How ill do you have to be to be an athlete?

[DonPeffers]

http://norwaytoday.info/sport/norway-sent-6000-asthma-doses-olympics/   (2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics)  "medication the team have sent to Pyeongchang. The list showed that there are 1800 doses of Symbicort, 1200 doses of Atrovent, 1200 doses of Alvesco, 360 doses of Ventoline, and 1200 doses of Airomir".

That's 7 doses of asthma medication per day per Norwegian athlete.

Does anyone know if pharmaceutical companies sponsor these events?

How does the collective feel about 'legal' medicines in sport through the use of Therapeutic Use Exemptions(TUE)?

For the time being I'm keeping cycling out of this.

[Blatman]

Don't see how you can keep cycling out of this. They're all asthmatic too...

Anyone with half a brain can see this for what it is, which is a massive insult to those who genuinely suffer from asthma as well as insulting the intelligence of the rest of us.

[DamperMan]

I thought it was now part of the selection process for any competitive Athelete to have asthma.   

[Captain Colonial]

I’d gladly trade being asthmatic for being a crap athlete.

[DonPeffers]

With unverified reports of athletes injecting (rather than inhaling) salbutamol to achieve ergogenic effects (to enhance physical performance, stamina, or recovery) and with laboratories struggling to tell which route of administration has been used should asthma drugs be banned?

If you are too ill to compete then perhaps it's not for you; at least during an asthmatic event.

Following Froome's double the legal level of salbutamol in his urine as shown in 07 Sep 2017 drug test at 2017 La Vuelta (which Froome won 7 weeks after winning the 2017 TDF) he continues to race and to prepare his defence. Team Sky were notified of the test failure on 20 Sep 2017 and the news became public on 13 Dec 2017 following a Guardian and Le Monde investigation.

13 Feb 2018 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/42417297  'Froome and Team Sky have mentioned dehydration....can increase the concentration of a drug in the system. In the past, Wada has not adjusted the salbutamol threshold in test results to account for "high urine density", which can increase when you are dehydrated. But that is changing from 1 March 2018, and a Wada spokesperson told BBC Sport that for any case currently being adjudicated, "the most beneficial rule to the athlete would apply'. Froome could be the first to benefit from this adjustment, unavailable to previous riders.

With Froome set to race the 2018 Giro starting 04 May 2018 (less than 10 weeks away) the organisers have stated they don't want him to start if a later drugs ban would cancel his result, yet Team Sky have indicated he will ride Giro and TDF, possibly while the case rumbles on.  He and a team of lawyers are constructing a case to prove there is a legitimate reason a urine sample given during the Vuelta a España last September indicated double the permitted amount of the asthma drug salbutamol.

Team Sky and Froome have not proved popular and there have been regrettable incidents of spectators throwing urine in Froome's face. The Independent previously asked how sweet was the taste of victory (TDF) with a cup of urine in your face? Will spectators be more accepting in the current circumstances?

Latest news is 15 Feb 2018 http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cycling/chris-froome-return-ruta-del-sol-cycling-a8212451.html  Headline-- Chris Froome's low-key return in the Spanish sunshine did not mask the storm brewing ahead.

Here's hoping for the sake of cycling this can be resolved fairly and very swiftly as the cycling record books have been scarred enough with deletion of winners in the past.

TO CLARIFY for those not following cycling, Froome is not suspended for doping but is required to explain a test result with double the allowed level of salbutamol in his urine.

 

 

[Blatman]

What is the test for dehydration and is/was it applied at the time of the blood test?

I think with cycling they have gone the wrong way. Let them use drugs and leave the choice of how much to use the athlete. They're smart people and able to apply sound judgement exercise personal responsibility. 

[DonPeffers]

 

3 hours ago, Blatman said:

What is the test for dehydration and is/was it applied at the time of the blood test?

I think with cycling they have gone the wrong way. Let them use drugs and leave the choice of how much to use the athlete. They're smart people and able to apply sound judgement exercise personal responsibility. 

From https://www.wada-ama.org/en/content/what-is-prohibited/prohibited-at-all-times/beta-2-agonists  --- Inhaled salbutamol: maximum 1600 micrograms over 24 hours;  in divided doses not to exceed 800 micrograms over 12 hours starting from any dose;

The presence in urine of salbutamol in excess of 1000 ng/mL is not consistent with therapeutic use of the substance and will be considered as an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) unless the Athlete proves, through a controlled pharmacokinetic study, that the abnormal result was the consequence of a therapeutic dose (by inhalation) up to the maximum dose indicated above.

Seems the new limit, accounting for dehydration, is to be 1200 ng/mL. Froome test result is the highest yet published for an athlete (AFAIAA) at 2000ng/ml.

Many cyclists I've met have been very stupid but multi million earnings allow hiring talented doctors. Recent deaths of cyclists in their twenties are a concern  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42987035

Double Olympic Deacathlon gold medallist Dale Thomson was famously anti-drugs and wouldn't even take tablets for a headache.

After the Armstrong years the public need to know if what they are watching is real.

[Blatman]

On 2/18/2018 at 14:04, DonPeffers said:

After the Armstrong years the public need to know if what they are watching is real.

This member of the pubic assumes they are all doping, and if they are inhaling more Salbutamol than my friend who lost a lung to TB and is genuinely asthmatic, then they are...

 

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Why would anyone partaking in the curling events need any form of chemical assistance? 

[pistonbroke]

3 hours ago, Man On The Clapham Omnibus said:

Why would anyone partaking in the curling events need any form of chemical assistance? 

Pile embrocations perhaps ?

 

 

[DonPeffers]

On 2/19/2018 at 19:51, Blatman said:

This member of the pubic assumes they are all doping, and if they are inhaling more Salbutamol than my friend who lost a lung to TB and is genuinely asthmatic, then they are...

 

Sorry to learn about your friend Blatman. My late father had TB as a young man.

From newspaper Le Monde 13 Dec 2017-----Salbutamol is approved by inhalation below a certain threshold but banned by oral route or by injection. 

Salbutamol is part of a family of molecules known to act on muscle receptors and increase muscle mass. They have in parallel the property of dilating the bronchi. But they will only act on these muscle receptors when they are administered systemically, that is to say by intramuscular injection, intravenous or oral.

By inhalation, the molecules remain in the bronchi. The amount that then enters the body is really very, very low. There is no effect on muscle mass. This is the reason why these molecules are authorized by inhalation.

So are some athletes really asthmatic or is the inhaler merely a prop to be seen by spectators and officials? The investigation will continue.

More asthma at Winter Olympics http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/43124700   'Slovenia ice hockey player Ziga Jeglic sent home from the Winter Olympics tested positive for asthma medication fenoterol the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) said'.

The very serious side of this is not simply that competitors, sponsors and the public could be cheated (I don't believe all are doping) but that idiot employers assume that asthma is nothing (ask me how I know) as you can win medals with the condition and fail to realise that if not correctly controlled it is life- threatening with 3 deaths per day in UK.

 

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

2 hours ago, pistonbroke said:

Pile embrocations perhaps ?

 

 

[Blatman]

7 hours ago, DonPeffers said:

Sorry to learn about your friend Blatman

Appreciated but really no apologies necessary. It was a long time ago and in true bloke support style we are all very sympathetic taking every opportunity to point out that his survival is a continuing victory for science over biology. He's a keen cyclist too, so the irony is not lost...

I do agree that with so many top athletes claiming to be asthmatic the impression is that it is not serious. I have seen my friend have a proper attack and whilst I am not usually easily bothered by "events" that make many squeamish, it was pretty damn scary. But once the EMT's got some steroids in him, the ribaldry resumed and we nicked his bike...  

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

People sometimes die with an acute asthma attack. An uncle of mine lost a lung to TB too, and he'd been gassed in the first world war (he was old!) so his remaining lung function wasn't brilliant either. He lived to a pretty good age though. I am not aware of any asthma involvement in his case.

[Ian Podmore]

One of my previous managers died from asthma. It really can kill.

It's about time they stopped all this 'medication' in sport. It's cheating. Pure and simple.