Cilic Suspended for Doping

First topic message reminder :

http://news.sky.com/story/1142539/marin-cilic-tennis-ace-suspended-over-doping

LF - I don't understand your first point. All that link seems to show is that a simple internet check would have shown the supplement contained nikethamide. Another simple internet check would have then shown that nikethamide is prohibited.

Agree with MfC on point 3.

While I generally disagree with athletes needing to check the ingredient list of everything they ingest... I do think that checking the ingredient list of medication or supplements is a no-brainer. I have a mate who plays for the Goldem Lions u/21 team who failed a drug test during an u/19 tournament, from taking an over-the-counter supplement (one which is now linked to the death of a female marathon runner), understandable mistake at 18, trying to catch up legally to the monstrosities who play rugby in South Africa... For a 25-year old man to do this is a little dumb... To say the least.

LF I brought up the LA point because falzy said innocent until proven guilty.
I merely used that as other examples i could have mentioned may not have been known or recognised by some here.

We agree to disagree LF.

laverfan wrote:3. What you are suggesting is that the athletes should carry a list and check for every act of ingestion? Mere mortals like me do not do that. Are we expecting too much from this players?

Mostly echoing what some others have said already:

If he had eaten a cucumber bought in a local supermarket, and that ended up being tainted with some banned substance, then yes, I would be inclined to say it was tough luck.

But surely he should not take supplements or medication without triple checking what is in them.  Those are exactly the type of products that will have all kind of odd stuff in them by design, so very possible some of it will be illegal.

Even if one is willing to take his story at the face value (as I believe the authorities did), the punishment seems to be just fine.

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:but he was playing. And by playing and beating guys I would argue he deprived those guys of potential earnings, ranking points, tournaments, etc.

As for a "9 month" ban, in reality it's anything but, since it also includes two and a half months (the period after Wimbers and the off-season) where no one's playing anyway... I just don't buy the genuine mistake excuse either. Once more, professional athletes need to be 100% sure everything that goes in their body has a right to be there. Clearly, Cilic wasn't. That's not a mistake, that's negligence. Mistake is Gasquet kissing a girl who'd taken cocaine...

If the girl's tongue was in his mouth, doesn't that come under "professional athletes need to be 100% sure everything that goes in their body has a right to be there"?

Hot girls tongues have an unwritten right to be there.

@MFC... do you recall the Rusedski/Nandrolone ATP fiasco?

@BS... The reason I provided two links, is because they raise more subtle points. Let me just put them here...

It is well known that nikethamide (N,N-diethylnicotinamide, CoramineR) is metabolized very rapidly to nicotinamide. Hence, there is difficulty in proving that nikethamide has been used as a doping substance because nicotinamide is a normal physiological metabolite in the organism as well as a vitamin preparation.

Unless a test is done in close time proximity to the ingestion, it is almost unlikely to catch someone. If the Internet links are available to Cilic, they are also available to someone else. Another possibility is that Cilic wanted to use an illegal stimulant knowingly and did have a priori knowledge that he could get away with a tainted Glucose excuse.  

@KR/@SB... I have no problems with responsibility and punishment, due to negligence. I am not trying to defend Cilic being punished.

@LS... LA to me is not the only culprit, but like a CEO of the company, aka Cycling. All others who worked in such Company are tainted too. I do not want to drag whole another forum into 606v2 here.

@SB... Do you recall Jack-in-the-Box-and-Salmonella, or numerous other similar incidences? or Ebola? The reason I mentioned Novartis is because it is a well known pharmaceutical company that should be producing CoramineR, without NEA, hence my reference to Coria.

@LF

wasn't the Rusedski case the one where his defense was basically "If I go down I'll bring down a lot of other people with me"? and rather suspiciously nothing much happened after that. Not sure it's a great comparison

As I understand it, Rusedski's defence was that the supplement concerned was handed out by the ATP and that others had previously been let off in the same circumstances. It seemed a fairly decent line of argument to me!

from the BBC

Marin Cilic's announcement during Wimbledon that he was pulling out of the tournament due to a knee injury was not true, the International Tennis Federation's independent anti-doping tribunal has said.

Croatia's Cilic had actually pulled out of his match against France's Kenny de Schepper having accepted a provisional suspension for a positive drugs test. The reason was given to avoid "adverse publicity".

Great

Its a shame, I dont think the ATP or the suspendee realise that it would be much better publicity if they were just open and honest about it, especially if it was indeed a mistake

It should just be revealed like an A test positive in athletics. Ok, there is a small stigma attached but the player's name is still cleared if they are not actually guilty. As it is, long mysterious injury delays start to look like potential cover ups for provisional suspensions.

I see the full decision is now available. Seems fairly clear that it was an error albeit one he should have avoided. 9 months still seems about right to me.

Interesting that apparently he was primarily taking glucose to help absorb creatine (a legal substance to increase energy) - which might explain the increased weight Lydian had noticed.