REEDIE’S SHARAPOVA COMMENTS A DISGRACE BY RICHARD EVANS

Written by: on 20th June 2016
FILES Maria Sharapova failed drug test at Australian Open
REEDIE'S SHARAPOVA COMMENTS A DISGRACE BY RICHARD EVANS

epa05199987 (FILES) Maria Sharapova of Russia is silhouetted during her second round match against Karin Knapp of Italy at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 16 January 2014. Maria Sharapova revealed that she failed a drug test being tested positive for Meldonium at the Australian Open at a press conference in Los Angeles, USA, on 07 March 2016. The anti-ischemic drug 'Meldonium' has been added to the latest list of forbidden susbtances issued by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), which has added caffeine and nicotine to substances it is monitoring. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON  |

Ever since Maria Sharapova admitted that she had tested positive at the Australian Open, I thought I could hear the sound of back slapping amongst members of the WADA committee.

“Gotcha!” They had landed a big fish! But I hesitated writing the story because I had no proof. Now I do. And it comes from no lesser a figure than the President of WADA himself, Sir Craig Reedie who is also a Vice-President of the International Olympic Committee.

Speaking in London and referring to how WADA “punched above its weight” considering the limited funding it had to work with, Reedie added, “For me the only satisfactory element of Madame Sharapova’s case was that, in one year, she can earn more money than the whole of WADA’s budget put together.”

What, one might ask, has Sharapova’s earning power go to do with her drug case? Rightly, Maria’s lawyer, John Haggerty, was quick to respond.

“Reedie owes Maria an apology,” said Haggerty. “The statement was unprofessional. .…Justice must be blind….Reedie owes an apology to all successful tennis players unless he wants fans to think WADA has different standards for players depending on their ranking and earnings.”

In my opinion, Sir Craig should resign. As a head of a legislative body, sitting in judgment over athletes’ reputations and careers, his judgment can longer be trusted. It was a comment that reeked of envy while at the same time layering Sharapova’s case with elements that are totally irrelevant.

Ironically, Sir Craig is also in trouble for over claims that he was slow to investigate reports of widespread doping amongst Russian athletes, many of whom may now be banned from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Notes written by Reedie to his IOC colleague Sergei Bubka, the great Olympic athlete whose son plays on the tennis tour, suggested that Reedie was more concerned about how the story would play out in the media than getting on with a swift investigation.

US Senator John Thune was one of many to question WADA’s slow response after a whistleblower handed them evidence on a plate. “These allegations and WADA’s subsequent response have called the organisation’s strength and credibility into question.”

It would not be the first time if one remembers the confusion over the ATP nandrolone scare several years ago which required the expertise of Richard Ings, then with the ATP, to sort out. But let us take a factual look at the Sharapova case which has earned her a two year ban from the game unless she wins an appeal that is being held next month.

First, the former Wimbledon champion made a stupid mistake in continuing to take Meldonium, or Mildronate, right through the Australian Open, several days after it had been banned arbitrarily on January 1st this year.

Maria Sharapova of Russia wears a TAG Heuer Formula 1 Lady Steel & Ceramic watch while holding the championship trophy after winning the women’s final at the French Open in Paris, France, 09 June 2012. Major sponsors distanced themselves from Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova on 08 March 2016 after she admitted failing a drug test at the Australian Open in January. US sporting goods giant Nike said it ‘decided to suspend our relationship with Maria while the investigation continues.’ Watchmaker TAG Heuer said it scrapped plans to extend a testimonial deal that had ended last year. EPA/CHRISTOPHE KARABA

Two points here: First: the fact that Sharapova had been taking the drug for years is irrelevant right up to the moment she took it on January 1st. Second: If you believe that Maria took the drug before each of her matches at the Australian Open in the full knowledge that it had been banned, then you are also saying she is stupid. Those of us who have sat through over fifty of her press conferences, in moments of triumph or defeat, will testify that she has one of the sharpest minds in all of professional sports. She may be aloof in the locker room and haughty on court but stupid she is not.

So, as she has admitted, she was guilty of not reading her emails, specifically the ones she received from WADA and the ITF. Although it cannot stand in her defence, the point has to be made that no one else reads them either. I have spoken to dozens of players, coaches and officials who were at the Australian Open, which began two weeks after the ban on Meldonium came into effect, and I could not find anyone who remembered the name Meldonium being mentioned or the subject even being discussed.

If you read the original densely worded document sent out by WADA back in September, warning of a change in policy over Meldonium (Sharapova had always known it as Mildronate) you could understand why people’s eyes glazed over before they even reached the salient point. It was certainly not clear and impactful.

There is no question that Sharapova and her agent Max Eisenbud were lax in following the ever changing directives of what is or what is not legal. But to suggest she was morally wrong to be taking something that might, or might not, have enhanced her performance is rubbish. Which top athletes worth their salt do NOT take everything that can enhance their performance? What you think is in those power drinks they glug during matches? Oh, say the Sharapova baiters, but glucose, Red Bull and all that stuff is legal. But so was Meldonium until WADA chose an arbitrary date to make it illegal.

Jamie Vardy, the England striker, was seen carrying a pouch of snuff (tobacco) at the Euros in France. Why? Because he likes the taste of tobacco or because he thinks it can help his performance?

Roger Pielke, director of sports governance at the University of Colorado, told the London Daily Mail that nicotine and caffeine could enhance athletic performance by as much as 7%. “Both nicotine and caffeine are among the more well-studied performance enhancing substances,” said Pielke. “They give you a little energy boost. Athletes are going to take everything and anything they can that might give them a benefit, regardless of whether the science is there.”

So, even if her motivation was solely to enhance her performance, Sharapova was still doing nothing illegal until January 1st. But she had another reason for taking it. Ten years ago a doctor told her that tests showed she had a blood flow problem to the heart. And that Mildronate could help relieve that, especially during strenuous exercise. So Maria adopted the habit of always taking it before matches. Wouldn’t you? Or would you rather risk dropping dead?

And why, her critics want to know, did she keep her drug taking habits secret? Possibly because she didn’t want competitors to know she might have a health problem. But one thing is clear. As soon as WADA started monitoring Meldonium as a suspect substance in 2015, they must have known that Sharapova was taking it.

Their research had told them that 17% of Russian athletes had a strain of Meldonium in their bodies when tested, as did 2.2% of athletes worldwide. But even when a Russian athlete warned them of the extent of drug taking in Russia, WADA was slow to react. One can only speculate why. The Russian Olympic Committee forms a formidable part of the IOC. Too big to fail, perhaps?

In contrast to a bunch of runners whose names would not mean much internationally, Maria Sharapova was a mega star of mammoth proportions. In Britain we talk about the Tall Poppy Syndrome. People, who haven’t achieved very much in life, enjoy cutting down tall poppies. Apparently it gives them some kind of weird satisfaction. Sharapova is 6ft 2”; a great champion and mega rich. Has there ever been a better example of a Tall Poppy?

And, as I suspected, WADA was thirsting after a tall poppy. Catching a super star would give their drug testing operation some credibility. In the previous few years their efforts in that regard had been somewhat feeble. Richard Gasquet, Victor Troicki and Marin Cilic are all well known but not quite in the Sharapova class as far as fame is concerned. And you would struggle to find anyone on the ATP tour who seriously believed any of them were deliberate drug cheats.

Yes, I do believe Gasquet ingested cocaine by kissing a girl in a Miami night club because Richard wouldn’t have known a line of the white stuff from spilt sugar. Cilic, who had just divested himself of the fatherly presence of coach Bob Brett, sent his mother off to get some medicine from the pharmacy and didn’t check the label of contents. Silly boy. And Troicky, refusing to have blood drawn in Monte Carlo because he was feeling ill and had a documented phobia about needles, was given shockingly misleading advice by the doctor who suggested he might get lenient treatment if he put a request in writing. The doctor had no right to do that but was never reprimanded. Troicky was banned for a year.

So now, thanks to Sir Craig Reedie, we know how gleeful WADA was to have snared a super star. “Look,” they might have been saying. “We are not afraid of big names. We got Maria!”

Because she is rich? No, of course not but Sir Craig’s ridiculous statement opens up windows of doubt. And throws light on to the fact that WADA frequently doesn’t know what it is talking about. They didn’t know nandrolone could be produced naturally in the human body after extensive exercise in heat because they only tested athletes at winter games. Hard to believe but true. It took Ings to show them they were wrong.

And now, incredibly, they have laid down a hard and fast date for a widely used drug to become illegal before knowing how long Meldonium stays in the human body. After reputations have been ruined forever, WADA is admitting it lacks scientific evidence to make that judgment. Luckily for them, that rich super star victim of theirs has been honest enough to admit that she took the drug during the Australian Open. So, to an extent, she let them off the hook on that one. But for an athlete who took it in December? Oh, bad luck on that one. Don’t ask WADA whether you’re really a drug cheat. They don’t know.

In my long experience, it is often the governing bodies in sport – some of whom have been exposed as corrupt – who are let off the hook while the athletes pay.

Sports stars make mistakes but, generally, they want a level playing field. Unhappily, organisations like WADA don’t understand the meaning of the term.

 

Editors Note: Bravo Richard Evans! We applaud your ability to tell it like it is. You broke it all down and explained it perfectly. The staff here at 10sBalls stands with Maria Sharapova. We stood with Greg Rusedski on his nandrolone and Xavier Malisse on his 3 missed drug tests. Not failed. Missed. At the time he was one of dozens that had missed 3 appointments. But he was the only one punished. Both their careers were seriously disturbed by false allegations. It was costly in time lost and money for legal fees. The system is flawed. (LJ)

 

Maria Sharapova of Russia leaves the court after losing against Serena Williams of the US in the quarter finals of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 26 January 2016. Maria Sharapova revealed that she failed a drug test being tested positive for Meldonium at the Australian Open at a press conference in Los Angeles, USA, on 07 March 2016. The anti-ischemic drug ‘Meldonium’ has been added to the latest list of forbidden susbtances issued by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), which has added caffeine and nicotine to substances it is monitoring. EPA/MADE NAGI

 

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