Sharapova announces failed drug test at Australian Open

March 7, 2016 Ricky News 234

Maria Sharapova is not retiring. But she may be away from tennis for a while–and not just because of her recent injury problems.

At her highly-anticipated press conference on Monday, Sharapova announced that she failed a drug test at the Australian Open. The 28-year-old Russian received a letter from the ITF last week saying she had tested positive tested positive for meldonium.

“I did fail the test and I take full responsibility for that,” Sharapova said. “For the past 10 years I have been given a medicine by my family doctor. For the past 10 years this medicine was not on the banned list and I had been legally taking the medicine, but on January 1 the rules changed and [it] became a prohibited substance, which I did not know.”

Sharapova did not indicate if she has been notified of any possible suspension.

Announcement and press conference:

38 Comments on Sharapova announces failed drug test at Australian Open

  5. ITF, March 7, 2016: ¤¤Tennis Anti-Doping Programme statement regarding Maria Sharapova

    PRESS RELEASE

    Following the statement made by Maria Sharapova in a press conference today, the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP) can confirm the following:
    – On 26 January 2016, Ms Sharapova provided an anti-doping sample to the TADP in association with her participation in the 2016 Australian Open.
    – That sample was analysed by a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory, which returned a positive for meldonium, which is a prohibited substance under the WADA Code and, therefore also the TADP.
    – In accordance with Article 8.1.1 of the TADP, Ms Sharapova was charged on 2 March with an Anti-Doping Rule Violation.
    – Ms Sharapova has accepted the finding of meldonium in her sample collected on 26 January.
    – As meldonium is a non-specified substance under the WADA (and, therefore, TADP) list of Prohibited Substances and Prohibited Methods, Ms Sharapova will be provisionally suspended with effect from 12 March, pending determination of the case.
    … ¤¤
    Read more at http://www.itftennis.com/news/225826.aspx#2AEKS6LuquxmoHo6.99

    Reply

  6. What a shock! I admire her courage for being open about it. She is taking full responsibility. still pretty shocking.

    Reply

  7. Hear, hear. What a refreshing change from the weazelly trumped up excuses normally offered up when a player is snared in the net.

    Reply

    • In the light of later revelations I admit I was taken in by the ‘frank and open’ admission.
      However you have to admire her PR machine for their masterly damage limitation exercise!

      Reply

  10. Wow! I happened to check in and saw this latest news about Sharapova testing positive for a banned substance.

    Have they said how long she will be banned?

    Reply

  13. Sharapova has been using a performance enhancing drug (PED, legally,from the time she became a tennis pro. The drug did not become performance enhancing when WADA banned it in 2015, it has always been performance enhancing. All those titles/trophies/accolades she received all her playing career, she won while doped-up.

    According to Maria, her “family doctor” (Pusher, to those who prefer to not mince their words, like me)prescribed the drug after she had suffered multiple bouts with the flu, received erratic EKG results, and was diagnosed with a “deficiency in magnesium” and “signs of diabetes.”” There you have it. Naturally, she would then go on to hawk candy and build a multi-million dollar company selling……….you guessed it, diabetes. Expect her to run for President soon.

    Oh, and of course having her presser on the same day Peyton Manning announces his retirement was purely coincidental. Nothing to do with wanting to make sure hers wouldn’t be the top story on the day in the US. All business, our Maria…

    Never been a fan of Serena but couldn’t help but wonder what the reaction would have been if it had been her caught with hands in the candy jar, pun fully intended. Well, this poster on Tennis.com gave me the answer,

    “JOYSEE says:
    Tennis made an example out of Serena for her actions at the 2009 US Open, HUGE fine and 2 year probation, so DoperRova shouldn’t get preferential treatment, had EITHER of the Williams sister had done this OMG, they would be arrested and on their way to prison without a trial, flogged, tarred and feathered, Daddy Richard and Mother Oracene would be swinging by their necks from the same tree, the two remaining sisters would be hiding from the Klan fearing for their lives, all the Williams money and possessions would be seiged and, donated to all the trailer parks across America, isn’t America great.””

    http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2016/03/marias-mystifying-mistake/57824/#.Vt5oNaRunIU

    And of course Maria has some intrepid Tennis Reporters already inventing excuses for her:

    RT @Richard Ingham Evans
    ‏”I simply refuse to believe @MariaSharapova would have defied a new WADA directive.So why wasn’t she told by @ITF, @WTA or her staff”

    This must be very difficult for Mr. Ingham and her legion of fans, sorry, Reporters, out there. They do not even want to believe what she herself said at her presser. ““I received an email,” she said, “on December 22, 2015, from WADA about the changes happening to the banned list, and you can see prohibited items, and I didn’t click on that link.””

    She did not click on the link. She had more important things to do, hawking diabetes.

    Reply

    • Hi there RITB – long time no see.
      Great post btw.
      We were singing from the same songsheet the last time high profile names were telling porky pies. None as high as this though.

      #FearOfNeedles
      #Don’tUnderstandFrench

      Reply

  15. Whatever the outcome for Maria, that this case has come to light is a monumental blow for the sport of tennis at a time when they are trying desperately to convince the world that doping is not endemic in tennis. The reverberations will be felt far and wide beyond the tennis community.

    #Echoes of the Lance Armstrong fall from grace.

    Reply

  17. If they establish that there is no medical reason for her to take the drug then she has only been taking it to enhance her performance. As RITB says, how can someone with diabetes be promoting sweets?

    Reply

  18. At the time of his appointment as ATP chairman Chris Kermode had this to say:

    “The programme has improved significantly over the last few years,” Kermode replies, before making it very clear that it is a priority for the ATP to prove to cynics that the sport is not too good to be true.

    “It’s a big issue for me to make the statement that our sport is clean – which I wholeheartedly believe it is – and we are gathering all the information from all the governing bodies to make sure we will be world leaders in making sure our programme is the best it can be.

    I think men’s tennis is one of the greatest sports on the planet

    Chris Kermode
    “I will make sure as a governing body that we will do everything. We are taking this incredibly seriously and, for me, the concern is making sure we are telling the world the facts. We are clean.”

    Reply

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