Romanian Gymnast Stripped of Gold

[TomCsTulip]

Romanian gymnast Andreea Raducan took two Nurofen tablets and lost her gold medal. Her team doctor gave her the medicine for a cold. I understand the ban on drugs at the Olympics, but come on...this girl has been training her whole life and becasue her doctor made a mistake she is punished? They need to either loosed the leash on the rules or else re-examine their list of drugs. She was sick for pete's sake!!
:Q

 

[FettsBabe]

That really sucks. Wasn't she the one the coach chose to do the last routine? drug

 

[kantonburg]

I personally belive the whole drug situation at the Olympics is bullcrap. If you ask me with all the overpriced vendors there they can afford to test EVERY athlete and test them IMMEDIATELY after the event. Not 4 hours afterwards which allows them to go flush their blood. It's all politics and money. Plain and simple which is one more reason I think the Olympics are a big joke. There isn't any difference in the Olympics than the World Championships in any event other than all the countries are in one place. It's all about the money and it shouldn't be.

My resolution:
Test every athlete every day and after their events immediately

 

[DaBoneHead]

I agree,

Last olympics, a chinese gymnast was banned because she had too much caffeine in her. High caffeine can be used to mask the presence of other illegal drugs. Turns out she had drank some green-tea she had brought with her from china. The tea was heavy with caffeine, and considered a 'good-luck' drink. Honest mistake, but they booted her for it!

It really doesn't add to the olympics. They should use some common sense.

 

[TomCsTulip]

Yes she was...she was AMAZING!! She looks so fragile, but boy was she a powerhouse. She has waited all her life for these games, and now to have them end like this. How embarrassing, you know that people are only going to hear the word drug and not realize that it was for an illness. Her doctor is not allowed to assist in the 2004 Olympics, but that is all he got...she is going to be embarassed for a long time to come!

 

[jaylek55]

Unbelievable! It's a witch-hunt plan and simple. Next they'll discover that a 4th place athlete had some cough medicine and his scores will have to be deleted.

Those olympic doctors really need to be examined themselves, for lack of brains!

 

[Chooie]

Fettsbabe, that link you posted shows that this "drug" was nothing more than Ibuprofen-Advil, if you will! I have had to take 800mg of this stuff at a time just to get minor relief for my back, and they somehow think that 400mg is going to affect her performance in such a way that gives her an unfair advantage?! Whaaa?!!

 

[Eeks]

I think its the exact opposite of a witch hunt in that there NEEDS to be a witch hunt. It's just seems like a ton of athletes are using drugs. And regardless of what Raducan took, there is a list of banned drugs, and with the amount of attention they pay to their diets, I do not believe that the coach would suddenly make a "booboo" and give her a banned dosage of a banned substance.

 

[BiB]

This thing is just a big mess. Last olympics (?) A canadian rower was screwed over for taking an allergy medicine I think it was for what it contained.

Now, are these people really sick? Cause if not others could claim they were and take these drugs like ephedrine. So, do we say they can't take medication? Well if not then in some cases being sick is an advantage because you can jack up on these things. Its a BIG mess. I think the only reasonable thing to do is allow atheletes to consume things like caffeine and epehdrine, so that they are all on the same playing fields. Not many medications are laced with human growth hormone so we don't need that one in there

Whats worse is that I bet a whole whack of these athelets are on drugs. Like professional body builders you may not want to take the drugs but if you want to be competitive you have to, so really its just luck of the draw if you get caught or not, sucks...

Oh, and I heard she was on ephedrine - generally about 25 mg of pure ephedrine on an empty stomach will pump somebody up nicely depending on how they react to it; I dunno how much she was on.

BiB

 

[trmiv2]

Screw it!! All these rules just mess up the fun. They really need to have an "All Drug Olympics" where all performance enhancing drugs are legal. Wow would the records fall. Saturday Night Live did a skit on the "All Drug Olympics" one time. Phil Hartman was a weight lifter trying to lift like 5 tons, and he ripped his arms off.

 

[bhuie]

<< Saturday Night Live did a skit on the &quot;All Drug Olympics&quot; one time. Phil Hartman was a weight lifter trying to lift like 5 tons, and he ripped his arms off. >>



&quot;Oooh... That has to be disappointing for the big Russian.&quot;

 

[Spoooon]

I think it was Donovan Bailey who went through essentially the same thing. He was battling the flu but couldn't take any medication for it because of the ban on certain substances. He ended up having to drop out of the Olympics because his illness took too much out of him to allow him to compete.

It's like they're using hammers to swat flies. They need to take another look at the ban and revise some things.

 

[sandorski]

It's either ban drugs or, to make things even, just give everyone a booster for breakfast. I think the ban is good and I have a hard time believing all these &quot;it was an accident&quot; stories. All athletes, nutritionists, and doctors know what the substances are, the fact that those looking for an edge get caught is their tough luck.

 

[BigSmooth]

It's too bad her team doctor is a complete idiot.

But before you say, &quot;it's just a cold pill&quot;, I remember reading an article in SI about pseudoephedrine and its potential for abuse. They called it &quot;Hockey's Little Helpers&quot; and talked about how they had bowls of Sudafed in NHL locker rooms because it is such a potent stimulant and readily available. Did the medication help Raducan win her medals? Almost certainly not, but making exceptions to doping rules will render them useless. It's a tough situation, but she had a banned substance in her body, and so it goes.

 

[dennilfloss]

Right now there are 16 cases of US athletes with abnormal laboratory results and, on the CBC, they said that there is strong pressure by the US delegation to have these investigated no further (i.e. dropped completely). These could turn out to be false positives, have a reasonable explanation or reveal doping but we won't know if they are simply brushed under the carpet. Supposedly one US senator is pushing for the US delegation to fully comply. He says that if the investigation does not proceed, that will leave a cloud of doubt around all the US team (like the Chinese a few years ago) and that would be unfortunate for the clean athletes within this team.

Don't Speak (No Doubt)

 

[Str8UpKiller]

At that level of competition they should all KNOW what they can and can't take. I mean can't one live without ANY drugs for a few weeks? Even for a headache or cold?

 

[jonnyjack]

dennilfloss: i thought the song in your last thread was called Don't Speak - No Doubt...

 

[Pocatello]

Let her keep the medal! These IOC members suck!

 

[dennilfloss]

jonnyjack,

You're right off course. My mind is in a fog today. Sorry. I corrected the mistake.

La Vie En Rose (Louis Armstrong)

 

[Eeks]

The IOC members dont care about drug testing. They are too busy taking bribes to determine the next location of the Olypmics.

 

[Olaru]

I have followed Raducan's career now for 2 years and can't believe all of this happened. She has worked so very hard to get this point. I just recently watched a tape I have of her in the '98 Jr. Europeans and she wasn't that great of a vaulter. It's amazing now that she ended up winning the AA and a vault silver. Now the AA gold has been stripped away from her for believing a team doctor (Ioachim Oana) that has been there awhile. I am sure how long but it's been many years. I don't understand how he could not know that pseudoephidrene has been on the ban list since '79. I am very confused and frustrated by the whole thing....