all look like children.
No one really wants to stop it because it would bring an end to record-breaking. At the same time, everyone wants to appear to be opposed to PED's, so they find the balance in just the way the article says. You have your doctor diagnose a condition, then you apply for an exemption.
Or, as in the case of BALCO, you invent a new form of a drug for which there is no test. The only way BALCO was eventually caught was a disgruntled employee who sent off a sample, and the means to test for it.
In other cases, you suffer an injury which takes you out of the sport for a few months, then return when traces of PED's are no longer in the system. That's probably the best strategy because it can also be worked with the 'therapeutic use' loophole.
The central point is there is no sport that has money associated with it (either as pay for playing or endorsements) that doesn't have extensive use of PED's. That is just a fact of life. One idea would be to split the sports world into two categories, drugs banned, and drugs allowed, or just allow the use of drugs for everyone.
The battle to ban drug use in sport is long since over. Maybe it's time to accept that fact.
Was her request for a TUE denied?
Shawn Barber Tested Positive For Cocaine Before Rio Olympics
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/trackandfield/shawn-barber-coca...
'I caught cocaine from a hook up.' And thereby hangs a tail...
What many are ignoring. What has been revealed is not all the athletes using TUES, but all the athletes using TUES that Fancy Bears wants revealed.
As an instructor, I will periodically receive a request for accommodation from a student with a disability. At my school, this request doesn't come directly from the student to me, but rather comes from a department that works with students with disabilities. The student makes their request to this department who validates it and gives the student a letter which they present to me. The letter simply outlines what accommodation is required.
This strikes a very reasonable balance between the interest of all parties (the school, other students, me, and the student in question) in ensuring a fair playing field, and the interest of a student in maintaining medical confidentiality (and also perhaps their interest in not having to negotiate accommodation with each instructor individually, over and over). I don't know what their disability is, nor do I need to.
It's not clear to me how a TUE isn't much the same thing. Seems to me that it also strikes a balance between the medical confidentiality of an athlete, and ensuring that athletes with chronic or acute medical issues aren't prevented from reasonably competing.
If your students stood to make several million dollars as a result of this process, would you perhaps have a different view of it?
In any case, TUE's, or no TUE's, performance enhancing drugs permeate the sports world. There is not a single sport in which they don't play a role.
Maybe it's time to give up the struggle, and just allow drugs.
Not specifically. I would certainly expect the department in charge to have some pretty robust policies and standards, but otherwise I'm not sure what we'd replace it with. I suppose we could take a page from Putin, and suggest that maybe students with disabilities need a "special" school, or tell them that perhaps they're just not cut out for education. Or we could "go public" with their health history and let the whole class decide whether they do or don't suffer from depression. But none of those sounds better to me.
Or we could just say your comparison was idiotic and let it go at that.
I think it was an entirely reasonable comparison. Really, it's exactly the same thing.
Students (athletes) submitting requests for accommodation to an independent department (WADA) to both permit that request to be validated impartially, and to respect the medical confidentiality of the student (athlete).
But if you have other axes to grind, or fish to fry, then get frying those axes or whatever. :)
from the year-end press conference (four hours long! amazing.)
On doping ...
The International Biathlon Union has dropped investigations into alleged doping by 22 Russian athletes, citing lack of evidence. 7 others are still being investigated.
Recall that the way McClaren made his report, with allegations based almost exclusively on the testimony of a single interested party, was to make his claims and then leave it to the various sporting federations to decide on their own how to handle things.
That single witness was himself under investigation by the Russian authorities. He was, however, able to escape prosecution and, reportedly, now has a shiny new lab, at taxpayer expense, somewhere in the US or Canada. Except for those kneejerk Russophobes, it's generally agreed that relying upon such a single witness, who himself is open to question, to make such damaging and public claims.
This result is good news for Russian biathletes and fairness, but it seems unlikely that, for example, the IAAF, heavily invested as it is in McClaren's unsubstantiated claims, are about to do the same as the IBU. Ditto for the IOC. If these organizations ever were forced to change their tune say, as a result of similiar lack of evidence, their whole operations of banning outright the entire Russian Track and Field team for the 2016 Olympics would put them in very hot water. Not that they wouldn't deserve it.
But it's a start towards some fairness, presumption of innocence, etc., which civilized states and related organizations should support.
International Biathlon Union Lacks Evidence of Doping for 22 Russian Athletes
I guess I should add that if more global sporting federations like the IBU also "discover" a lack of evidence, and make similar decisions, the pressure may build on others like the IAAF and IOC.
May.
So if I understand all of this correctly... the Russian Ministry of Sport doesn't consider Biathlon important enough for a "mousehole"?
Boy do you ever have anything to say that isn't just inanity designed to stir the pot and get people fighting? As I understand it The Russian Ministry of Sport doesn't think you are worth assassinating and that is the only reason you are still alive.
keep in mind there are different rules for in/out of competition with certain substances. And medical exemptions are common with athletes with SOME substances that would otherwise be banned in competition, when approved by a doctor, and under a certain time frame (may be barred from competing for a certain time or until they are medically cleared)