The Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) president believes organized doping is behind the fifteen Greek athletes who have failed anti-doping tests before and during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Former 400-meter hurdles champion Fani Halkia, swimmer Ioannis Drymonakos, 400-meter runner Dimitrios Regas, sprinter Tassos Gousis and eleven unidentified Greek weightlifters all tested positive for the same prohibited anabolic steroid – methyltrienolone (“HOC president: Greek sports face organized doping,” August 18). 

“There are 15 people, all with the same substance. This is the strangest thing, because it leads to the conclusion that there is an organized effort,” Minos Kyriakou told The Associated Press. The athletes — 11 weightlifters, three runners and a swimmer — all tested positive for methyltrienolone, a banned steroid. “There is an organized crime — because that is what this is called,” Kyriakou said. “Because it seems there is a lot of money hidden there, a lot of profit.”

While Kyriakou believed organized doping resulted in the methyltrienolone positives, he was careful to dismiss suggestions of systematic doping.

“It’s not systematic, but definitely there are some guys who know the sources and I think the state needs to take care to discover that,” Kyriakou said Sunday. “At the end, they have to be punished by the state.”

The phrases “organized doping” and “systematic doping” are often used interchangebly. But I’m guessing that Kyriakou apparently made the distinction to deflect suggestion of state-sponsored systematic doping of Greek athletes. WADA, on the other hand, apparently had suspicions of systematic doping and a potential cover-up at the WADA/IOC approved anti-doping lab in Athens when they chose to test samples at a lab in Germany (“Greek media accuse Olympic team of cover up,” April 13).

Another unexplained aspect of the whole case which seems to suggest  WADA had suspected attempts to mount a cover up is the fact that samples taken from the Greek team were tested in Cologne, Germany, rather than Athens which has one of the world’s most advanced anti – doping labs. Don Catlin, a leading expert on doping,in an interview with NEA, expressed surprise that WADA had choosen not to follow the normal procedure and allow the samples to be examined in the country involved.

Kyriakou did not name who he felt was behind the organized doping although many have blamed Greek weightlifting coach Christos Iakovou who claims to have imported contaminated supplements containing methyltrienolone from the Chinese company Auspere Technology.

I spoke with chemist Patrick Arnold of Ergopharm in Dallas last weekend. He has largely put the BALCO scandal behind him and no longer concerns himself with the tactics used by athletes to beat the drug tests. But when he work with IOC/WADA-tested athletes and created undetectable steroids such as THG, Patrick Arnold told me that several athletes used methyltrienolone in the 1990s to successfully pass doping controls. Anti-doping tests were not sensitive enough to detect the small quantities of the steroid required for performance enhancing effects. He was somewhat surprised that methyltrienolone was detected by drug testers in the Greek Weightlifting steroid scandal suggesting anti-doping tests have improved for the substance.

The fact that athletes were being caught using methyltrienolone was apparent to the international athletic community as early as April 2008 when the Greek weightlifters were busted. So, it seems highly unusual and even unlikely that systematic and/or organized doping was involved in the Greek doping scandal. Why would athletes continue to use methyltrienolone when it was obvious that it could be detected and that anti-doping agencies were looking for it specifically in Greek athletes? Would an organized doping effort be so utterly incompetent as to ignore such a threat and continue doping athletes with a detectable steroid?

This would seem to give more credence to claims of widespread supplement contamination and/or sabotage as alternate explanations to HOC president Minos Kyriakou’s claim of organized doping.

Sprinter Dimitris Regas denied the use of anabolic steroids and claimed sabotage.

Regas claimed he was a victim of “some people who want to attack (Greek) athletics,” adding he would lodge an official complaint against the parties in question, without specifying who they might be.

The coach for 400 meter hurdler Fani Halkia and Dimitris Regas, George Panagiotopoulos, has denied the use of steroids and claimed sabotage.

“It would be my pleasure for Greek justice to intervene.  I want them to intervene. My two athletes (Halkia and Regas) did not use methyltrienolone. I believe there has been sabotage or tampering at doping control.  I had never heard of that substance, and only learned about it after the weightlifting scandal.  One thing is certain, that I would never give such substances to my athletes.  How is it possible that one would take prohibited substances only a few days prior to the Olympics, you would have to be insane.”

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Swimmer Dara Torres is an extraordinary athlete. The possibility that a 41-year old mother can compete alongside the best elite swimmers in the world with a legitimate chance at winning a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics is nothing short of phenomenal. There is nothing – no news or revelation – that could diminish her achievements in my eyes.

Having said that, I am disappointed to see Dara Torres publicly assert her moral superiority over other athletes who use performance enhancing drugs. Torres comes across as disingenous if not hypocritical when she decries the lack of a conscience in other competitors who use performance enhancing drugs.

After all, Torres sought a diagnose of asthma approximately 18 months and petitioned WADA/IOC for a theraepeutic use exemption (TUE) that would allow her to use the performance enhancing drugs Proventil (albuterol) and Symbicort (formoterol). But Torres still has a moral conscience, its just the other swimmers who do not (“Torres: Too bad some athletes don’t have a conscience,” August 6).

Unfortunately that’s just the way the world is today and it’s too bad that some athletes don’t have a conscience and think it’s OK to do that and think that if they win or do well that they did it the right way.

“So, for those of us who have a conscience, we know we’re doing it the right way and there’s nothing you can do.”

Obviously, the right way involves the use of performance enhancing drugs with a TUE. The “right way” also involves her use of the controversial Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit, which has been likened to “technological doping,” during her comeback.

Dara Torres occupation of the moral high ground comes across as an affront to her former Olympic teammate Jessica Hardy. Hardy was kicked off the U.S. Swim Team and disqualified from the 2008 Beijing Olympics for using a drug that is very similar to the performance-enhancing drugs used by Torres. The culprit in Hardy’s case, clenbuterol, belongs to the same class of long-acting beta-2 adrenergic agonists (LABAs) as Torres’ albuterol and formoterol.

I have no problem with unhealthy athletes using performance enhancing drugs. But if we allow some athletes to use PEDs, we need to allow all athletes to use PEDs, including the healthy ones.

Torres’ use of LABAs represents the “right way” to use performance enhancing drugs. Hardy’s use of LABAs represents the “wrong way.” This is apparently a very important lesson in moral values to Torres.

Certainly, Dara Torres is following WADA/IOC rules. Her use of PEDs is sanctioned by WADA. Her use of the LZR Racer is sanctioned by WADA/FINA/IOC. But given the arbitrary and capricious nature of the WADA code, I hope Torres abandons her self-righteous stance and exercises restraint in passing moral judgments on her competitors.

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Swimmer Jessica Hardy has withdrawn from the United States Olympic Team bound for the 2008 Beijing Olympics after testing positive for low levels of the long-acting beta-2 adrenergic agonist (LABA) clenbuterol. Hardy maintains that she never knowingly or unintentionally consumed clenbuterol or any other banned susbtance.

The question of why and how clenbuterol appeared in Jessica Hardy’s sample remains a mystery. Was Hardy simply caught doping? Or were the “dietary supplements” used by Hardy contaminated or spiked with the banned substance clenbuterol? The supplement company Advocare was cited as one of the brands of dietary supplements used by Jessica Hardy.

Intentional doping

Why would Jessica Hardy take clenbuterol when drugs with similar performance-enhancing effects were legally available to her and all other swimmers with therapeutic use exemptions for asthma medications?

The performance enhancing effects of clenbuterol are not significantly different from those of other beta-2 agonists like albuterol, formoterol, salbutamol, salmeterol and terbutaline that are used by other Olympic swimmers. Swimming phenom Dara Torres uses the two legal beta-2 agonists (LABAs) Proventil (albuterol) and Symbicort (formoterol) and seems to be doing pretty well. Why would Hardy use an illegal drug when the legal PEDs are just as good?

Accidental doping

The quality control problems of dietary supplements are well known. Over the past several years, several reports have revealed that a significant percentage of supplements were contaminated with steroidal ingredients and/or stimulants. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) recently identified 22 supplements sold over the counter that contain anabolic steroids. Last month, a British study found that 1 in 10 supplements contain ingredients banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). A brief review of these reports did not find any evidence of dietary supplements showing cross-contamination with clenbuterol.

Most sports nutrition supplement companies have an official or unofficial disclaimer stating that their products are not intended for athletes competing in organizations subject to anti-doping procedures. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education (DSHEA) permits several products that are not permitted by WADA and other professional sports organizations. As a result, most supplement companies created products for the mass market of fitness enthusiasts, recreational athletes and bodybuilders rather than create WADA/IOC approved supplements for an infinitesimally small number of elite athletes.

Jessica Hardy publicly acknowledged using several supplements from Advocare. In fact, she endorsed the Advocare product line. Advocare listed the products used by Hardy on the “Our Endorsers” page for Jessica Hardy (which has been removed in the past week but is still cached by Google).

 O₂ GOLD™
 Rehydrate Electrolyte Replacement Drink
 Arginine Extreme
 AdvoCare® Muscle Fuel Pre-Workout Drink
 Muscle Gain™ Protein Shake
 Muscle Strength™
 Nighttime Recovery
 Post-Workout Recovery Sports Drink
 Catalyst™
 Amplify A.T.

Advocare is a multi-level marketing company who actively recruits professional athletes to endorse and use their products. As such, we would expect Advocare to spare no expense assuring drug-test athletes that their products contain no banned substances.

Unfortunately, Advocare ONLY obtained independent certification for ONE of the ten products used by Jessica Hardy (Advocare Muscle Fuel) by a leading supplement testing organization. The Banned Substances Control Group (BSCG) requires that each and every batch of Advocare Muscle Fuel is analyzed and certified to be free of more than 80 banned substances including clenbuterol. Failure to do so results in the immediate disqualification of the company from the BSCG program. Advocare advertises its current participation in the BSCG certification program on its website.

AdvoCare® has obtained independent certification of AdvoCare Muscle Fuel™ Pre-Workout Drink through the Banned Substances Control Group (BSCG™). With this certification you can be assured that this revolutionary performance supplement is free of substances including anabolic agents and stimulants banned by major athletic associations. In addition to the power of the AdvoCare Scientific & Medical Advisory Board and the Sports Advisory Council, the BSCG certification brings confidence that Muscle Fuel not only works but it’s safe.

The Banned Substances Control Group uses a World Anti Doping Agency accredited laboratory to analyze dietary supplements for substances banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Football League (NFL), and other drug-tested sports leagues.

Is it possible that the Advocare supplements used by Jessica Hardy contained clenbuterol?

In the absence of independent, third-party certification of 9 of the 10 Advocare products used by Hardy, clenbuterol cross-contamination is possible although unlikely. Clenbuterol contamination of dietary supplements is not known to be a problem; also it seems extremely unlikely that a company recruiting so many elite athletes would intentionally spike their supplements with banned substances. So, there is a good chance that Advocare is being unfairly maligned with Jessica Hardy’s misfortunes.

Advocare has strongly denied implications that any of their products ever contained clenbuterol or have caused Jessica Hardy or any other athlete to test positive for a banned substance due to ingesting their supplements.

Contrary to any false and misleading reports, AdvoCare products contain no ingredients banned by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) or the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which monitor Olympic and amateur sports, or by the NCAA, NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS, or NASCAR. AdvoCare is aware of recent information about AdvoCare and some of the company’s athletic endorsers in regard to our products and remains completely confident that all of our products contain only approved substances.

In the company’s 15-year history, AdvoCare products have never tested positive for banned substances of any kind with any of our athletic endorsers.

The good news is that there should be plenty of evidence (in the form of product lab anaylses) available in the foreseeable future that will fully exonerate either Jessica Hardy or Advocare.

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I am disappointed by the mainstream media coverage of Olympic swimmer Jessica Hardy’s failed drug test for clenbuterol (an asthma medication).

NBC was apparently the first news organization to identify the banned substance as clenbuterol. They did not elaborate on the drug other than to identify it as a “stimulant” which was of course very misleading.

Clenbuterol was not identified as an asthma medication. It was not revealed that numerous other Olympic swimmers are permitted to use similar asthma drugs as long as they have a therapeutic use exemption (TUE). In all fairness to Jessica Hardy, this information should be provided at the outset to provide the appropriate context for any story about her positive test.

Washington Post Staff Writer Amy Shipley regularly writes about doping in sports, so I was very disappointed that Shipley failed to specifically identify clenbuterol as an asthma medication. She did not mention that other Olympic swimmers are allowed to use similar asthma drugs. In fact, there was not a single instance of the word ‘asthma’ in her 600+ word article. 

Shipley certainly did not identify clenbuterol as belonging to a therapeutic class of drugs known as beta-2 agonists or long-acting beta-2 adrenergic agonists (LABAs). But she identified clenbuterol in various other sensationalistic ways (“Hardy’s Positive Test Rocks Swimming,” July 25).

• “banned stimulant”
• “abused for its weight-loss properties”
• “abused in the bodybuilding community for years”
• “considered a weight-loss aid”
• “bodybuilders take it to make themselves look cut”

Associated Press (AP) sports writer Beth Harris waited halfway through her article before reporting that clenbuterol is “approved in some countries” for the treatment of asthma and is “not an anabolic steroid” (“Swimmer Hardy tests positive for little-known drug,” July 24).

Harris initially identifies clenbuterol only as a “banned anabolic agent” not ruling out the possibility that the banned substance was a type of anabolic steroid. In all fairness to Ms. Harris, WADA includes clenbuterol in the “anabolic agents” category along with anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.

She then suggests that Hardy’s failed clenbuterol test is similar to swimmer Jessica Foschi’s failed steroid test in 1995 (again suggesting that clenbuterol could be a steroid). The only similarities appear to be the fact that they are both female swimmers and they both failed a drug test.

The AP article includes several quotes from the famed “steroid hunter” Don Catlin who reveals he is becoming increasing out of touch with doping by athletes.

“It’s a complex drug,” said Dr. Don Catlin, who oversaw testing for anabolic agents at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and who ran the country’s first anti-doping lab at UCLA for 25 years. “We know very little about it.”

Clenbuterol has actually been used extensively by athletes and bodybuilders for over 15 years; clenbuterol and various other LABAs have been studied extensively over this time frame for their effects on performance. 

Don Catlin also who takes the opportunity to demonize clenbuterol discussing its toxicity by referencing the “epidemics” it caused.

“It can be pretty toxic,” Catlin said. “There have been some epidemics where human beings have ingested it by ingesting meat and that has given them some pretty bad reactions. That’s surely one of the reasons it doesn’t get into the U.S.”

Catlin makes clenbuterol seem like a scary drug but don’t forget that WADA and FDA approved LABA drugs have similar side effects and even include some “black box warnings.” Olympic swimmers can still use these “scary” drugs (as long as they have a therapeutic use exemption).

Clenbuterol is not a “little known” or “little-used” drug as suggested by the headline attached to the AP story by USA Today and ESPN, respectively. The San Francisco Chronicle sensationalizes the Hardy’s positive test with a headline stating ”tainted test had horse medication.”

I don’t know what to say about Michael Lohberg. He is the swimming coach of Dara Torres.

“I don’t think we will ever have a clean sport,” he said. “The testers can only find what they are looking for and there will always be people in this world for whatever reason – fame, money – will always find ways to cheat and be ahead of everyone else.”

The irony is that swimmer Dara Torres makes no secret of her use of albuterol and formoterol; these drugs have practically identical performance enhancing effects as clenbuterol. Dara Torres has a therapeutic use exemption.

Regrettably, no one in mainstream media is connecting the dots and providing the full backdrop for the use of asthma medications in elite swimming.

Jessica Hardy deserves to have her alleged use of a banned asthma medication placed in the proper context.

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U.S. Olympic swimmer Jessica Hardy tested positive for the asthma medication Clenbuterol in both A and B samples at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska on July 1st and July 4, 2008. Clenbuterol is a bronchodilator belonging to a class of drugs known as beta-2 adrenergic agonists or long-acting beta-2 adrenergic agonist (LABA) . Clenbuterol is similar to Albuterol and Salmeterol which are also LABAs.

It is well-known that a high percentage of elite swimmers have exercise-induced asthma. It is also known that most asthmatic swimmers competing in the Olympics have therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) to use beta-2 agonists like albuterol, formoterol, salbutamol, salmeterol and terbutaline for therapeutic purposes.

The amazing swimmer Dara Torres makes no secret of her use of albuterol and formoterol; these are two different beta-2 agonists (LABAs). She probably tests positive for these substances on a regular basis too since United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) tests her frequently due to her participation in Project Believe.

Dara Torres has a therapeutic use exemption. She is permitted to take the banned performance-enhancing drugs Albuterol and Symbicort for “therapeutic” purposes as long as it does not exceed the arbitrarily defined threshold of 1,000 nanograms per milliliter.

The 2008 WADA Prohibited List has provisions for athletes to use specific banned performance enhancing drugs as long as they are granted a therapeutic use exemption (TUE). Athletes can use the following banned asthma drugs if they have a TUE and the banned substances never exceed the defined threshold during testing – albuterol, formoterol, salbutamol, salmeterol and terbutaline.

So why is Jessica Hardy’s positive test for a similar asthma medication such a problem?

Hardy is known to have asthma. We are guessing that she has a therapeutic use exemption. And it is has been reported that the levels of clenbuterol detected in her positive samples were very low, certainly at levels consistent with therapeutic use.

Apparently, two asthma medications in the beta-2 agonists (LABAs) category have been prohibited even for therapeutic purposes. These asthma medications are clenbuterol and zilpaterol; they are classified as “anabolic agents” and detection will result in an adverse analytical finding (AAF) or failed test.

Some examples of LABAs approved by WADA for therapeutic purposes include Advair Diskus, Advair HFA, Brovana, Foradil, Perforomist, Proventil, Serevent Diskus, Symbicort, and Ventolin.

Interestingly, the effects of these “approved” drugs are very similar to clenbuterol. Clenbuterol was classified as an anabolic agent based on dosages used in livestock and NOT therapeutic dosages used in humans. We expect that Albuterol and other approved LABAs would exhibit practically identical anabolic effects if they were administered at similar dosages in livestock. 

Oh and by the way, the dosages of LABAs shown to be anabolic in livestock would be fatal in humans as it is several hundred times the therapeutic human dosage.

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