[QUOTE=“Nembo Kid, post: 1138395, member: 2514”]I’ve never shifted the goal posts.
O’Mahony tested positive for a performance enhancing substance.[/QUOTE]
And this, as rafa might say, is fact.
Why do people just keep saying he hasn’t been banned? Sure lance Armstrong was only banned after years and years of doping.
There is no evidence that salbutamol inhaled is performance enhancing. It was found that O’Mahony’s levels were consistant with inhaling ( him being asthmatic) rather than ingesting or injecting, hence he didn’t receive a ban.
Imagine that…
I suppose Frankie Sheahan wasn’t cheating either.
If one third of the Kerry team were asthmatic I might start to see a trend
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/cycling/2007-07-20-3694433468_x.htm
At Tour de France, asthma inhalers can be a rider’s best friend
Posted 7/20/2007 9:05 PM | Comment | Recommend E-mail[/URL] |[URL=‘http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/cycling/2007-07-20-3694433468_x.htm#’]Print |
By Jamey Keaten, Associated Press Writer
ALBI, France — For that little pick-me-up that helps them breathe easier, many Tour de France riders take hits on inhalers in a widespread practice that amounts to legalized doping.
Up to 40 percent of riders have doctor’s notes allowing them to use drugs often prescribed for asthma that would normally be banned. Critics decry the practice, which is allowed under World Anti-Doping Agency rules.
“This is a global joke,” said Dr. Werner Franke, a German doping expert. "You’ll always find a doctor who will write down a few notes that you have asthma-like difficulties in breathing.
“It would be fair to have two Tours de France - one for the asthmatics and one for non-asthmatics,” he said. “The funny result would be that the asthmatics would be much faster.”
That’s because drugs like salbutamol, which helps asthmatics breathe easier, can have performance-enhancing effects.
Despite cycling officials’ attempts to clean up the sport, which has been tarnished over the last year by allegations that high-profile riders have used banned substances like the blood-booster EPO or practices like blood doping, the Tour continues to be shadowed by doping concerns.
Michael Rasmussen became the latest rider to face scrutiny Friday. The overall leader heading into Saturday’s time trial, Rasmussen had to answer why he had been kicked off the Danish national team for failing to report his whereabouts for drug-testing purposes in May and June.
On Wednesday, Germany’s cycling federation said that Patrik Sinkewitz, who had been riding for the T-Mobile team until he dropped out due to an injury from a crash with a fan last Sunday, had tested positive for high levels of testosterone in a surprise anti-doping test conducted during a training ride last month.
The issue of medical waivers has so far flown under the radar even though the percentage of asthmatics in cycling is peculiar, Franke said, because the condition affects only about 8 percent to 10 percent of the general population.
At times, UCI officials “have graded up to 80 percent of riders as asthmatics. The only surprising thing is that the world is so stupid to believe that,” he said.
Some point to a phenomenon known as exercise-induced asthma, which can affect athletes in aerobic sports. It may be believable in winter sports, Franke said, “but not in summertime.”
Repeated attempts by the Associated Press to reach Anne Gripper, the International Cycling Union’s anti-doping chief, by mobile phone were unsuccessful.
The waivers, called therapeutic use exemptions, have also been given to cross-country skiers and weightlifters.
They “can become a passport to doping,” said Pierre Bordry, the head of the French anti-doping agency.
Franke said the onus is on both WADA, which bans some drugs less powerful than salbutamol, and the UCI, which decides how many riders can be granted waivers.
And it’s not just asthma medicine - waivers are also granted for allergies and tendinitis, among other conditions.
Among those taking anti-asthma drugs is Oscar Pereiro, the Caisse d’Epargne rider who was second in last year’s Tour - and could be declared the winner if Floyd Landis is stripped of his title after testing positive for synthetic testosterone in the 17th stage of that race.
“I have a UCI authorization,” said Pereiro, adding that his dosage falls far under the threshold set by WADA.
“The limit is 1,000 (nanograms per milliliter), and I’m at 157,” Pereiro told the AP, adding that if he weren’t able to use his Ventolin inhaler, he would not be able to compete.
When it comes to doping - legal or not - many teams follow cycling’s unwritten law: silence.
“I don’t talk about doping,” said Dirk Demol, sporting director of the Discovery Channel team, before a stage in the first week, when asked about the therapeutic exemptions.
Some teams are trying to be more candid.
Bob Stapleton, T-Mobile’s sporting director, said several of his riders have exemptions for asthma. “They know that if there’s any misuse of that product, they’re going to get caught, so it’s a crazy thing to do.”
Tell that to Italy’s Alessandro Petacchi.
The sprinting ace, of the Milram team, was forced to miss the Tour after testing “non-negative” for high levels of salbutamol during the Tour of Italy in May and June.
Some say a bigger problem is that medications like salbutamol can mask other doping agents.
“There’s a general belief in the sport - I’m not sure it’s true - that injecting corticoids into your body gives you a real performance boost,” Stapleton said. "So if you use the inhaler, it’s a way of saying ‘Ah, this is why I have it in my blood.’
“There’s a lot of debate about how to tackle this issue.”
But science is catching up. Stapleton said emerging technology could improve the ability to detect how steroids get into the body - by inhalers or by injection.
The Associated Press
A lad I used to play soccer with was slightly asthmatic but had a bad attack of it once and was prescribed this really strong inhaler for a few weeks. He said the difference when playing sport after taking it was unreal. That his lungs would feel way fuller and felt way more energetic. He tried to get a few more prescriptions for it but the doctor wouldn’t give it him.
[QUOTE=“Sidney, post: 1138452, member: 183”]http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/cycling/2007-07-20-3694433468_x.htm
At Tour de France, asthma inhalers can be a rider’s best friend
Posted 7/20/2007 9:05 PM | Comment | Recommend E-mail[/URL] |[URL=‘http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/cycling/2007-07-20-3694433468_x.htm#’]Print |
By Jamey Keaten, Associated Press Writer
ALBI, France — For that little pick-me-up that helps them breathe easier, many Tour de France riders take hits on inhalers in a widespread practice that amounts to legalized doping.
Up to 40 percent of riders have doctor’s notes allowing them to use drugs often prescribed for asthma that would normally be banned. Critics decry the practice, which is allowed under World Anti-Doping Agency rules.
“This is a global joke,” said Dr. Werner Franke, a German doping expert. "You’ll always find a doctor who will write down a few notes that you have asthma-like difficulties in breathing.
“It would be fair to have two Tours de France - one for the asthmatics and one for non-asthmatics,” he said. “The funny result would be that the asthmatics would be much faster.”
That’s because drugs like salbutamol, which helps asthmatics breathe easier, can have performance-enhancing effects.
Despite cycling officials’ attempts to clean up the sport, which has been tarnished over the last year by allegations that high-profile riders have used banned substances like the blood-booster EPO or practices like blood doping, the Tour continues to be shadowed by doping concerns.
Michael Rasmussen became the latest rider to face scrutiny Friday. The overall leader heading into Saturday’s time trial, Rasmussen had to answer why he had been kicked off the Danish national team for failing to report his whereabouts for drug-testing purposes in May and June.
On Wednesday, Germany’s cycling federation said that Patrik Sinkewitz, who had been riding for the T-Mobile team until he dropped out due to an injury from a crash with a fan last Sunday, had tested positive for high levels of testosterone in a surprise anti-doping test conducted during a training ride last month.
The issue of medical waivers has so far flown under the radar even though the percentage of asthmatics in cycling is peculiar, Franke said, because the condition affects only about 8 percent to 10 percent of the general population.
At times, UCI officials “have graded up to 80 percent of riders as asthmatics. The only surprising thing is that the world is so stupid to believe that,” he said.
Some point to a phenomenon known as exercise-induced asthma, which can affect athletes in aerobic sports. It may be believable in winter sports, Franke said, “but not in summertime.”
Repeated attempts by the Associated Press to reach Anne Gripper, the International Cycling Union’s anti-doping chief, by mobile phone were unsuccessful.
The waivers, called therapeutic use exemptions, have also been given to cross-country skiers and weightlifters.
They “can become a passport to doping,” said Pierre Bordry, the head of the French anti-doping agency.
Franke said the onus is on both WADA, which bans some drugs less powerful than salbutamol, and the UCI, which decides how many riders can be granted waivers.
And it’s not just asthma medicine - waivers are also granted for allergies and tendinitis, among other conditions.
Among those taking anti-asthma drugs is Oscar Pereiro, the Caisse d’Epargne rider who was second in last year’s Tour - and could be declared the winner if Floyd Landis is stripped of his title after testing positive for synthetic testosterone in the 17th stage of that race.
“I have a UCI authorization,” said Pereiro, adding that his dosage falls far under the threshold set by WADA.
“The limit is 1,000 (nanograms per milliliter), and I’m at 157,” Pereiro told the AP, adding that if he weren’t able to use his Ventolin inhaler, he would not be able to compete.
When it comes to doping - legal or not - many teams follow cycling’s unwritten law: silence.
“I don’t talk about doping,” said Dirk Demol, sporting director of the Discovery Channel team, before a stage in the first week, when asked about the therapeutic exemptions.
Some teams are trying to be more candid.
Bob Stapleton, T-Mobile’s sporting director, said several of his riders have exemptions for asthma. “They know that if there’s any misuse of that product, they’re going to get caught, so it’s a crazy thing to do.”
Tell that to Italy’s Alessandro Petacchi.
The sprinting ace, of the Milram team, was forced to miss the Tour after testing “non-negative” for high levels of salbutamol during the Tour of Italy in May and June.
Some say a bigger problem is that medications like salbutamol can mask other doping agents.
“There’s a general belief in the sport - I’m not sure it’s true - that injecting corticoids into your body gives you a real performance boost,” Stapleton said. "So if you use the inhaler, it’s a way of saying ‘Ah, this is why I have it in my blood.’
“There’s a lot of debate about how to tackle this issue.”
But science is catching up. Stapleton said emerging technology could improve the ability to detect how steroids get into the body - by inhalers or by injection.
The Associated Press[/QUOTE]
http://science.howstuffworks.com/10-performance-enhancing-drugs6.htm
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02425500
The effect of salbutamol (S) on cycling performance was examined in 15 highly trained non-asthmatic male cyclists. A double-blind, randomized cross-over design was used with S or placebo § administered using a metered-dose inhaler and a spacer device 20 min before each testing session. The S dose was 400 μg (four puffs), which is twice the normal therapeutic level. Subjects were habituated to all the laboratory procedures in the week prior to actual data collection. The subjects performed four tests under S and P conditions on separate days over 2 weeks. These included measurement of maximal O2uptake(V˙O2max)(cycle ergometry) with assessment of pulmonary function before and after, a submaximal (90% of ventilatory threshold) square-wave work transition from a base of unloaded cycling, a 60-s modified Wingate test, and a simulated 20 km time trial. No significant differences were observed in any of the dependent variables related to aerobic endurance or cycling performance between the S and P conditions. These results support other findings that an acute dose (400 μg) of S has no performance-enhancing properties.
O’Mahony knew what he was at.
Case closed.
Will we see a GAA bench this year with players wearing face masks and breathing xenon gas?
Found by who?
He exceeded the permitted levels allowed by anti doping regulations. The GGA just decided not to do anything about it.
Sweep Sweep.
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19980918&slug=2772744
With a high percentage of asthmatics reported on national swim teams such as Great Britain’s (almost 30 percent) and Australia’s (almost 40 percent), some question whether that many could really be suffering from the disorder. In Australia, for instance, about 10 percent of the general population suffers from asthma.
http://www.wired.com/2010/12/salbutamol-doping/
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing — after adding three more medals to her ever-growing collection — many openly wondered how swimmer Dara Torres, then 41 years old, could still dominate the sport at such an age.
Torres was more than a decade older than some of her closest competitors, and skeptics questioned which parts of her training regime could possibly allow her to leave younger rivals dog-paddling in her wake, starting with the $100,000 she spends every year on her entourage, all the way down to the nutritional supplements she consumed on a daily basis.
However, the most damning item in her training bag was a small inhaler Torres used to keep her asthma in check. Now, new research from a Danish research lab may have finally set the record straight, vindicating the asthma medication that seems to have been falsely accused as a performance-enhancing substance.
During the Olympics, all asthma medications containing beta2-agonists, such as salbutamol (also known as albuterol), were on the official World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list of banned substances, due to their known ability to relax the smooth muscle cells in bronchial airways.
The thinking was that athletes who didn’t have asthma might be able to use salbutamol to further relax the muscle linings of their healthy lungs, kicking their breathing capacity into overdrive and gaining a crucial advantage over other competitors.
Asthmatics were exempt from this rule, of course, provided they could verify the inhaler was a medical necessity. That’s what Torres did some 18 months before the Beijing Olympics, petitioning the International Olympic Committee for a Therapeutic Use Exemption for Proventil — an albuterol-based asthma medication — which was then granted.
Starting this year, WADA lifted the ban on salbutamol, since research had yet to demonstrate that the drug enhances performance when taken as directed. The new doping rules simply state that all athletes must have a salbutamol level less than 1,000 nanograms per milliliter detectable in their urine samplewhen screened before competition(.pdf), which shouldn’t be a concern for athletes following the dosing guidelines of prescription.
The problem is that athletes might be tempted to take much more than the prescribed dose, squeezing every last possible benefit out of their now-approved meds.
A research team led by Jimmi Elers at the Respiratory Research Unit at Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen was curious: Although taking a few puffs of salbutamol hasn’t shown a performance boost in past studies, what would a dose that’s, say, 40 times higher than normal do to lung function? And with higher amounts of the drug running through their bodies, would the over-the-top dose cause athletes to hit the upper limit enforced by the new WADA standards when they’re forced to undergo a urine-screening test before competition?
Elers and his teams recruited nine healthy, elite male athletes: cyclists, triathletes and amateur soccer players who participated in endurance training for roughly five to six hours per week. They told the men in the study that they wanted to investigate whether asthma medication was more effective when given in inhaled form or as an oral tablet.
The researchers split the participants into two groups, but the subjects in the oral tablet group received a placebo (a calcium supplement pill) instead of an asthma medication. The remaining subjects were in the experimental group, the ones that would take 40 times more salbutamol than is recommended by doctors.
Everyone in the study completed the same battery of workouts on a stationary bike: one test to failure — where the cycling intensity stepped up, slowly, until the subject could no longer keep pedaling above 60 revolutions per minute — followed by three equally spaced workouts at 75 percent intensity.
The researchers found that salbutamol, even in extremely high doses, did not give elite athletes any performance boost. Indeed, there was absolutely no difference in lung function or endurance ability — as assessed by several measurements like VO2max, oxygen-uptake kinetics, peak power and lactate threshold — between the two groups on either the maximum effort or during the 75 percent intensity workouts.
Large amounts of salbutamol didn’t give the athletes iron lungs, as the men in both groups huffed and puffed as they exercised. They all performed, and tired out, in similar ways. In fact, the only difference found in the subjects who used the salbutamol inhaler was that they retained drug levels in their urine that were, on average, nearly three times higher than the current WADA standards, levels which would have most certainly raised many questions and could have possibly excluded them from a sanctioned competition.
As more and more data debunk the idea that asthma inhalers have performance-enhancing capabilities, at least the misanthropes of elite athletes — like those still trying to understand how the 40-something Torres can still stay atop her sport — can cross one of the alleged cheats off the blacklist.
And the fact that WADA was willing to demote salbutamol’s place among other PEDs even before this research was concluded may indicate the historically iron-fisted organization’s willingness to revise its views on suspected performance enhancers while still policing the global integrity of sports.
[QUOTE=“Mullach Ide, post: 1138504, member: 141”]http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02425500
The effect of salbutamol (S) on cycling performance was examined in 15 highly trained non-asthmatic male cyclists. A double-blind, randomized cross-over design was used with S or placebo § administered using a metered-dose inhaler and a spacer device 20 min before each testing session. The S dose was 400 μg (four puffs), which is twice the normal therapeutic level. Subjects were habituated to all the laboratory procedures in the week prior to actual data collection. The subjects performed four tests under S and P conditions on separate days over 2 weeks. These included measurement of maximal O2uptake(V˙O2max)(cycle ergometry) with assessment of pulmonary function before and after, a submaximal (90% of ventilatory threshold) square-wave work transition from a base of unloaded cycling, a 60-s modified Wingate test, and a simulated 20 km time trial. No significant differences were observed in any of the dependent variables related to aerobic endurance or cycling performance between the S and P conditions. These results support other findings that an acute dose (400 μg) of S has no performance-enhancing properties.[/QUOTE]
I would imagine it would be more aimed at the anaerobic threshold. I wonder if they looked at this. 15 is a small number in any case. Not a powerful study at all.
[QUOTE=“Mullach Ide, post: 1138528, member: 141”]http://www.wired.com/2010/12/salbutamol-doping/
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing — after adding three more medals to her ever-growing collection — many openly wondered how swimmer Dara Torres, then 41 years old, could still dominate the sport at such an age.
Torres was more than a decade older than some of her closest competitors, and skeptics questioned which parts of her training regime could possibly allow her to leave younger rivals dog-paddling in her wake, starting with the $100,000 she spends every year on her entourage, all the way down to the nutritional supplements she consumed on a daily basis.
However, the most damning item in her training bag was a small inhaler Torres used to keep her asthma in check. Now, new research from a Danish research lab may have finally set the record straight, vindicating the asthma medication that seems to have been falsely accused as a performance-enhancing substance.
During the Olympics, all asthma medications containing beta2-agonists, such as salbutamol (also known as albuterol), were on the official World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list of banned substances, due to their known ability to relax the smooth muscle cells in bronchial airways.
The thinking was that athletes who didn’t have asthma might be able to use salbutamol to further relax the muscle linings of their healthy lungs, kicking their breathing capacity into overdrive and gaining a crucial advantage over other competitors.
Asthmatics were exempt from this rule, of course, provided they could verify the inhaler was a medical necessity. That’s what Torres did some 18 months before the Beijing Olympics, petitioning the International Olympic Committee for a Therapeutic Use Exemption for Proventil — an albuterol-based asthma medication — which was then granted.
Starting this year, WADA lifted the ban on salbutamol, since research had yet to demonstrate that the drug enhances performance when taken as directed. The new doping rules simply state that all athletes must have a salbutamol level less than 1,000 nanograms per milliliter detectable in their urine samplewhen screened before competition(.pdf), which shouldn’t be a concern for athletes following the dosing guidelines of prescription.
The problem is that athletes might be tempted to take much more than the prescribed dose, squeezing every last possible benefit out of their now-approved meds.
A research team led by Jimmi Elers at the Respiratory Research Unit at Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen was curious: Although taking a few puffs of salbutamol hasn’t shown a performance boost in past studies, what would a dose that’s, say, 40 times higher than normal do to lung function? And with higher amounts of the drug running through their bodies, would the over-the-top dose cause athletes to hit the upper limit enforced by the new WADA standards when they’re forced to undergo a urine-screening test before competition?
Elers and his teams recruited nine healthy, elite male athletes: cyclists, triathletes and amateur soccer players who participated in endurance training for roughly five to six hours per week. They told the men in the study that they wanted to investigate whether asthma medication was more effective when given in inhaled form or as an oral tablet.
The researchers split the participants into two groups, but the subjects in the oral tablet group received a placebo (a calcium supplement pill) instead of an asthma medication. The remaining subjects were in the experimental group, the ones that would take 40 times more salbutamol than is recommended by doctors.
Everyone in the study completed the same battery of workouts on a stationary bike: one test to failure — where the cycling intensity stepped up, slowly, until the subject could no longer keep pedaling above 60 revolutions per minute — followed by three equally spaced workouts at 75 percent intensity.
The researchers found that salbutamol, even in extremely high doses, did not give elite athletes any performance boost. Indeed, there was absolutely no difference in lung function or endurance ability — as assessed by several measurements like VO2max, oxygen-uptake kinetics, peak power and lactate threshold — between the two groups on either the maximum effort or during the 75 percent intensity workouts.
Large amounts of salbutamol didn’t give the athletes iron lungs, as the men in both groups huffed and puffed as they exercised. They all performed, and tired out, in similar ways. In fact, the only difference found in the subjects who used the salbutamol inhaler was that they retained drug levels in their urine that were, on average, nearly three times higher than the current WADA standards, levels which would have most certainly raised many questions and could have possibly excluded them from a sanctioned competition.
As more and more data debunk the idea that asthma inhalers have performance-enhancing capabilities, at least the misanthropes of elite athletes — like those still trying to understand how the 40-something Torres can still stay atop her sport — can cross one of the alleged cheats off the blacklist.
And the fact that WADA was willing to demote salbutamol’s place among other PEDs even before this research was concluded may indicate the historically iron-fisted organization’s willingness to revise its views on suspected performance enhancers while still policing the global integrity of sports.[/QUOTE]
Again, this is 75% effort, not close to the aerobic threshold.
[SIZE=5]Abstract[/SIZE]
BACKGROUND Beta-2 agonists such as salbutamol are used, not only by asthmatic athletes to prevent exercise induced asthma, but also by non-asthmatic athletes as a potentially ergogenic agent. We have investigated whether inhaled salbutamol enhances endurance performance in non-asthmatic athletes.
METHODS A prospective double blind, randomised, three way crossover design was used to study the effects of 200 μg and 800 μg inhaled salbutamol versus a placebo in 12 trained triathletes. The treatments were compared in three identical cycle ergometer sessions at 85% of the predetermined maximal oxygen uptake. Lung function, endurance time, metabolic parameters (glucose, potassium, lactate, free fatty acid, and glycerol), and psychomotor performance were evaluated.
RESULTS Neither endurance time nor post-exercise bronchodilation were significantly different between the treatments. Metabolic parameters were affected by exercise but not by treatment.
CONCLUSIONS Inhaled salbutamol, even in a high dose, did not have a significant effect on endurance performance in non-asthmatic athletes, although the bronchodilating effect of the drug at the beginning of exercise may have improved respiratory adaptation. Our results do not preclude an ergogenic effect of β2 agonists given by other routes or for a longer period.
nembo is what Paul Kimmage aspires to. Im glad someone is exposing the GGA cheats