Rex Harvey’s mea culpa on drug-testing: He meant ‘random’
Rex Harvey (left) at Lahti with Stan Perkins.
About Ken Stone
Ken has followed track as an athlete, writer and web-master since the late 1960s, and saw most sessions of track and field at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He also attended the 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Trials, the last three as a blogger and Patch correspondent. [More...]
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9 Responses
That makes much more sense than “out of competition. Frankly I was pretty shocked that Bridget Cushen suggested that. It seemed out of character for her. Glad to know that it is not true.
That is what is done now at European Masters competitions and what will be done at USATF Masters competitions. Out of competition testing is very expensive – difficult to manage for the elites, and just plain crazy to suggest for masters. Now that the hysteria is over about OOC for masters – not gonna happen – maybe those who oppose it for national masters competition will calm down.
BTW – very interesting article in Runners World 10/29/2010 – you can read it online “The confessions of Eddy Hellebuyck” the masters marathoner who was caught using EPO 6 years ago. He spent time, money, and the good will of many in denying it – but now he confesses – yes he used EPO.
If you think Eddy Eellebuyck is the only master doper – think again. He did it for money, fame, and glory – could not deal with the impact of aging. He is not offering to give back the money he won nor the titles.
He is not the only masters competitor using PEDs. Random drug testing has caught a handful (in international meets) – testing at USATF national meets could catch some – or scare a few into stopping. Most masters do not have the money nor the connections to do what Eddy did – but some are trying other stuff – to get a chemically enhanced advantage over their compeitors.
I’m wondering if masters testing will start at outdoor nationals as previously announced or will funds be tied up trying to settle with Doug Logan?
You must be following this more closely than I am, Bubba. But then I know almost nothing about what is supposed to happen. Sort of like the first time I took a date to the big dance at high school (a private boarding school). I even asked some of my dorm mates what I was supposed to do (I had no idea).
With drug testing it has been long anticipated, but what will it really be like? Maybe it will be much different than we expect, and maybe it will be delayed. We know that Doug Logan will want quite a bit of money now that he no longer works in Indianapolis, some of which could be $ that would have gone to testing masters.
How’s this for a scenario? We have a lot of competitors who are inexperienced as well as many stars with impressive backgrounds. To vaguely paraphrase what Prof. Milan Jamrich of Baylor, the well-known high jumper, said a couple of years ago, for some masters athletes “it’s like Woodstock.” Hey, look at that event, maybe I should enter it even if I can’t do it.
I envision that this same inexperienced person, or someone like him/her, will be “busted” for taking some everyday (prescribed) drug that just happens to be on the list. Therapeutic Use Exemptions, what are they?
Will be interesting to see what actually happens when this all goes into effect.
Possible drug testing problem:
Genetics may affect testing for drugs in athletes.
A genetic peculiarity could help devious athletes beat drug tests and could unfairly ruin players who are honest. The genetic variation affects an enzyme that processes testosterone. Although testosterone is primarily known as a male sex hormone, it is made in the body by both men and women.
To differentiate between naturally present hormone and synthetic testosterone from steroid use, drug tests measure a ratio of two chemicals found in urine. One chemical, epitestosterone glucuronide (EG), is made at a constant level in the body, regardless of testosterone levels. The other chemical, testosterone glucuronide (TG), is a by-product of testosterone. Testosterone abuse is usually assessed by the urinary testosterone/epitestosterone (T/E) ratio. Levels above 4.0 are considered suspicious.
The large variation in TG excretion and its strong association with a deletion polymorphism in the uridine diphospho-glucuronosyl transferase (UGT) 2B17 gene challenge the accuracy of the T/E ratio test. The enzyme UGT2B17 adds a chemical to testosterone to prepare it for secretion in the urine. Scientists in Sweden found that some people completely lack the gene that produces UGT2B17, and this difference can affect results of doping tests.
About 15 percent of 145 healthy male volunteers lacked the enzyme entirely; 52 percent of the men had one copy of the gene, and one-third of the men had two copies. Some of the men were selected to get a single injection of testosterone. The researchers monitored production of TG in the men’s urine for 15 days after the injection. About 40 percent of the subjects who lacked the enzyme never secreted enough TG to raise suspicions in the standard test even after their hormone injection.
As Anders Rane, M.D., Ph.D., of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, explains, there is a chance that many such individuals have escaped detection. On the other hand, 14 percent of people with two copies of the gene made so much TG that the current test would identify them as cheaters even before they received a testosterone injection.
No one actually knows whether there have been false-positive or false-negative results among the winners of various games, but it could have happened, Dr. Rane believes.
About two-thirds of the East Asians in the study lacked the enzyme, and fewer than 10 percent of the Swedish participants lacked it. Various ethnic groups may use different enzymes to process testosterone, says Glenn Cunningham, M.D., an endocrinologist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
There is no apparent athletic advantage or disadvantage associated with lacking the enzyme, Dr. Rane says. He suggests combining genetic testing with periodic urine testing that tracks individual athletes over time. Dr. Cunningham thinks that they have made a strong case for genetic testing in addition to current assessments.
Because of the expense, genetic testing is not feasible for large numbers of people. Such tests will probably be used in elite amateur and professional sports, but it is unclear whether it will be available for college and high school athletes.
(Source: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2008; 93:2500-2506.)
Note to future cheaters; This is so much more dignified than that Viagra defense……
thanks for the chuckle Tony – indeed – I will NOT use the Viagra defense, nor the devil made me do it defense.
Drug testing is to start at the Outdoor national masters in Ohio (according to my mole) – and drug testing was done at the National Masters Marathon championship as well this past month (again so I am told by my “reliable source).
Drug testing will be done at the WMA meet in Sacramento – as it has been done for past WMA meets – Kamloops, Lahti,etc . WMA drug testing has been going on for some time.
My understanding of the funding is that it will come from a fee added on to the cost of entering national masters championships. The fall out from the Doug Logan/Board of Directors fiasco will hit USATF and its members elsewhere- time will tell about that.
Drug testing for US masters will happen, a handful will be caught – it may discourage some who are doing it and others who think about doing it. That would be a good result. It will not stop the idiots who think they are too smart to get caught. some of those will be caught.
And perhaps those who buy supplements hoping to gain an edge will start reading the labels and educating themselves about some of the trash on the market that does mainly two things – extract money from the wallet and make expensive urine.
I understand that synthetic testosterone contains less carbon 13 than natural testosterone. If you feel that you’ve got a false positive because of your genetics, might a test of the carbon 12 to carbon 13 ratio prove your innocence?
They need to test for HgH. Way more commonly used by both professional athletes and those others who can afford it.
There are at least two different tests being used; one test for the elevated T/E ratio, and another that differentiates between exogenous testosterone(outside source) and endogeous testosterone(produced by the body) via carbon isotope ratio (CIR).
I am pretty sure that Justin Gatlin’s 2006 suspension was one of the first cases in which the CIR test was used.
As Dr. Fahey noted, a T/E ratio above 4.0 constitutes a doping violation. The T/E ratio was lowered from 6.0 to 4.0 sometime after the 1996 Olympics.
http://www.usada.org/files/active/resources/press_releases/Press%20Release%20-%20Gatlin%20-%20August%202006.pdf
http://www.usada.org/files/active/resources/press_releases/Press%20Release%20-%20GATLIN%20-%20June%206%202008.pdf
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