Testing It Up

Current UFC Lightweight Champion Benson “Smooth” Henderson is all for keeping the sport free from drug-using fighters, even if it means increasing testing for performance-enhancing drugs.

“I’d be for increased testing,” Henderson told MMAFighting.com. “It keeps the playing field even. It makes it so guys have to do a better job of either hiding it, or just not taking it. I think a lot of guys would actually just do a better job of hiding.

The 29-year-old lightweight fighter is proud to be one of the few “clean” athletes competing professionally in the sport of mixed martial arts. So it’s not surprising that he advocates extensive blood testing and random testing to foil fighters who try to gain an edge by taking steroids, testosterone and similar banned substances.

During a conference at the UFC Fight Club last month, Henson described fighters who use PEDs as “mentally weak,” saying they lack “that fortitude to push through and say, ‘Yeah, I didn’t do this, but I’m still going to beat your butt.’”

Since October, there have been more than ten documented failed drug tests or Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) exemptions handed out by the UFC. Dana White, UFC president, recently sent a warning to those fighters abusing testosterone to watch out because they’re going after them.

“That being said, I’d be for more rigorous testing,” Henderson said. “They want the blood doping testing? We can do that, too. I’m cool with that. Random testing? I’d be for that.”

The Lance Armstrong scandal seems to have resulted in a better relationship between anti-doping officials and pharmaceutical companies.

According to a New York Times report, a growing number of drug makers are joining anti-doping officials to develop tests to detect the illegal use of their drugs among athletes. Roche and GlaxoSmithKline have begun evaluating every new drug candidate for its potential to be abused by athletes and have agreed to share information about those products with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Several other smaller firms have likewise provided proprietary information about specific drugs.

David Howman, director general of WADA, said the development reflects a major shift from the days when drug companies paid little attention to how their products could be abused by athletes.

The move by Roche and GlaxoSmithKline is seen as an example of good corporate citizenship.

“Developing detection methods to show that the substance taken in a synthetic form is different than your natural substance is more challenging,” said Matthew Fedoruk, the science director for the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Many pharmaceutical companies are already equipped with the tools needed to create a doping test for their products because the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory bodies requires them to show how the drug passes through the body. Amgen and other drug makers have given WADA some of their proprietary compounds that would help officials test for their drugs.

The two-part interview of Oprah Winfrey with Lance Armstrong sparked a lot of different reactions. Some were angered, others were sympathetic. There were people saying the interview would cost him all his remaining fortune; there were those who were dissatisfied as the cyclist refused to mention names and evade some questions by giving a generic answer.

As expected, one of the highlights of the interview is when Armstrong finally admitted to doping. He admitted taking banned substances to enhance his cycling performance — among those drugs include EPO, testosterone, cortisone, and human growth hormone. Worst, he didn’t feel that doing so was wrong or bad, as he aptly puts it. These confessions are easy to believe, but what about his claim that he didn’t fail a drug test?

In the interview, Oprah asked: “You said dozens of times in interviews you never failed a test. Do you have a different answer today?” To which, Armstrong replied by saying “No I didn’t fail a test. Retroactively, I failed one. The hundreds of tests I took, I passed them. There was retroactive stuff later on.”

Oprah pressed on the issue and referred to the 2001 Tour de Suisse, but Armstrong held his stand and said, “That story isn’t true. There was no positive test. No paying off of the lab. The UCI did not make that go away. I’m no fan of the UCI.”

Another statement of Armstrong that is probably unbelievable for many of those who watched the interview is when he said he stopped using banned substances after 2005. That his winning in 2009 happened without the help of performance enhancing drugs, not even blood transfusions.

Armstrong also denied USADA claims that he threatened to kick a former team mate who refused to conform to the doping program. Finally, he contradicted the claim (of Travis Tygart) that he tried to pay off USADA.

So, is Lance Armstrong telling the truth this time?  Did he truthfully clue us in to his sports doping story?

Mark “Big Mac” McGwire – who broke the baseball home run record in 1998 – has admitted that he used steroids “on and off for nearly a decade”. He still says, though, that despite this admission, “he did not need performance-enhancing drugs to hit the long ball,” quoting from a story on ESPN, which also features a video of an interview with McGwire.

McGwire said that he used steroids through a statement released on Monday. He still seemed rather adamant, however, that this did not mean that it was the drugs that fuelled his power to hit home runs: “I was given a gift to hit home runs,” he reportedly said to Bob Costas on the MLB Network.

With or without the steroids, he said that he could still hit those homers, as it was giving due diligence towards studying pitchers as well as making his swing shorter that gave him the ability to hit more home runs. McGwire is ranked 8th in the top 15 all-time MLB Home Run list, and is the 6th player on that list to be linked to performance-enhancing drugs.

McGwire maintains that he was taking steroids for health purposes as opposed to specifically trying to up his game. He was reportedly dealing with injuries and told himself that the steroids will help him heal faster – and thus get back on the playing field the soonest time possible, in an effort to prove that he indeed earned every penny of his multi-million dollar salary.

He also reportedly said during a phone interview with the Associated Press that having to tell people that he was close to and had worked with about coming clean regarding his past steroid use was an emotional undertaking. He also admitted that it was his first time to “talk about this” while adding that he hid his steroid use “from everybody”.

Athletes abusing steroids is old news in sports like baseball. There is always a rumor that there is some baseball player using performance enhancing drugs. However, you may be surprised to find out stories of steroid abuse among athletes in sports that do not seem to require performance enhancers.

In tennis, players do not seem to need to pump iron to boost their performance, but former champion John McEnroe said in 2004 that he took steroids without knowing what they are. In skiing, ironically another sport that does not seem to require performance enhancers, a team from Finland tested positive for the drug.

Golf is not spared from news of steroid abuse. Golfing legend Gary Player claimed knowing about some players who took steroids to improve their performance on the green, but this claim was refuted by Tiger Woods. NASCAR driver Ron Hornaday tested positive for steroids in recent years.

For full version of this article, please visit “Steroid Abuse in Tennis, Skiing, Golf and NASCAR Racing“.

Manny Ramirez’s return to baseball after a 50-game suspension is causing quite a stir. A quick online run-through will yield almost 2,000 Manny stories, and counting. Why the fuss? The fact that he was welcomed back with arms wide open by scores of adoring Dodgers fans proves a point: we are not too hot about steroids when we first learn it is being used, but the bottom line seems to go right down to the winning, and people are quick to forgive – and probably even quicker about forgetting.

Some writers are now calling fans hypocrites for being quick to react – and maybe even condemn – at the onset of a scandal, when in reality, all that really matters is the ability to win the game. Steroids or not, as long as one is able to keep the home runs coming, everything is bright and rosy.

What is being thrust into the spotlight is Manny Ramirez’s “rehab” tour. The athlete drew in sold-out crowds in Lake Elsinore and San Bernardino, California. With the way fans were cheering him on, one would not even imagine that, just a few moons ago, he was being lambasted for being a cheat – which is what an accusation of turning to performance enhancing drugs is tantamount to.

Along with the various views expressed on baseball’s latest goings-on are criticisms regarding the importance and use of the drug- and steroid-testing efforts – as well as the consequent suspension system – that is being done by Major League Baseball; one even likened suspension to a paid vacation.

Whether the situation or reactions are really as unfeeling and extreme as some of these authors play them out to be, we may never know for sure. However, one cannot help but question whether the world of sports and entertainment in general is as serious as it would like people to believe regarding condemning the use of performance-enhancing and other such drugs in the name of body image and fame. After all, when the dollars start coming in, do people really care?

A concerned father’s efforts towards saving other kids from abusing steroids after losing his own led to the passing of a new bill in the House of Representatives.

House Bill 272 was sponsored by Representative Jack Franks, who was introduced to Don Hooton by former University of Illinois and Chicago Bears player Dick Butkus. Don Hooton’s son Taylor died after using steroids, and he has since been trying to get steroids testing laws passed across the country. A pilot program now in effect in Texas is reportedly doing well.

The bill, which was unanimously approved by the House of Representatives (116-0), allows the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) to conduct random steroid testing at any point during the sports season from a test pool composed of all participating athletes; currently, testing is only being done among teams who advance to the postseason. The IHSA, which is the governing body for high school athletics in Illinois, can also disqualify a player who tests positive. The player’s school can determine the accompanying penalty on a case to case basis.

House Bill 272 now goes to the Senate for consideration.

The proposal will aim to conduct random steroid testing on about 1,000 students from at least 25% of Illinois high school. Urine samples will be used to test for the presence of performance enhancing drugs.

The aim of expanding the coverage of testing is to protect students who are feeling more pressure to do well in athletics, with lucrative scholarships at stake. Since the IHSA started postseason steroid testing last fall, though, no athlete has tested positive for steroid use. Of the 264 tests, six tests came back positive but all were waived by the IHSA, citing medical conditions.

Chicago Drug Screening