Tour de France

[Minniman]

Testosterone, epitestosterone and the doping tests

There are two alternate methods currently in place to detect testosterone misuse. The first is to examine the ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone. Epitestosterone also is produced naturally in the body; it is chemically identical to testosterone with the exception of the hydroxyl group on C-17. A study of nearly 4000 male athletes reported the median T/E ratio to 1/1 with 99 percent of the men having a ratio less than 5.6/1. Another sample of about 5000 male athletes found the mean ratio to be 1.5/1.

Because testosterone cannot be converted to epitestosterone, an elevated ratio suggests doping; moreover, exogenous testosterone lowers the body's production of epitestosterone, further increasing the T/E ratio. In 1982, the IOC Medical Commission set a T/E ratio of 6/1 as the cut-off value for a positive test; WADA recently lowered the threshold to 4/1. The prevalence of urinary T/E ratio greater than 6/1 in healthy, non-steroid users is less than 0.8 percent. However, there are documented cases of non-doping athletes with T/E ratios greater than 6/1; as a result, additional testing is required to determine the etiology of the elevated ratio.

WADA's Guidelines describe two different approaches to determine if the increased T/E ratio is due to a physiological or pathological condition or to administration of exogenous hormones. The first approach determines the athlete's usual T/E ratio. If an athlete's urine test produces a ratio that is above 4/1, at least three additional samples must be tested. These may be samples that were previously collected and analyzed or unannounced future tests.

The second approach outlined in the WADA Guideline relies on subtle differences in exogenous versus endogenous testosterone. Pharmaceutical companies make testosterone starting with sterols derived from plants. The most abundant isotope[1] of carbon is 12C; 13C and 14C, occur naturally, but are much less abundant.

As it turns out, the semi-synthetic testosterone has less 13C than the testosterone made in the body. The amounts of these carbon isotopes are measured using a method called Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS). A urine sample that is low in 13C, compared to a standard of endogenous testosterone indicates doping. [French newspaper l'Equipe alleged over the weekend that an IRMS test indicated exogenous testosterone in Floyd Landis' sample - Ed].

Complete Story at Cycling News

[Ding]

This isn't just about the Tour, it's mainly about the impact of news of both Landis and Justin Gatlin testing positive so closely together. It's from The Times newspaper in England and written by Simon Barnes, a former UK Sports Writer of the Year:

War on drugs claims one of its biggest scalps in Gatlin

BEN JOHNSON responded to the news that Justin Gatlin had failed a dope test in his own uncompromising fashion. He said that no one cares about who took what: all people want to see is how fast the human body can go.

It is a fascinating point, and it is not too much to say that the future of sport depends on its resolution. Gatlin is the world and Olympic 100 metres champion, the fastest man on Earth. He shares the world record of 9.77sec — two spots faster than Johnson — with Asafa Powell. Now he has failed a dope test and his entire life’s work is in question.

The news broke a couple of days after Floyd Landis, the winner of the Tour de France, also failed a drugs test. These two immensely high-profile busts seem to offer sport a stark choice. Do we give up on the drug-addled sports? Or do we give up on drug-testing? There doesn’t seem to be a third option.

It is 18 years since Johnson tested positive after winning the 100 metres at the Olympic Games in Seoul. After that landmark event, what has happened to athletics? And what has happened to all sports that reward the drug-taker? Optimists felt that the Johnson bust would shock sport and athletes into honesty: if Johnson gets caught, then surely anybody who even sniffs at a steroid is vulnerable. But instead, one positive test has followed another; one champion after another has been found guilty.

Much of sport has become an arms race between testers and testees. With every positive test, you wonder how many more got away with something.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 69,00.html

I don't know if Americans can access the article or not, but I'll do the normal "post a small portion with a link" routine. If you aren't allowed access to it, let me know and I'll see if The Powers That Be wwill let me post it in it's entirety.

[DanAS1]

Ah, I was going by the comments of a member of the, I believe olympic drug testing council, not sure exact name, who claimed the bicycling drug tests were rather lax. Since the bikers were given an hour post race un chaperoned to do as they please, as well as days pre-race to do as they please, which would include any way around drug tests. I'm not big into cycling, just from what I've heard it's fairly tough, but there are glaring weaknesses.

The good news for me is that I don't care much about cycling. I mean seriously, one can only spend so much time following sports. There's football, baseball, basketball, boxing, tennis, soccer, hockey ...

Admittedly, I've had some extra time on my hands since co-k fighting season ended in the spring. But I've used that time on watching professional women's softball, not cycling.

[Minniman]

I have been a fan of cycling since the early 1980's. Drug use has been a problem since before that time. It has been in other sports as well, but professional bicycling is trying to do something about it.

It doesn't matter if one follows a sport or not; cheating is a bad thing in any sport.

Minniman

[DanAS1]

I have been a fan of cycling since the early 1980's. Drug use has been a problem since before that time. It has been in other sports as well, but professional bicycling is trying to do something about it.

It doesn't matter if one follows a sport or not; cheating is a bad thing in any sport.

Minniman

I don't disagree. I'm a fraud specialist. Nobody hates cheating more than I do. But I'll wait for more information before forming any firm conclusions about this situation. Obviously, right now, I'm suspicious of the guy.

By the way, did you hear Robert Smith on TV completely trivialize the steroid scandal in baseball? (Saying at one point, "who cares" -- when obviously lots of people do.) Now THAT did bother me, because I hate cheating ... and because I'm a baseball fan. I'm starting to wonder given the way Smith talks, and given how smart he was when he came into the league, if he took too many blows to the old brain.

[Minniman]

But I'll wait for more information before forming any firm conclusions about this situation. Obviously, right now, I'm suspicious of the guy.

That's where I am at. I am in a "just wait and see" mode.

By the way, did you hear Robert Smith on TV completely trivialize the steroid scandal in baseball? (Saying at one point, "who cares" -- when obviously lots of people do.) Now THAT did bother me, because I hate cheating ... and because I'm a baseball fan.

Major League Baseball is a sham. I have said so many times. I have little respect for a league that will sell its soul for a home run race and believes that allowing big market clubs to cheat with the pocketbook is against everything that we try to teach kids about sports. I guess it really is American as apple pie, and that is sad.

Minniman

[DanAS1]

Major League Baseball is a sham. I have said so many times. I have little respect for a league that will sell its soul for a home run race and believes that allowing big market clubs to cheat with the pocketbook is against everything that we try to teach kids about sports. I guess it really is American as apple pie, and that is sad.

Minniman

I just love the sport too much not to follow it, though I admit to have boycotted it completely for one year in the mid 90s. What I really hate is the way it's covered by the "sports journalists," who pretty much give a total pass to the league for all its inequities. The "journalists" recognize that steroids are a problem. But the idea of the Yanks buying superstars every year seems to them to be an acceptable natural occurence, kind of like the Sun rising in the east.

[Demi]

Breaking News! Landis declares "I have naturally high levels of synthetic steroids!" What a joke.

It's getting to the point where the only way to get an even playing field is to give up and just let everyone use whatever they want.

[Minniman]

Floyd Landis' "B" test positive, may lose Tour de France title

PARIS – Floyd Landis was fired by his team and the Tour de France no longer considered him its champion today after his second doping sample tested positive for higher-than-allowable levels of testosterone.

Full Story at The Seattle Times

This is bad news.

What I do not understand is that this foolproof test showed these results in one stage but none other in the Tour de France, Tour de Georgia, and Tour of California. Adding steroids for one stage would do little for the body.

[Demi]

I'm still believing it wasnt steroids, it wasnt any of the big name designer substances. It was something to give him a boost for that day, what it was, I have no idea, I'm not a chemist or biosuperdrug creatorist. But I had my eyes open wide enough to know the tour de france is a sham. And these americans that the french are paranoid of with a deep seeded unexplainable hatred for arent near as clean as the american public likes to believe...

[glg]

I'm still believing it wasnt steroids, it wasnt any of the big name designer substances. It was something to give him a boost for that day, what it was, I have no idea, I'm not a chemist or biosuperdrug creatorist. But I had my eyes open wide enough to know the tour de france is a sham. And these americans that the french are paranoid of with a deep seeded unexplainable hatred for arent near as clean as the american public likes to believe...

Nothing testosterone based would give that kind of one day jump. For that, it'd be something more of an amphetamine.

[jeg067]

And 4 years later .......

NEW YORK — Disgraced American cyclist Floyd Landis has admitted to systematic use of performance-enhancing drugs and accused seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong of involvement in doping, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title for doping but had always denied cheating, sent a series of e-mails to cycling officials and sponsors acknowledging and detailing his long-term use of banned drugs, the newspaper said.

.......

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... gD9FQLBN00

[PurpleMustReign]

And 4 years later .......

NEW YORK — Disgraced American cyclist Floyd Landis has admitted to systematic use of performance-enhancing drugs and accused seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong of involvement in doping, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title for doping but had always denied cheating, sent a series of e-mails to cycling officials and sponsors acknowledging and detailing his long-term use of banned drugs, the newspaper said.

.......

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... gD9FQLBN00

Moron. Cheater. Liar.

[Now its our time]

And 4 years later .......

NEW YORK — Disgraced American cyclist Floyd Landis has admitted to systematic use of performance-enhancing drugs and accused seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong of involvement in doping, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title for doping but had always denied cheating, sent a series of e-mails to cycling officials and sponsors acknowledging and detailing his long-term use of banned drugs, the newspaper said.

.......

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... gD9FQLBN00

And instead of just admitting he was wrong,he goes outs and accuses Armstrong of cheating...

[jeg067]

And instead of just admitting he was wrong,he goes outs and accuses Armstrong of cheating...

And 3 years later .......