In November 202 the Brazilian Doping Control Authority (ABCD) reported an anti-doping rule violation against the cyclist after her sample tested positive for the prohibited substances Canrenone, Modafinil and Oxandrolone.

After notification a provisional suspension was ordered. The Athlete filed a statement in her defence and the case was referred to the Brazilian Sports Justice Anti-Doping Tribunal (TJD-AD). 

The Athlete accepted the test result and denied the intentional use of the substances. She asserted that she ony had used the supplements and medication she had mentioned on the Doping Control Form and requested for a reduced sanction. 

The TJD-AD Reporteur finds that the presence of the prohibited substances has been established in the Athlete’s sample and accordingly that she committed an anti-doping rule violation. The Athlete failed to establish that the violation was not intentional, nor grounds for a reduced sanction. 

Therefore the TJD-AD Panel decides on 5 May 2021 to impose a 4 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete, starting on the date of the provisional suspension, i.e. 23 November 2020.

In January 2020 the Brazilian Doping Control Authority (ABCD) reported an anti-doping rule violation against the volleyball player after his sample tested positive for the prohibited substance Cannabis in a high concentration above the WADA threshold.

After notification the Athlete filed a statement in his defence and the case was referred to the Brazilian Sports Justice Anti-Doping Tribunal (TJD-AD). 

The Athlete gave a prompt admission, denied the intentional use of the substance and accepted a provisional suspension. He acknowledged that he was struggling with addiction problems after a motorcycle accident in 2012. 

The TJD-AD Rapporteur finds that the presence of the prohibited substance has been established in the Athlete’s sample and accordingly that he committed an anti-doping rule violation. The Rapporteur accepts that the violation was not intentional and considers that the Athlete gave a prompt admission. 

Therefore the TJD-AD Panel decides on 22 April 2021 to impose a 2 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete, starting on the date of the sample collection, i.e. on 13 December 2019.

Previously the CrossFit Games Organisation, as non-signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code, imposed a 4 year period of ineligibility on the Brazilian Athlete after he tested positive for the prohibited substances Enobosarm (ostarine), LGD-4033 (ligandrol) and Metandienone. 

The sanction was imposed by CrossFit without a hearing although the Athlete wanted to be heard. In October 2020 the Brazilian Doping Control Authority (ABCD) confirmed in a Decision that the Athlete’s participation in competitions would be a violation of the Brazilian Anti-Doping Code. 

Hereafter in October 2020 the Athlete filed a request with the Brazilian Sports Justice Anti-Doping Tribunal (TJD-AD). The Athlete disputed the validity of the imposed CrossFit sanction and the ABCD Decision and requested to lift the imposed suspension. 

The TJD-AD Rapporteur established that under the Rules the anti-doping decision from CrossFit, as Non-Signatory, and the ABCD Decision are only valid after confirmation by the TJD-AD.

Due to the TJD-AD had not approved the CrossFit Decision the TJD-AD Rapporteur deemed that the ABCD Decision was invalid. 

Therefore the TJD-AD Panel decides on 5 April 2021 to lift the imposed sanction on the Athlete.

A call for policy guidance on psychometric testing in doping control in sport / Andrea Petróczi, Susan H. Backhouse, Vassilis Barkoukis, Ralf Brand, Anne-Marie Elbe, Lambros Lazuras, Fabio Lucidi. - (International Journal of Drug Policy 26 (2015) 11 (November); p. 1130-1139)

• PMID: 26094122
• DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2015.04.022

Abstract

One of the fundamental challenges in anti-doping is identifying athletes who use, or are at risk of using, prohibited performance enhancing substances. The growing trend to employ a forensic approach to doping control aims to integrate information from social sciences (e.g., psychology of doping) into organised intelligence to protect clean sport. Beyond the foreseeable consequences of a positive identification as a doping user, this task is further complicated by the discrepancy between what constitutes a doping offence in the World Anti-Doping Code and operationalized in doping research. Whilst psychology plays an important role in developing our understanding of doping behaviour in order to inform intervention and prevention, its contribution to the array of doping diagnostic tools is still in its infancy. In both research and forensic settings, we must acknowledge that (1) socially desirable responding confounds self-reported psychometric test results and (2) that the cognitive complexity surrounding test performance means that the response-time based measures and the lie detector tests for revealing concealed life-events (e.g., doping use) are prone to produce false or non-interpretable outcomes in field settings. Differences in social-cognitive characteristics of doping behaviour that are tested at group level (doping users vs. non-users) cannot be extrapolated to individuals; nor these psychometric measures used for individual diagnostics. In this paper, we present a position statement calling for policy guidance on appropriate use of psychometric assessments in the pursuit of clean sport. We argue that, to date, both self-reported and response-time based psychometric tests for doping have been designed, tested and validated to explore how athletes feel and think about doping in order to develop a better understanding of doping behaviour, not to establish evidence for doping. A false 'positive' psychological profile for doping affects not only the individual 'clean' athlete but also their entourage, their organisation and sport itself. The proposed policy guidance aims to protect the global athletic community against social, ethical and legal consequences from potential misuse of psychological tests, including erroneous or incompetent applications as forensic diagnostic tools in both practice and research.

May the blessed man win: a critique of the categorical preference for natural talent over doping as proper origins of athletic ability / Pieter Bonte, Sigrid Sterckx, Guido Pennings. - (Journal of Medicine and Philosphy 39 (2014) 4 (August); p. 368-386)

• PMID: 24997251
• DOI: 10.1093/jmp/jhu024

Abstract

Doping scandals can reveal unresolved tensions between the meritocratic values of equal opportunity + reward for effort and the "talentocratic" love of hereditary privilege. Whence this special reverence for talent? We analyze the following arguments: (1) talent is a unique indicator of greater potential, whereas doping enables only temporary boosts (the fluke critique); (2) developing a talent is an authentic endeavor of "becoming who you are," whereas reforming the fundamentals of your birth suit via artifice is an act of alienation (the phony critique); (3) your (lack of) talent informs you of your proper place and purpose in life, whereas doping frustrates such an amor fati self-understanding (the fateless critique). We conclude that these arguments fail to justify a categorical preference for natural talent over integrated artifice. Instead, they illustrate the extent to which unsavory beliefs about "nature's aristocracy" may still be at play in the moral theatre of sports.

Ideology, Doping and the Spirit of Sport / Vincent Geeraets. - (Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 12 (2018) 3 (26 July); p. 255-271)

• DOI: 10.1080/17511321.2017.1351483

Abstract

The current World Anti-doping Code can be characterised as a tough approach to doping. In this paper we investigate how the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) justifies this tough approach. To this end, WADA advances two justificatory arguments. It maintains, first, that protection of the spirit of sport warrants tough measures and, second, that athletes have voluntarily consented to the Code. We argue that in the way they are presented by WADA, neither of these arguments can withstand scrutiny. In the second part of the paper, we go on to show that these arguments are in fact ideological in nature. The specific aim of these arguments is not to be correct, but rather to distort social reality, because in this way they can be used to ward off any critical discussion of the Code. We conclude that WADA’s interest is to create a façade of justice, not in serving justice itself.

Mass spectrometry-based characterization of new drugs and methods of performance manipulation in doping control analysis / Mario Thevis, Andreas Thomas, Maxie Kohler, Simon Beuck, Ines Möller, Mathias Schäfer, Grigory Rodchenkov, Sheng Yin, Joseph A. Loo, Hans Geyer, Wilhelm Schänzer. - (
European Journal of Mass Spectrometry 16 (2010) 3 (1 February); p. 301-312)

• PMID: 20530837
• DOI: 10.1255/ejms.1047

Abstract

Efficient and comprehensive sports drug testing necessitates frequent updating and proactive, preventive anti-doping research, and the early implementation of new, emerging drugs into routine doping controls is an essential aspect. Several new drugs and drug candidates with potential for abuse, including so-called Rycals (ryanodine receptor calstabin complex stabilizers, for example, S-107), hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) stabilizers, and peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) delta agonists (for example, GW1516), were studied using different mass spectrometry- and ion mobility-based approaches, and their gas phase dissociation behaviors were elucidated. The detailed knowledge of fragmentation routes allows a more rapid identification of metabolites and structurally related, presumably "tailor-made", analogs potentially designed for doping purposes. The utility of product ion characterization is demonstrated in particular with GW1516, for which oxidation products were readily identified in urine samples by means of diagnostic fragment ions as measured using high resolution/high accuracy mass spectrometry and higher energy collision-induced dissociation (HCD).

Screening for the calstabin-ryanodine receptor complex stabilizers JTV-519 and S-107 in doping control analysis / Mario Thevis, Simon Beuck, Andreas Thomas, Maxie Kohler, Nils Schlörer, Ileana Vajiala, Wilhelm Schänzer. - (Drug Testing and Analysis 1 (2009) 1 (January); p. 32-42)

• PMID: 20355157
• DOI: 10.1002/dta.13

Abstract

Recent studies outlined the influence of exercise on the stability of the skeletal muscle calstabin1-ryanodine receptor1-complex, which represents a major Ca(2+) release channel. The progressive modification of the type-1 skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor (RyR1) combined with reduced levels of calstabin1 and phosphodiesterase PDE4D3 resulted in a Ca(2+) leak that has been a suggested cause of muscle damage and impaired exercise capacity. The use of 1,4-benzothiazepine derivatives such as the drug candidates JTV-519 and S-107 enhanced rebinding of calstabin1 to RyR1 and resulted in significantly improved skeletal muscle function and exercise performance in rodents. Due to the fact that the mechanism of RyR1 remodelling under exercise conditions were proven to be similar in mice and humans, a comparable effect of JTV-519 and S-107 on trained athletes is expected, making the compounds relevant for doping controls. After synthesis of JTV-519, S-107, and a putative desmethylated metabolite of S-107, target compounds were characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and electrospray ionization (ESI)-high-resolution/high-accuracy Orbitrap mass spectrometry. Collision-induced dissociation pathways were suggested based on the determination of elemental compositions of product ions and H/D-exchange experiments. The most diagnostic product ion of JTV-519 was found at m/z 188 (representing the 4-benzyl-1-methyl piperidine residue), and S-107 as well as its desmethylated analog yielded characteristic fragments at m/z 153 and 138 (accounting for 1-methoxy-4-methylsulfanyl-benzene and 4-methoxy-benzenethiol residues, respectively). The analytes were implemented in existing doping control screening procedures based on liquid chromatography, multiple reaction monitoring and simultaneous precursor ion scanning modes using a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. Validation items such as specificity, recovery (68-92%), lower limit of detection (0.1-0.2 ng/mL), intraday (5.2-18.5%) and interday (8.7-18.8%) precision as well as ion suppression/enhancement effects were determined.

On the Compatibility of Brain Enhancement and the Internal Values of Sport / Alberto Carrio Sampedro, José Luis Pérez Triviño. - (Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 11 (2017) 3 (26 May); p. 307-322)

• DOI: 10.1080/17511321.2017.1320687
  
  

Abstract

Elite athletes are characterized by their high level of performance in sport. Since the very beginnings of sport, it has been understood that physical and physiological abilities influence the performance of athletes. Advances in scientific knowledge, especially sport psychology and neuroscience, seem to confirm this intuition and consequently it is possible to characterize elite athletes as having an extraordinary combination of physical and mental abilities. Techniques and substances that contribute to enhancing physical characteristics of athletes have also been well known for ages. But it is now possible to make use of other techniques and substances that not only enhance physical abilities but also cognitive capabilities, which seem to require greater consideration given their direct impact on the athlete’s brain. In this article, we examine two such techniques, cognitive enhancers and transcranial stimulators, and highlight the potential advantages and drawbacks that applying each one may have on sport. Given the relative novelty of these enhancement techniques and substances and the absence of conclusive evidence regarding their short- and long-term effects, we deem that their use ought to be strictly governed by cautionary principles. But due to that same lack of evidence, we believe that the possibility of examining the feasibility of applying these techniques to sport should not be denied.

Liver injury associated with the use of selective androgen receptor modulators and post-cycle therapy : Two case reports and literature review / Tomas Koller, Petra Vrbova, Iveta Meciarova, Pavol Molcan, Michal Smitka, Svetlana Adamcova Selcanova, Lubomir Skladany. - (World Journal of Clinical Cases 9 (2021) 16 (6 June); p. 4062-4071)

• PMID: 34141767
• PMCID: PMC8180234
• DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i16.4062

Abstract

Background: Muscle growth promoters are being developed for the treatment of disease-induced loss of muscle mass. Ligandrol and ostarine are selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) with a non-steroidal structure and a presumably more favorable side effect profile. In recent years, these substances with or without "post-cycle therapy" (PCT) are often misused by amateur athletes aiming to promote muscle growth. At the same time, reports on their toxic effects on organ systems are emerging.

Case summary: We report two cases of liver injury in young men who used ligandrol and/or ostarine for a few weeks followed by the use of substances for PCT. Acute liver injury occurred in both cases after stopping SARMs while on PCT. The clinical picture was dominated by jaundice and fatigue. The biochemical pattern showed a mixed type of injury with normal alkaline phosphatase and high concentrations of bilirubin and serum bile acids. Histological evidence showed predominantly cholestatic injury with canalicular bile plugs, ductopenia, and mild hepatocellular damage without significant fibrosis. The patients recovered from the condition after 3 mo. The off target effects of SARMs were likely idiosyncratic, but our report highlights the yet unrecognized effects of other toxic substances used for PCT, supra-therapeutic doses, and the complete absence of monitoring for adverse effects.

Conclusion: Among muscle-building amateur athletes, SARMs (ligandrol or ostarine) and/or substances in PCT may cause cholestatic liver injury with prolonged recovery.